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Debt Management Systems

| Saturday, June 21, 2008
What is a debt management system, and when do you need it? Like any kind of management system, debt help systems can be good or bad. We will take a look at what you can do to manage your debt better. One element is paying off debt, but that’s not the only one. It is much more than paying off your credit cards, and doesn’t end when you pay off your mortgage or car loan either. You have to make a system of good money management, and follow this system in your daily life. Here are the key elements in such a system:

Make a budget

The purpose of making a budget is to keep track of the money that comes in and get’s out of your economy. This is basic in every financial system and absolutely necessary to stay on track.
Unfortunately too few people are actually doing this and many are even living above their means.

Approximately 10 percent of the American people spends 10 percent more than they make each
month. If this can be called a system for managing debt, it’s indeed a bad one.

Follow your budget
Now, it’s necessary and great to make a budget. But you’ll also have to follow it. There’s no meaning in using time and effort on making it, if it’s only function is to stay in a drawer.
The first symptom of not following it is experiencing a growing need for debt relief. As soon as you eventually see this, you must put all your effort in getting back on track. This might take a bit of time, but it’s absolutely obtainable.

What to do if you get off track

If you for some reason do not follow the budget you have made, you need to find a program that can help you get back on track again.
There are many such programs that can help you obtain debt relief. What such programs have in
common are that they help you organize a plan to pay off debt.

Offer Advice on How to Stay on track with your budget

The criteria for choosing a plan is that it must be realistic with regard to the time it will take to bring you back on track. If you make goals that are too high, you are setting yourself up to fail, which means a big risk of falling back into your old habits. The average length of a credit-counseling program for example, can range from four to six years.

Credit counseling

This kind of program for managing your debt, is to create a realistic budget, adjusted to the new
financial situation you are in right now. Counselors are professionals, who teach their clients good
money management.

You can also get help to reorganize your debt payments. This is done by consolidating all your
monthly payments into one. You don’t have to pay each creditor bill by bill. The various payments are automatically distributed to all of your creditors, from this single payment. This normally means decreased interest rates and no over the limit or charging late fees.

Loan consolidation

Loan consolidation programs have much in common with the type of program described above. The main difference here is that all your debt is consolidated into one loan, which usually has a low interest rate.

Debt negotiation
This kind of program is also called debt settlement. The main element in this way to manage your debt is to outsource your problems to a debt negotiation firm, which negotiate with your creditors to reduce the total principal of your debt. The main difference from counseling is that your amount of debt are modified, not the interest rates.
This is the most radical program and is probably the quickest way to debt relief there is. In USA the average length of a such a program is three years
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Debt Collection Letters Piling Up - Creating Anxiety? Stop Debt Collectors with a PLAN

| Wednesday, June 4, 2008
If trips to your mail box fill you with dread because all you ever seem to get
are letters from people you owe money to then it’s time to take back control of your money situation. I
know. It’s easier said than done!
Those debt collection letters can be pretty unnerving. If you are in debt and struggling financially,
you probably woud do anything to avoid opening mail from creditors that insist that you pay this bill
in full within 30 days… or else. To be perfectly honest with you, effective debt collectors know exactly
how to word those collection letters to get people to pay up and fast!
Even harder is how to handle a debt collection agency that gets you on the telephone. Either way, you
end up feeling anxious and dreading the idea of dealing with your money mistakes from last year and
beyond. It doesn’t matter if you pop those debt collection letters in a basket near your car keys or in a
desk drawer – unless you have the money to pay the balance in full this month, you will get another
one in thirty days. The only way to stop the dread and anxiety of picking up your mail or answering
your telephone is to create a financial plan that you can make happen.
Before you deal with debt collectors, you need to sit down and go through that basket of household
bills and collection letters to create a grand total of all your current bills and outstanding debts. This
is probably the most difficult aspect of creating a home budget and ultimately, a personal financial
plan but without this crucial step – you will never put a stop to collection letters and debt collectors
calling you at all hours of the day.
Once you have a complete list of ALL your debts, it’s time to start creating a home budget and a
financial plan to get these paid off. Sound impossible? Yes, but it’s all just an illusion. It can be done.
Paying off those debts may not happen in the time frame of the debt collectors or credit card
companies but they will get paid AND you will be in control of every dollar you earn. That is power
and financial freedom. Don’t let bill collectors stop you from enjoying life on your journey to be debt
free. Now, get that pile of collection letters and bills and get started. You have everything to gain
with that one step.
Your next step - decide the order and amount you will pay off each debt. That is beyond the scope of
this article but when you are ready for that step - remember, everything you do today to rid yourself of
debt brings to one step closer to financial freedom

http://www.debt-tutor.com/