Monday 16 March 2015

Worrying About Debt Consolidation? Look To These Tips!

By Belinda Norbert


Are you looking for a way to more easily manage your debt? Are you tired of paying many bills only to still be behind? You may want to consider a better option - debt consolidation. These are great programs that can help you to resolve your debt problems. Knowing what to do though is important, which is what this article will teach you. Keep reading to learn more about the issue of debt consolidation.

If you're trying to pay down your debt, try borrowing a bit from your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement account. Be careful with this, though. While you're able to borrow from your retirement plan for low interest, failing to pay it back as you agreed, losing your job, or being unable to pay it all back, the loan will be considered dismemberment. Your taxes and penalties will then be assessed as for why funds were withdrawn early.

When consolidating debt, consider doing the footwork yourself. Consolidation companies may have fees associated with their services. However, you can easily make the same phone calls to your creditors and negotiate with them. There is no special consideration from the creditor about who calls, whether a service or you, the customer.

Get a debt consolidation company's TOS (terms of service) in writing before making any decisions. It should have information about their fees and how long you will have to use their services. They should also outline what the benefits of using their company are. If you cannot get anything in writing, steer away from the company.

Before restructuring your financial situation with a debt consolidation loan, get a copy of your credit report. Analyze your habits and see where you stand with the major credit bureaus. Doing this will help you figure out what you have been doing wrong and what habits you need to change going forward.

Tell your creditors if you decide to work with a debt consolidation company or credit counselor. Your creditors may wish to work with you to offer different options with you so that you can avoid having to consolidate debts. This will give them a chance to help you and to create a better relationship and more favorable or flexible payment terms for you. When creditors understand you're truly trying to manage your debt, they may be more willing to help.

Credit Card Debt

To begin intelligently consolidating your debt, the first thing you should do is examine your credit card debt. Credit card interest is exceedingly high, with some companies charging as much as 20 percent. By consolidating multiple credit card debt on to a single credit card you can save yourself a lot of money in interest fees.

Now you can see that there is a lot you need to know about debt consolidation if you want to use it the right way. Without knowing much about it, you can get into deeper trouble. Use the above information, as well as any other information you acquire, to use debt consolidation properly.




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