Credit Debt Solutions
So you are drowning in debt. The creditors are calling all the time, so often that you think about having the phone disconnected each time the ring becomes louder and louder in your gut wrenching soul. You don’t want to get the mail. You know what will be there, bills – past due bills – overdue notices. You know because it has become a routine part of your life to dread any contact with the outside world that you do not initiate, always fearing bill collectors and embarrassment. I know. I’ve been there too. Unfortunately, more than once in my life time. It is one of the worst feelings I can remember having to deal with, just the constant pressing knowledge that you have over extended yourself financially and you don’t know how to resolve it. Well, I’m here to tell you that there are ways to resolve it! They may not be easy, they may not all be options you have at this moment, but over time you can resolve your debt issues and climb out of this awful existence and find some credit solutions that work for you.
One option you can use if you don’t mind the continual hiding and can ignoring creditors is to wait. That’s right I said wait. After seven years credit information will fall of of your credit report, whether it is good or bad. This will actually take more than seven years because once a company believes it can no longer collect on a debt it will sell your debt to a collection agency who will continue the process and they can also post information to your credit report. This is exacerbated when the account gets sold over and over again. Because of this, the wait and ignore option is not very effective, but it can work. I did it the first time I was in my credit nightmare and ten years later I had a clean credit report. I wouldn’t advise this method as it is so tough to hide out and not put any utilities in your name or switch jobs when they find you. Plus it really isn’t a very ethical option either and it does nothing to alleviate the stress you are currently under. One other note, this tactic is primarily for credit card debt, which is an unsecured loan. It will not work for any type of secured loan, as you will lose your collateral and still end up with a mark against you on your credit report.
Another option you can try is debt consolidation. Many times this is an option that requires you to have something for collateral, usually a home. As many of us are not home owners, or our homes may have two or three mortgages without enough equity to sustain a debt consolidation loan this may not be an option available to us at this time. However, if you can find a way or a lender that will provide this option to you even at a much higher interest rate, it can be worth it just to resolve the stress caused by heavy debt burden.
The last option that many people consider is bankruptcy. I know, everyone shudders when they hear that term. There are many drawbacks for sure. Bankruptcy on your credit report is an awful black mark, but it may not be as bad as you might think. The people I know who have used this option, and sadly I know a number of them, have all, without exception, expressed such relief after making the decision, and have all told me that they made to correct decision and would not only do it again but in most cases would have done it sooner. We may take sometime in a future post to discuss bankruptcy in further detail but until we do there are a couple of things you should be aware of when making this choice. One is that you will still have credit options available to you after you declare because lending companies know that you can’t declare again for seven years. You will be surprised at the amount of credit card offers (albeit at a much higher interest rate) you receive after declaring bankruptcy. Another point you should remember is that there are several different bankruptcy options available to you depending on your situation, so you may be able to just reorganize your debt in much the same way you would with a debt consolidation. And lastly, due to some of the legislation that the Bush Administration passed through Congress not all credit card debt is able to proceed through the bankruptcy process. Check with a local bankruptcy attorney for the applicable laws and statutes pertaining to your area, as I am NOT qualified to offer legal advice nor do I imply or infer that this information should serve as anything more than commentary on my past experiences.
Whichever path you decide to take please, please make sure you investigate all your options and make the best decision possible. I still wish I had not spent ten years hiding from creditors. It is time I will never get back, and really time is the most valuable thing we have.
