Real debt solutions

Things you can do to clean up your financial situation

Debt management help

• 1You have heard this one a million times before but cut up your credit cards. The interest on credit cards is steep and if you can only manage to pay the minimum each month what you owe will grow dramatically. Be selective in what you buy and pay in cash.
• 2Develop a budget and stick to it. This can be difficult and it would take a lot of will power but it definitely is worth it.
• 3If you are behind on payments whether it is on the mortgage or a car payment contact your lenders and see if there is anything that they can do to help. In these tough times it is certainly worth a phone call.
• 4Become financial savvy and learn as much as you can about debt and what your rights are.

Debt relief help

• Seek help from a credit counselor who will guide you to become debt free. Just make sure that the company that you are dealing with is reputable and offers one on one counseling.
• Debt management plans or DMP which are usually recommended by credit counselors. This enables you to make payments each month that goes to lowering what you owe.
• If all else fails you can also try a debt settlement program. You may have heard of companies that say that you can lower your total debt by going this route, but that is necessarily true. There are no guarantees that lenders will lower your total amount of debt.
• Debt consolidation is another option to consider. This plan requires you to put in your house as collateral.

The last option, bankruptcy

1. Chapter 13 where you can keep your property as long as you make the court ordered payments.
2. Chapter 7 is pretty straight forward you lose personal property unless it is essential like a car or house.