erase your debt

Gordon Gecko is an American consultant who is touring the world and advocating the use of Debt Consolidation. This is a totally new concept for most people. Many individuals and companies are paying a house loan, car loan, another loan for appliances and credit card payments. "This is ridiculous" says Gordon Gecko "By utilizing debt consolidation one may take out one loan to pay off many others. This has the added advantage of securing a lower interest rates, and a fixed interest rate whilst conveniently dealing with only one loan agency" Gordon said in a recent interview with a major international financial magazine.

Are you feeling the pressure of ever increasing credit card bills? Do they seem to be piling up, and you can't even remember what you charged?
Credit card debt is a major cause of over one million bankruptcies each year. The reason is that many people get a credit card without researching and reading the fine print. By the time annual fees are added on, along with spending indiscriminately, payments are missed, which causes their balance to skyrocket.
Many times credit card companies are partially to blame with their unprincipled tactics, such as offering credit cards to those who really shouldn't have them in the first place, high interest rates, and fees. However, before you can get out of your financial mess, you need to take responsibility for your own actions. I understand that many times unfortunate circumstances can cause one to become greatly in debt. Financial reverses, such as the loss of a job, or a medical emergency, etc. are often beyond our control.
Many times, however, it is usually a pattern that consists of gradually increasing purchases that eventually add up to a large debt. Today, it is too easy to get into the mindset of "get what you want today and pay for it tomorrow", without really worrying about how you're going to pay for it when tomorrow comes. It makes me angry when I see many stores offering easy credit. They tout their offers such as "No interest or payments for a year". While this may seem like a wonderful solution, think about it ... if you can't afford to pay for the furniture now, how are you planning to pay for it in the future, when the bill comes due?
So many things can change in a year. You have no idea where you might be financially in a year. Plus, things like furniture can receive a lot of wear and tear in a year. What kind of condition do you think the items will be in after one year? How much will they really be worth then?
The first step to getting out of debt is learning to curb your spending. Get out of the mindset that "I can pay for this later." If you don't have the cash to pay for it now, don't buy it. Chances are, tomorrow or next week, you will have forgotten all about it. Many times that "urge" to buy will pass once you remove yourself from the temptation in front of you.
Another tip is to leave your credit cards at home when you go out. That way they are not easily accessible when you have that sudden "urge" to spend. Getting out of debt often takes a lot of hard work, and a lot of time to get there, but it also involves changing your spending habits.
It is important to learn how to get out of debt and then stay out of debt. If you learn to set goals regarding your finances and spending, then you will find yourself the winner in the game of debt. It is easy to get into debt, but much more difficult to get out of debt ... so just remember this next time you are tempted to say "Charge it"! erase your debt

1. Use Skip-A-Payment services: These services are offered by most loan, mortgage and credit card companies and allow you to skip payments for a certain period of time, either a month or more depending on the associated fees. It's a wonderful option when you're suddenly short of money due to the birth of a baby, an unexpected medical emergency, or simply out of town and unable to pay on time. The catch here is that you have to be pre-approved for the program, which means you'll have to qualify when you apply for your card. Find out if your provider offers this option before you sign up with them.

2. Transfer your balance to another card: This strategy, while not a very responsible thing to do, gives you a grace period to scrounge up some cash to pay your bill. Of course, you have to make sure that you won't be hit with hidden charges. Read the fine print and go for an offer where there is an upper limit on the transfer fees and a low introductory APR. Also make sure that the introductory APR is for a relatively long period, and try and get your finances in order before that period runs out.

3. Beg and borrow time: Call your credit card company and ask them for some time to pay your bill. If you've been a good customer, there's a chance they'll allow you to skip one payment and carry it over to the next month without charging you penalties. With credit card competition being what it is today, your provider will not want to risk losing you. If necessary, push the fact that you've been a model customer so far and hint that you're considering other options, such as a balance transfer.

4. Seek credit counseling: Counseling service providers can negotiate with creditors on your behalf and try and get you a lower APR or a smaller minimum payment. Here again, the emphasis is on the grace period you'll get to put your finances in order. Make sure you choose a good, accredited counseling service. Responsible services will not charge you huge upfront fees, ask you to do anything illegal, or make unrealistic promises.

