7 Steps to a debt free life
- The accounts must be at least 90 days delinquent to qualify for debt settlement with most creditors. The decision to fall back or stop making payments on your unsecured debt may not be advised by a debt management program or they will violate the law.
- A real hardship must have occurred to the creditors or collectors to negotiate debt consolidation on an account. This means a medical reason, loss of job, etc. .. This is a real hardship, not as an excuse to stop making payments and negotiate an easy way out of your responsibilities.
- Unsecured debt eligible for negotiation
o medical bills
o credit cards
o store card
o personal loans
- The best time to reach a settlement with a creditor if the bill is about 150-160 days behind. At about 180 days mark the account will charge off, which means that will be sold to third party collection agency or will be referred to a law firm for legal action.
- Dealing with a collection agency should not be an easy process, sometimes these companies can call as many as five to six times at different times of day. These may include calls to numbers we work, neighbors, relatives and more. Know your rights and learn to protect yourself when it comes to debt collection by third party.
- Always ask for all settlements in writing. This will be the only way to prove that you are offered a way out of your debt. Make sure you have copies of all checks used to make payments and keep. It’s time to get out of debt and start living a debt free life.
- Clean black marks from your credit report. Or do it yourself or hire a credit repair company for you. Negotiate with creditors and collectors to alleviate any negative marks that they have reported to the credit bureaus to remove.
