If you have multiple debts, and are struggling to meet the
monthly payments, then there's a good chance you will want to
consider, now or later, a consolidation loan to become debt
free.
If you have already studied your monthly expenditure and can
see no way to make savings, and find you have no way of earning
extra money, then your next option may be a free debt
consolidation loan.
By free, I mean no extra charges or arrangement fee for the
consolidation loan; your chances of getting an interest free
consolidation loan are just about zero, unless you have a rich
relative or friend. Should you go down the debt consolidation
route, try to avoid any loan arrangement which involves upfront
fees, or any extra fees at all for that matter. Whether that is
possible will depend on where you live, but in the UK, it is
not difficult to get a free debt consolidation loan.
One benefit of a consolidation loan is that it does give you a
chance to plan your finances in a way that could, if you're
careful, make you debt free by the end of the period of the
loan. By debt free, I will be realistic and mean "debt free
apart from home mortgage", which most people have little option
about, and mortgage debt can be worthwhile financially anyway.
Taking out a debt consolidation loan will not, of course, make
you instantly debt free. However, it may be that such a loan
will give you a chance to structure your finance plan over a 3,
5 or 7 year period. With the correct attitude and perseverance,
this may be an excellent opportunity to improve your finances
in the long term, resulting in being debt free by the end of
the loan period.
The consolidation loan will reduce your monthly outgoings, thus
giving you the opportunity to save. By getting into the saving
habit instead of debt habit, you will be able to set aside
money to pay cash for the things you need in the future; if you
are determined and disciplined, even that next car purchase can
be in cash, rather than an expensive loan. The result: you
become debt free.
In the financial reality of a consumer, if you cannot to afford
to pay cash for something, then you probably cannot really
afford it at all. The one exception is the house, where the
investment potential and rent saving change the financial
aspect.
Can you imagine, waking up at the end of the consolidation loan
term and finding yourself debt free? What a nice feeling!
About The Author: This debt consolidation article was written
by Roy Thomsitt, the owner and author of
http://www.eliminate-credit-card-debt-now.com/Consolidate_Debt.htm
Formerly a finance professional and credit controller, Roy is
now a full time online author.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Legal Debt Collection Tricks
If a customer owes your local business money, it's hard not to
feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your
money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt
over.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, designed to protect
consumers from harassment or intimidation, sets firm limits on
what you can do to collect a debt from a consumer. The federal
debt collections law even prohibits practices that were once
standard, and that you might not consider harassment at all.
Besides, as a local business, you have an even more powerful
reason to be especially careful about legal debt collection
issues. You have something much more valuable at stake than a
lawsuit: your business's reputation in the community.
Legal Debt Collection Best Practices:
There are plenty of articles on the web that lay out in plain
English what the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act says you
can and cannot do. Just to give you some idea of the law's
requirements, here are some of the biggest:
- No telling any third party about the debt (except collection
bureaus, collection agencies, or the debtor's attorney).
- No calling on the telephone 9 pm - 8 am, or calling
repeatedly in a way that is annoying.
- No postcards or envelopes that mention the debt.
- No threats to take actions you cannot or will not really
take, such as seizing property, in the case of an unsecured
debt.
- No misrepresenting yourself (e.g., "Hi! This is the
Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. May I speak to John?").
- No paying down the debt with payments the customer has
directed be applied to other debts
Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections:
With all these limits on what you can do to collect a debt,
what can you do legally?
- Speak with the debtor personally on the telephone; most
likely he or she wants to pay but is in over his or her head.
Begin by asking what circumstance has kept him or her from
paying. Offer to set up a repayment plan.
- You should both send letters and make telephone calls. Many
people will only respond to one or the other.
- Document every part of the collections process. Take notes
for each call and keep a copy of each letter. If the debt does
ever go to court, you will have proof you acted legally.
- Look into reporting the debt to credit bureaus. If you can,
and are willing to do it, you can tell the debtor that not
paying will impact his credit rating.
- Best tip of all: hand over the job to a dedicated collection
agency. Small business debt collection services start at as
little as $20 per debt. The fight to get paid is a fight no
business should have to involve itself in.
Unfortunately, debt collections are a part of business. Just
make sure that for your local business debt collection law is
followed to the letter, or legal proceedings may become part of
your business, too.
About The Author: Free debt collection laws information at
http://www.debt-collection-laws.com/
feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your
money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt
over.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, designed to protect
consumers from harassment or intimidation, sets firm limits on
what you can do to collect a debt from a consumer. The federal
debt collections law even prohibits practices that were once
standard, and that you might not consider harassment at all.
Besides, as a local business, you have an even more powerful
reason to be especially careful about legal debt collection
issues. You have something much more valuable at stake than a
lawsuit: your business's reputation in the community.
Legal Debt Collection Best Practices:
There are plenty of articles on the web that lay out in plain
English what the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act says you
can and cannot do. Just to give you some idea of the law's
requirements, here are some of the biggest:
- No telling any third party about the debt (except collection
bureaus, collection agencies, or the debtor's attorney).
- No calling on the telephone 9 pm - 8 am, or calling
repeatedly in a way that is annoying.
- No postcards or envelopes that mention the debt.
- No threats to take actions you cannot or will not really
take, such as seizing property, in the case of an unsecured
debt.
- No misrepresenting yourself (e.g., "Hi! This is the
Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. May I speak to John?").
- No paying down the debt with payments the customer has
directed be applied to other debts
Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections:
With all these limits on what you can do to collect a debt,
what can you do legally?
- Speak with the debtor personally on the telephone; most
likely he or she wants to pay but is in over his or her head.
Begin by asking what circumstance has kept him or her from
paying. Offer to set up a repayment plan.
- You should both send letters and make telephone calls. Many
people will only respond to one or the other.
- Document every part of the collections process. Take notes
for each call and keep a copy of each letter. If the debt does
ever go to court, you will have proof you acted legally.
- Look into reporting the debt to credit bureaus. If you can,
and are willing to do it, you can tell the debtor that not
paying will impact his credit rating.
- Best tip of all: hand over the job to a dedicated collection
agency. Small business debt collection services start at as
little as $20 per debt. The fight to get paid is a fight no
business should have to involve itself in.
Unfortunately, debt collections are a part of business. Just
make sure that for your local business debt collection law is
followed to the letter, or legal proceedings may become part of
your business, too.
About The Author: Free debt collection laws information at
http://www.debt-collection-laws.com/
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