Definitions of Debt Consolidation on the
Web:
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Definitions
of Debt Consolidation on the Web:
A strategy
sometimes used by consumers to
better manage their debt problems.
Rather than paying off several
separate bills each month, a
consumer consolidates his or her de
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bts
with a financial institution that
will arrange for one lower monthly
payment extending over a period of
time.
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Paying off multiple bills and replacing
them with one, easy-to-manage payment.
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The act of paying off all outstanding
debt with a single loan.
Hence, the word Consolidation
- the combination of separate items or
scattered material into a single mass
So Debt consolidation programs
are a way to combine all of your unsecured
debt (debt that doesn't have collateral)
into a single monthly payment, usually with
a lower interest rate.
What is Unsecured Debt?
Unsecured debt - debt that doesn’t have
collateral or involves a title or lien, like
an automobile loan or mortgage payment.
Debt such as:
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Credit card debt
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- Past due utility bills
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- Medical and legal bills
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- Service charges
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- Unsecured personal loans
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- Charge cards such as gasoline and
store cards
So
Debt
Consolidation Programs,
contact your creditors and notifies them
that you are in their program, then they
direct all future contacts from these
creditors to them, then they negotiate to
lower your payments, then they collect a
single monthly payment from you to cover all
your debt, some might even offer “Good Faith
Rewards” if your always on time with your
payments.
Do Debt Consolidation Programs Charge a Fee?
In a word, yes - debt consolidation
programs charge a fee. In exchange
for their services, a debt consolidation
company will charge a fee, but that fee will
be a small portion of the money their
negotiations save you each month and paid on
a monthly basis throughout the life of your
debt. A typical fee might be $40 per month
for a $290 reduction in monthly payments and
a savings of $7,275 in interest over 6
years.
What Else
Should I Know About Debt Consolidation
Programs?
While you are in
a debt consolidation program, all of the
accounts in the program are closed. Many
debt consolidation programs allow you to
keep one card out of the program as an
"emergency" card so that you aren't
completely without credit if you need it.
Beyond that, you are prevented from using
any of the credit cards in the debt
consolidation program to run up new charges,
and in most cases you won't be able to apply
or get approved for new credit cards. This
will effectively rein in your tendency to
spend when you shouldn't, making sure your
debts are cleared up without new debts being
racked up.
You are making
these payments over the life of your credit
agreement, probably saving about 500 – 1,000
in interest and making an extra monthly
payment to a firm that has closed your
accounts and is sending in your payments
(something that you can do for yourself)
each month.
So with the Debt Consolidation Program they
are going to lower your monthly payments on
the 10,000 by 10% - 50%
now this is just lowering your monthly
payments. YOU
still are paying the amount owed of $10,000,
you are just paying in smaller doses over a
longer period of time. So if your
original monthly payments combined on all of
your cards was $250 and 50% reduction in
your payment it is now $125. Now it
will take you 252 months to be rid of your
debt of $10,000 at your old monthly payment.
In that time, you will have paid $5,658.75
in interest. With Debt Consolidation
they are not removing your debt, just
lowering the monthly payment amount and
decreasing the amount of interest and late
fees you would have to pay. On top of
this you are making $40 payments for
504months on closed accounts that they are
sending in your monthly payments for.
Now really, you can send in your own
monthly payments. If you’re
sending it into the Debt Counselor you can
send it into your Creditor. Now over
the life of this contract with the Debt
Consolidation Counselor if your making
504payments to payoff your original debt of
$10,000 you are now also making 504 payments
of $40 as a fee for them maintaining custody
of your accounts. This comes out to
$20,160 additional to the original $10,000
plus interest you were already paying.
So now you have paid over the life of this
account $30,160+ on $10,000 worth of
original debt.
What does A&N DEBT
NEGOTIATORS do for me?
We contact your creditors and notifies them
that WE are representing you in negotiating
your outstanding debt with their firm. We
also inform them that they are to direct all
future contacts to the Negotiator assigned
to you, then we negotiate to reduce your
debt amount owed. We then contact you and
give you our results. You either say:
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- Yes, I can
live with that
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- No, can you
get them to come down further
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- No, I’m
not happy with that, let’s forget it.
You always have total control.. Once
you make your decision and we continue on
with the process, the fee is then payable
based on the amount saved.