- Are you in credit card debt all the way up to your eyeballs.
- Are you overwhelmed with the number of payments you would have to make to pay off your credit cards?
- Does it seem like every time you make a payment, the interest piles on to your balance causing your credit card to never get paid down?
If the answer to all of these questions are yes, then you need to follow the 5 simple steps below to pay off your debt, and be free of the ball and chain of credit card prison.
- Pray
- Find out your balance and interest rates along with your minimum payments that you are currently paying to all your credit cards.
- Call your credit card company and tell customer service that you would like to talk to the settlement department.
- Negotiate a simple interest loan and cancel your credit cards.
- Pay down your debt.
I am not a financial expert, a financial adviser, a debt councilor, or any other financial professional but what I am is a business man. I know that when it comes to money, a company would rather you pay them than somebody else. That somebody else is a debt consolidation company. One example of a debt consolidation company is Care One Credit. This is a great company and if you don't mind paying them to do the job, that is great, BUT, why pay them to do what you can do your self. REMEMBER, you don't have extra money so take the money you would pay them and put it in your pocket. Plus some card companies will post to your credit that you used a debt consolidation company. Don't believe anybody if they tell you different.
When you call your credit card company you don't want to talk to customer service, they will just tell you they can't help you, interest rates are frozen and they're not doing any modifications to accounts right now BLAH BLAH BLAH. It is their job to keep you in the credit card loop of compounding interest, to make them rich, and you not. Ask to speak directly to the settlements department.
Once you get to the settlement department, there is nothing they want to hear more than you want to pay off your full principle and not run from your responsibility, and rightfully so, you spent it, so you should pay it. Explain to them that you have had a change of income, whether it be loss of income, change of income, different job, lost job, etc. Don't tell them you have no money. If you can't make a payment they won't make the change. What's the point.
Explain to them that you could use the debt consolidation company, that has a great relationship with your card company, and they WILL work with them because the debt consolidation company brings several hundred thousand customers to the table. The card company does not know that you don't really don't want to use the consolidation company, they just know you want to get out of debt and will take extreme measures to do it.
Once that is out of the way, they will be willing to work a deal, ask you a series of questions and negotiate a payment. This is where they start to play "Car Dealer". One of the questions they will ask you is what payment can you afford. Here is some logic to that question. You don't want to reduce your principal because you owe the debt and plus that will show up on your credit as settled. You also don't want to pay on this forever like a house note. So the logical place of negotiation would be the interest rate on a fixed loan, say a 60 month loan. So you tell them this. "What is the lowest interest rate you can give me and I will determine if that is with in my means." explaining to them the logic so they know your not going to fall into their "Car Dealer" trap. They will give you a number and if you feel like it is good then go with that, if not then push a little harder to work it down. You might not get down any further but then you might so what is the harm. At this point you know they are working with you and are willing to work a deal.
Now, the ultimate question. "How will this effect my credit?" Each card you set up like this will show up on your account as canceled by user which is OK so your good and you will get the debt paid off. Keep in mind you can make additional payments to pay off the debt even faster if you would like but DO NOT MISS A PAYMENT. At this point you need to make good on your commitments and get the job done, not only for your creditor but for your self.
Now you may be asking, what are my qualifications for telling you all of this? I've done it. I put a few things together from what I've heard from different commercials on talk radio, listen to some financial shows on cable and a few other things. Then, I used some simple common sense and applied it to help some people I know do it just like I outlined above. It worked like a charm. They were very thankful of my assistance. I was so happy with the outcome I decided to spend one morning preparing this article to help as many people as I can with out it costing them any money or stress.
Each circumstance may be different with a slightly different outcome and each individuals result may be different but I can tell you this. Nothing will happen if you don't try.
Remember this also Pray first and God will be with you the whole way.
Think about it, if you are reading this then God must have sent this to
you or you to this. .
Posted by: Shawn Schoellkopf
12/15/2009
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