Debt Articles:

Plan for the New Year
by Claudia Ferreira

First of all if your debt is out of control you need to sit down and evaluate your options. Start the New Year with a fresh outlook in your future and take measurable steps to ensure your debt will be managed.

How can you easily do that?
1. Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink, gather all your bills and check book and a calculator. Oh yeah, a notebook will help too. Make sure you have an actual notebook and not loose pages for those can be easily lost and it would defeat the purpose.

2. Do not panic. Clear your mind and start with the attitude that this exercise will HELP you.

3. Start a tally on your notebook and create four columns. In the first column enter the name of the credit card, in column number 2 enter the amount you owe, in column number 3 enter the amount you usually pay a month for this card, in column number four enter the amount per month you usually spend on this credit. Draw a line at the bottom of the page and add all columns. Column 2 will have the total you owe, column 3 will have the amount you pay for existing credit card bill, column 4 will have the amount you might add to the bill on a monthly basis.

Credit Card Debt Assessment Recap:
Column 1: Credit Card name
Column 2: Amount you owe to that credit card
Column 3: Amount you pay to that credit card
Column 4: Amount you spend on new purchases on that credit card
Total: Added totals from each column

4. Take a break and go do something you enjoy. This step is important so you don’t get burned out or discourage. Make sure you come back in an hour or so.

5. Start another tally with 2 columns. In the first column enter the name of all the bills you currently pay; like electric bill, car loans, rent or home payment etc., in column number 2 enter the amount you pay for those bills. Draw a line at the bottom of the page and add all numbers in column 2.

Draw another line and enter in column 2 the income you make every month. Make sure you enter all income; salary, child support if any, government help if any, enter all the money you make.

Subtract the total amount you pay in bills from the amount you put down as income.

Monthly Expenses Assessment Recap:
Column 1: Name of the Bills you have to pay a month (for example, electric bill, car loan, water bill, rent, child care and so on) Do not enter any credit card bills here!
Column 2: Amount you pay to those bills
Total 1: Total amount you pay in bills (other than credit card bills)
Total 2: Total income you have left after you pay your bills (other than credit card bills)

Take a deep breath and look at the total from the Credit Card Debt Assessment Recap. Most likely if you add the total you pay a month from the Credit Card Assessment and the total you pay on your Monthly Expenses Assessment, you will realize that if you get rid of the credit card bills you will have more money to spend.

You might also realize that this figure not only is growing because you keep adding to the total by buying more things, but it keeps growing even if you do not buy anything because of interest rates that get added to your bill on a daily basis!

6. Take a few moments to reflect what your situation is and decide if you are ready to take charge and keep more of your hard earned money. It can be done, and if you start today, in a few months you can have your finances under control and with a better plan for your future.

7. If you decide to do that then debt settlement is for you. Debt settlement experts negotiate your debt with your credit card company and arrange that you pay less than you owe and satisfy your debt.

How do they do that? Simple. The credit card companies will look at all that you owe and will remove some of the interest that accumulated, or will remove some of the balance so you can pay them instead of filling for bankruptcy in which case they will not see any of the money.

8. What is the next step now that you have made your decision? Contact a reputable Debt Settlement company and start the process. I would suggest Private Debt Solutions since I am very familiar with their ethics, integrity, and professionalism. Keep in mind a few points: Privacy, integrity, reliability, proven results and experience. I think you will find that they have all that and more. If you have any questions you can email me at Claudia @  toolstosettle.com. (remove the spaces)