5. Pay only the minimum: It's not the wisest thing to do, but there are times when you're hard-pressed for cash and may have to resort to this extreme. To stay out of the permanent debt hole, you'll have to do better next month and keep the interest from pulling you down even further.

6. Accept the consequences: It's a bitter pill to swallow, but at times you just have to face the music and pay the penalty when you can't pay your credit card bill. For starters, you'll have to cough up late payment fees. Then there's the headache of having your APR raised to preposterous levels, and the very real danger of your card being cancelled. A late or missed payment is certainly not going to look good on your credit report, so it's best you use this method only as a last-ditch strategy when all else has failed.

Most companies especially utility ones do not start charging interest rates before one year has passed, so if you try to draw up a program where you pay your current bills and something extra every month to cover your older bills than most companies will definitely be happy to help you as most probably they would have already been contemplating court action or some other type of debt recovery program that would in the end cost them more money than probably you would owe them!

I suggest you first write to your creditors explaining that you are experiencing some financial difficulty but that you are more than willing to pay your debts. If you have already started receiving some reminders or worse final notices about your accumulating debts than now is the perfect time to sit down with your creditors and try to negotiate some new terms that will get you out of the vicious circle that you got yourself into. Being in debt does not have to be a permanent situation it's only a temporary lifestyle that could definitely be improved upon with some willingness to do so on your part.

If on the other hand these companies already started pursuing you and sending you threatening letters and especially if they started making phone calls demanding money, do not let them bully you into forcing you to promise them that you are going to give them the money you owe them. The first step in the negotiations begins with answering back to these letters and telephone calls with another letter to their chief credit controller explaining your position but most important of all do not make any type of promises especially if you know that you cannot keep them.

When you are writing or talking to your creditors always include your full details and any account numbers that may help them track you, remember some debt collection agencies may have thousands of accounts. If a creditor has already sometime wrote to you always remember to include the same reference code that he suggested in his letter.

You should always give reasons why you are not making any payments, you can refer to your budget, income or any other expenses you may have and let the creditor know why you cannot pay the amounts being requested you can also ask the creditors to freeze your interest or at least charge a very low interest rate.

Never attempt to offer any creditor more than you can pay, if you are going to make any promises just be sure you are comfortable with them. In a couple of months your loans should have be already diminished.

http://www.creditorsdebt.com

Whilst everyone knows that shopping sprees may be fun, paying off high interest on your credit card debt definitely is not! The enjoyment that one feels after buying something he cannot afford and paying with his credit card will definitely not last long. Your liabilities will keep on haunting you and as we all know credit card companies will never let your payments slide by without charging you more interest. It's really a vicious circle and if you feel that you are going down this vicious circle of debt then you may need help. But do not despair as help is only a few sentences away.

Credit Card purchases should only be made in the event that someone does not have enough cash on him at the moment of the purchase. You can also use the credit card if you are sure that you will be receiving a good some of money that in the very near future and this will pay for your credit card bills. Otherwise avoid using your credit cards. This can only get you in more debt and more loan trouble. Interests start accumulating without you even noticing it and in a couple of months you will have to pay double of the original purchasing price just because of the high interest rates normally associated with credit cards. The wise consumers only use credit cards with maximum care and they do not start compulsive shopping sprees and they try to limit their use for emergency purposes only.

You can maker a promise to yourself just right now that you will not use your credit card for more shopping sprees, most of the time we all buy something that we really don't need, what about the latest technological gadgets that we buy only to impress our friends and are actually nothing more than useless pieces of technology. What about the latest mobile phone with all the options and beeps that are practically useless but costs at least ten times the normal ones? We are all guilty of such sins, but one should not despair we should definitely start now to try to erase our current credit card debt that we accumulated along the way.

If you start today and make an effort to at least pay more than the interest accumulated in the last months than you definitely are on the right track to erasing your credit card debt. That is the best advice anyone can give you. Just use your credit card less and try to pay off your debt slowly but evenly over time avoiding traps like missing one payment as this will have the unnecessary effect of adding more interest to your future payments.

Think about it just reducing your debt payments on credit cards will already get you to think about your other larger debts and if you are aware of everything you are paying most probably you are on the right track to erasing your debts and start living free.