The old saying goes that debt has its way of creeping up on us without us really even knowing it and this post will be about how to manage debt.? Now a days we are so quick to pull out our credit card or debit card to make a purchase.? To manage debt we need to really look close at what we are spending our money on and really track it.
It is important to keep debt at reasonable and manageable levels or we could end up incurring high interest rate charges. Even worse having barely enough money to pay the minimum payments on our credit cards.
Where Do You Turn For Help to Manage Debt?
The first course of action to manage debt is to look into creating a budget to track where your money is going, there are many free budget templates available online that you can use. Finding areas that we are spending frivolously we can explore to find any savings which will help us manage debt. Occasionally there are times when there just are more expenses than revenue that is coming in, maybe we have gone too far off the deep end and we cannot solve our debt by budgeting.
In Comes The Consumer Debt Management Professionals
Now that we have realized that we cannot tackle our debt problem on our own, we are in a situation where we need outside help. It is very hard to ask someone you know for help, especially for debt management help. If you do not gain control over your debts, there are many things that can be impacted by your negligence. Your debt problems could impact your credit rating, potential job opportunities might vanish, and even your health. It is important to manage your debt before it manages you and it is too late!
Manage Debt: Debt Consolidation or Credit Counseling?
Occasionally debtors will turn to a debt consolidation company thinking that they are the answer to their debt problems.? What typically a debt consolidation company does is they may transfer all your debt to a lower interest rate credit card or maybe tap some of the equity in your home to get money to pay off the consumer debt.? If you close the accounts that you had open in favor of the lower interest rate card you could actually negatively impact your credit report as you are raising your debt to available credit ratio.? If you do take this route keep the other credit lines open just do not use the credit cards.? Make sure that if you do tap your home equity you are not in any risk of default as the last thin you want to do is put your house on the line for your poor debt management choices.
Credit Counseling is another popular option to managing debt.? By taking the credit counseling agency approach they offer various ways to help you including setting up a budget and debt management plan.? The debt management plan involves the negotiation with the creditors on your behalf to try and gain more favorable terms.? The debtor will then make the monthly plans to the credit counseling agency and they will make the payments to the creditors on behalf of the debtor.
This can typically get you out of debt faster but there can be negative consequences on your credit report.? There will be a notation on your credit report that you are in credit counseling and this will negatively impact your ability to open new lines of credit.? Before taking this route make sure that you know you are dealing with a reputable credit counseling agency and understand your responsibilities as part of the debt management plan.
An? overabundance of debt can wreak havoc on our finances and our credit scores but if you manage debt you can stop it before you spiral out of control, which brings me to another point.? Once you are done with your debt repayment, consider starting up an emergency fund.
Manage Debt Before It Manages You!
Photo by: eric731
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