Well, this might not qualify for “sweet little nothings”, but the truth is that almost all of us feel most comfortable in paying out the lowest possible credit card payment every month rather than making an endeavor to settle credit card debt all at once. It is also not untrue that receiving calls from the debt settlement department is a suffocating experience and when that happens, we have this sudden urge to have access to unlimited amounts of cash to throw in the face of the collection officer and give him an earful for disturbing or otherwise peaceful lives!
Well, in reality such stuff does not happen, as if we had access to unlimited amounts of cash we most likely wouldn’t be in debt in the first place. So if you are in debt and the threat of collection is hanging over you the following tips are going to help you make a credit settlement effectively and hopefully without much hassle:
- Talk to people who really matter – Most of the times it is either the tele-callers or the recovery agents that try to negotiate credit settlement with us and almost always the propositions that we get sound unreasonable to us. These people are literally willing to leave no stone unturned to pull us into an unprofitable proposition and if you have the habit of making the lowest credit card payment every time you get the credit card bill, the chances are you would not even think of raising your voice in the apprehension of getting ridiculed by them.
The truth is, you should stop wasting time talking to these people as they usually cannot decide stuff for themselves – is actually a better idea to try to talk to some supervisor and if possible even to people higher up in the chain of command and urge them to help you out. You would be quite amazed to see that in most of the cases, these people are more than willing to help and if you can clearly make them understand that you have at least been making the minimum credit card payment every month and are actually serious about getting out of credit, chances are you will be offered a more manageable deal. - You should talk about your problems – In most of the cases, the recovery agents and credit collection officers would make you listen to hour long stories about how they almost stopped the earth from spinning in a bid to get you a 1% discount on your credit – but you really shouldn’t be very patient and listen to them because you will already know for sure that the discounts offered are not going to do you any good.
The answer here is to actually talk about your own problems and let them know the very reason that has been preventing you from clearing your credit. Stick to your point and make sure it gets across properly to people sitting in the higher ranks to get the best deal possible. - All communications should be documented – If you have been in credit for quite some time, chances are different people have dealt with your account at different times. In reality, most financial institutions have very flexible rules as far as credit settlement is concerned and different people dealing with your account will give you their own versions of such rules to make them look lucrative to you.
Always make it a point that all communications from the financial institution are documented so you can refer to them before taking any decisions.
Robb Biggs is a financial expert working in the debt recovery team at Payday Loans UK. His focus is on helping customers with debt problems and often writes for finance publications and websites giving practical advice on how best to manage a debt problem.
Divorce can have a detremental effect on your credit and knowing if credit debt settlement is right for you can be beneficial to creating financial freedom.
#1 Comment vom 14. April 2012 um 6:37 pm