Unemployment rates are rising, home foreclosures are at record highs and personal debt levels are at an all time high. Unable to deal with all of these financial pressures, many people are looking for ways to eliminate their credit card debt. But before you contact a debt counselor, read this article. You can completely eliminate credit card debt and this article will show you how.
Before you consider debt counseling as a solution to your credit card problems, you need to look at a couple of other options: debt consolidation, debt elimination programs.
Debt Counseling
Before I go into your alternatives to debt counseling, let’s quickly identify who can benefit from it. Debt counseling works for only a small percentage of people. To find out if it can help you, ask yourself the following questions:
Is my situation a result of lack of self control? Is my situation a result of bad spending habits? Is my situation a result of heavy spending on my “wants” rather than spending on my “needs?”
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, than debt counseling might work for you. However, if your situation is a result of unexpected costs (medical bills, unemployment, etc) and not a result of lack of self control, than counseling will be a waste of your money and time. Let’s look at your alternatives.
Debt Consolidation
If you are considering debt counseling to help eliminate your credit card debts, then you’ve probably already considered a debt consolidation program. While not the best way to eliminate your credit card debt, these systems are worth considering.
Debt consolidation is simply a way of grouping all of your current debts (credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc) into one, single loan. The best way to do this is through a home equity mortgage with a low rate. The big problem with these programs is that in this economy mortgage requirements are becoming stricter and fewer people can qualify for a second mortgage to pay off their debts. If you have only a marginal credit score and a large amount of revolving debt, qualifying for a mortgage may be next to impossible in this economy.
In addition, while these systems may lower your rates and payments making it easier to pay off your debts over the long term, your total debt amount remains the same. This is one of the many reasons I recommend a debt elimination program instead of a debt consolidation system. I have explained the debt elimination systems below.
Debt Elimination Systems
The most effective way to eliminate credit card debt without debt counseling is with a debt elimination system. Rather than rolling your obligations into one loan, these programs actually erases the amount you owe to your creditors.
These systems are available to anyone with credit card debt. You don’t need to qualify as you do with debt consolidation programs. In fact, most of my clients are able to erase 70%-90% of their credit card balances by using one of the programs I recommend.
I hope this article has convinced you that you can eliminate credit card debt without debt counseling. Using one of the systems I’ve reviewed for my clients, you can save your credit and get completely out of credit card debt.
You can do it!
Dec 03 2010
Eliminate Credit Card Debt Without Debt Counseling
Sep 01 2010
Legal Credit Card Debt Elimination
Legal credit card debt elimination is an unsecured program for credit card debt elimination. There are many legal agencies, which provide you the facility of eliminating your credit card debts.
Legal debt elimination agencies help you to get out of your debts by negotiating with your card provider to get a reduced balance, which you would be able to pay off in a reasonable amount of time. But most legal credit card debt elimination programs may result in negatively affecting your credit history.
Legal credit card debt elimination helps you to eliminate your debt much more quickly, usually within 90 to 120 days. Most agencies will demand you to minimize your credit card use during the period of debt elimination. Some agencies recommend to eliminate the credit card debts with the highest interest rates first. Others may recommend to eliminate those with smallest balances first.
Legal credit card debt elimination programs usually cover all unsecured credit card debts such as those with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express cards. Department store debts, gas station charge cards, and secured loans such as home, auto, and boat loans, and student loans are often not covered under this process.
Getting legal credit card debt elimination is a difficult and lengthy process. There are many types of credit card debt elimination plans. It is helpful to have short-term and long-term goals in mind before you go for debt elimination. Before signing a contract ask contacting creditors for a lower interest rate. Remember that usually you are not permitted to engage in any new obligations after a credit card elimination process has started. You also have to make your minimum monthly payments on time to the credit card company until the debt is eliminated.
You have to beware of credit card debt elimination programs that are illegal and charge an interest. According to federal and state usury laws charging interest on credit cards is illegal.