Saturday, October 22, 2011

Debt Solutions: Solutions With Immediate Impact

By John Roney


Unfortunately I am unable to look over your shoulder as you review your personal expenses and give you individual financial advice. What you need to is step back and become your own critic and counsellor. Try to imagine what a financial adviser would say to you if he or she was staring at your finances on paper! What you need to do is split your spending into two types, priority and non-priority. Priority spending is those things that need to be paid like bills, food and your mortgage for example. Write down these items in list form and highlight them so they stand out to you. Non priority expenses is all other spending that you make on things you buy but you don't really need. For example do you have to spend money on coffee each morning before you start work or purchase that magazine that you don't even read? You get the idea.

The first step for any consumer looking to cut back their outstanding debt is to sit down and work out exactly how much debt they have and how much of their income is spent on repaying these debts. It is essential to be completely frank and honest at this stage and if your outgoings on debt are a large portion of your income then this is a critical situation. Once a person has identified and detailed all outstanding debts the next stage is to consider possible debt solutions. Most financial institutions and authorities can offer sound debt advice which can be crucial in working out a plan for reducing debt. The most effective way to reduce debt is to draw up a budget and stick to it.

This budget should have detailed figures for the amount that can be spent on every area per month, from food to social activities. Within this budget should be a set portion of income which can be set aside to repay debt on a monthly basis. Another way to reduce outstanding debt is to switch any loans/ credit cards to a cheaper provider. If you have had the same credit card or loan provider for sometime chances are there is a better rate on the market.

A personal payment strategy is also a good approach to pay back your debts and manage your funds. It is not necessary to seek the aid of professionals when paying bills. Try a personal payment strategy, where you decide how much you shell out, and then work out a different plan of payment or settle what you owe with the collection agency. Coping with the creditor gets a lot easier when you are mindful of the legal guidelines and consumer rights under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act. If you are not able to get out of debt using a consumer debt solutions plan (through consolidating and managing debt) then you could seek bankruptcy relief. Filing for bankruptcy could result in some or all your debts being forgiven by the judge. Even so, going bankrupt ruins your credit for 7-10 years, so use this as a last resort. Future loans may also have both a greater rate of interest and down payment.

Limit your withdrawals from the cash machine to one per week. Taking money from the cash machine is one of the most impulse ways of spending money that only gets frittered away on nothing. Try and set yourself a limit on how much you will withdraw, the amount has to be what you think you will spend during the week with cash. Be careful with this money, once it spent you must not return to the cash machine. Many options are available when you want to lessen your debt. Individuals considering the process of a consumer debt solutions need to take note of some of these alternatives.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment