Face it. No One likes to hear from debt collection attorneys! Head the calls off at the pass, and satisfy your past due debt with other financial offerings, and save money and your credit score in the process.
Credit Card Balances are among the most expensive credit you can saddle yourself with. As the economy gains momentum, and credit begins flowing, now is perhaps the best time in years to start looking at ways to reduce that credit card debt, without spending more money!
1. Check Your Credit!
Before you go shopping for ways to consolidate your credit, its best to know where you stand. Check your credit rating. Everyone is entitled to 1 free credit report a year. Services like CreditKarma.com will give you unlimited access to your credit reports.
Look for your most expensive credit in terms of interest rates, and your most delinquent, as the more delinquent, the greater the impact of your credit score.
2. Shop Low Interest Credit Cards.
If you have even half decent credit, there are credit card companies that want your business again. Be careful of cards that offer extremely low initial interest rates, but after a set time your rates go up into the high teens and early 20’s. It takes great discipline to switch before the rates go up, and many get trapped a year down the road in a worse position than they were when they consolidated.
3. Check out your local banks and Credit Unions for a Consolidation Loan.
Credit Unions tend to be the most receptive to helping people out of high interest credit card debt, and into lower interest personal loans. Local Banks tend to be more willing to risk lending to someone rebuilding their credit than big national banks. Shop around, know your credit score, and try to negotiate the best possible loan. Once you have secured that loan, put your expensive cards away, or better yet, destroy them until your debt load becomes manageable again.
Before you apply for a loan, ask about their minimum credit score requirements. If you don’t qualify, don’t apply, every inquiry on your credit report degrades your credit report.
4. Check On-Line for a debt consolidation loan.
If all else fails, Google search online, there are hundreds, if not thousands of debt consolidation loans online. Shop them carefully. Always look at the minimum credit scores they require, the interest rates, and the penalties that you might have to pay if you miss a payment.
Now more than any time in the last several years, there are more institutions than ever that want your business. You must shop your alternatives carefully so that you don’t end up in a worse position than when you started. Take care of your most expensive and most delinquent debt first to save money, and possibly improve your credit score.