Florida Debt Collection Attorney, Marcadis Singer, PA, would like to share some pointers from an excellent article on getting out of debt.
1. Create A Spending Plan.
A spending plan, an old fashioned budget. Make a list of your income, and expected expenses, include in those expenses a specific line for extra payments on debt, and stick to it. Chip away at the rock with consistency.
2. Cut Costs
Seriously, most of what we consider “must have” in our lives today, 20 years ago didn’t even exist. Take a hard look at what you spend that isn’t necessary. Your debt will last, can you do with no internet, or a smaller pipe to the internet? What about re-evaluating your cell phone plan, there are plenty of plans now that offer “everything” for a low fixed rate that will even pay your early termination fees. Can you survive with basic cable – usually somewhere over a hundred channels – as opposed to premium cable – usually over 400 channels that no one watches anyway – or cut the cable cord, and only stream from the internet (on your new smaller pipes). Buy some popcorn, and stream a movie for less than 1/10 the price of just popcorn at a movie theater… and turn it into date night, or family night.
The truth is, when you have too much debt, your interest rates generally go up, when that happens, you are spending more interest on just interest. It becomes an endless loop that sacrifices can stop.
3. Don’t get more debt.
Please people, as soon as you make headway on your debt, and your credit scores start to inch up, expect an avalanche of solicitations to get you more into debt. Don’t fall for it. Predatory lending is on the rise especially as the economy grows stronger. A huge portion of our debt collection contracts involve collecting from people that went on a debt binge as their credit scores improved. It is heartbreaking for us to see people that were finally digging out of debt, reward themselves for their higher credit scores by thinking they had new found discipline and fell for the new debt offers. Please, as you dig yourself out of the debt trap, don’t pile new debt in
4. Pay more than the minimum.
Even a few extra dollars a month on top of the minimum can make a huge difference over the years. Every dollar you pay over the minimum will usually go towards paying off the principal. We have a friend that rounds up to the nearest $10 on every payment. If his payment is $32, he will pay $40. If his payment is $49, he will pay $50. In one case its an extra $8, in one case only $1. What this really is, is building a habit of effectively paying above the minimum every time. A discipline.
5. Lower Your Interest Rates.
This is not always easy if you don’t like face to face negotiations. The truth of the matter is that the Federal Reserve has made it almost free for Banks to borrow money, at a time when you might be paying 19% or eve 29% on your credit cards. Sometimes simply calling, explaining that you see more competitive rates, and asking if they are prepared to match those rates to keep you as a customer, will get you a lower rate. If you are working on improving your credit, you will be getting offers for more credit. Even though we said don’t take on more debt, that does not mean take on lower interest loans and pay off and close higher interest loans.
We would like you to avoid hearing from us. An enormous percentage of Americans are in some form of debt collection. It is our experience that a significant percentage of the people we collect from, are not irresponsible, they aren’t trying to avoid a legitimate debt, they simply don’t have the direction or discipline to manage their debt. Our services are best reserved for the chronic non-payer, or businesses trying to dodge a debt. We would like to see all of the debtors we collect from find a way out of debt.
We have mentioned before that there is a new service, http://www.creditkarma.com where you can get free credit reports, as often as you want, all the time, for free. They also have debt vendors that they will suggest to you that can lower your payments with lower interest rates, and will even tell you how much you will save. Manage your debt wisely.
Good luck on your Journey.