Sometimes debt becomes too much for a person to handle. Bill Collectors are
calling and they can barely make their minimum payments. Trying to talk to
credit card companies and collection agencies alone can be a very frustrated
experience. Many institutions will offer to help people with debt get out as
fast as possible. However, many of these companies profit off of others
misfortune. Non Profit debt consolidation companies are just the opposite. It is
their job to help people in financial distress, with no fees or service charges.

What are Non Profit Debt Consolidation Companies?

Non profit debt consolidation companies are organizations that provide free
credit counseling and clean up to individuals in financial trouble. These
companies call credit card companies and other companies that their clients owe
money to and negotiate payment schedules and sometimes even reduction in
payments. The client pays them and they pay the credit companies, therefore
minimizing the relationship between the client and the collectors.

Who Qualifies For Debt Consolidation?

Everyone is available to apply for consolidation, and there are many choices out
there. Most companies will require their clients to have a certain amount of
debt counseling to ensure that they are learning from the experience and that
they are armed with good tools to fight debt.

Where to find Non Profit Consolidation Companies

The best place to find non profit debt consolidation companies is on the
internet. There are many choices, but the key is to find one where you can
actually call or possibly even meet with someone to discuss your financial
history. Companies that just want written statements about a client’s credit are
not looking out for the best interest of that client.

Bonus: Debt Counseling

Another perk of non-profit debt consolidation is that they often give free debt
counseling as a part of their services. In these counseling sessions they will
discuss setting budgets, talking to credit card companies, and rebuilding
credit. This often helps ensure that people will not end up in the same
situation again.

You know you need to start getting rid of credit card debt. But what are the credit card debt solutions?

Every month you whip out your checkbook and make payments for ever increasing minimums. It’s vitally important to control spending. And its even more important to devise a program now, before it becomes difficult to get the cards paid off. I know it makes sense, but many people overlook the fact that the best credit card debt solution is to stop incurring debt!

Borrow money only when it becomes a necessity, and then, only grudginly. Your minimum payment won’t do. If your making only minimum payments on your cards, your doomed to be making those payments for the rest of your life. Credit cards are convenient. They can be an effective way to manage spending if used properly.

If you belong to a credit union, you may have a great credit card debt solution available to you. See if you can take out a very low interest unsecured personal loan and pay off your credit cards. This can reduce the amount of money that you are bleeding to interest and you can pay off the balance much quicker.

Another debt solution may be to see if you can arrange a loan against an investment such as stock or your 401K. I don’t think this is the best method. But it is important to come up with a solution to the credit card debt. If your earning 5 or 6 percent on your retirement account, but paying 12 of 16 percent or more on your credit cards it just doesn’t make any sense not to pay them off.

Some stock brokerage firms will allow you to borrow against the value of your stock. Basically what you are trying to do here is pull out all the stops. The interest you are paying on your credit card debt is likely far more than the amount that you are earning on your investments. If you are paying 14 percent average interest on your credit cards, then any payment you make that reduces their balance is a guaranteed 14% return on your money.

If your balance is small perhaps one other credit card debt solution is to borrow from a friend or relative. This is my least favorite, but it works. Just make sure that you destroy the card after it is paid and make sure you pay your friend or relative back. Hopefully they won’t be charging you large amounts of interest!

Can you work some overtime. Perhaps get another job for a short period of time. Have a garage sale. Sell some of your collectibles on eBay. What about that car in the garage you never got around to restoring? These are all viable solutions. You have to make a commitment to getting out of debt at any legal cost.

There are a lot of credit card debt solutions. Look at all of them, and see which will fit with your lifestyle. The goal is to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and get on with your life.

If you’re like the average person, let me warn you ahead of time about what I’m going to reveal in the next few paragraphs. You may be angry after you finish reading this article about how you’ve been misled in the use of credit card debt.

The American economy is designed to make you work yourself to the point of exhaustion, only to build wealth for those very same companies you work yourself to death for – not for YOU!

The most eye-opening example of this is with consumer debt. For example, if you purchase your home with a conventional mortgage, you’ll pay about THREE TIMES the amount over the life of the loan. Think about it this way. It’s like taking your monthly mortgage payment and tripling it, then sending it off to the bank.

This is how much you will eventually pay back for the privilege of using their money. So you can see how two-thirds of the total amount you’ll pay your mortgage company is primarily INTEREST payments. Interest is pure profit for the mortgage companies and a detriment to your financial well-being.

Ask yourself a serious question – does the Bank deserve to get so much of your hard earned money? Do you think that they are doing such an outstanding job that they should be compensated so well?

This simply means that when you come home from a hard day at work, you’ve just contributed to your bank or mortgage company’s bottom line – not yours. THIS IS YOUR MONEY! I’m sure you’ve work hard to earn it. You’ll most definitely have to pay taxes on it.

For instance, if you think your mortgage payments are out of control –consider credit card debt. If you have an average payment of $5,000 in debt, it will take you over 60 years to pay that debt in full if you make the minimum payments.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be retired and still making payments on credit cards I charged up in my twenties.

But you know the story, and you’ve probably heard it a million times — the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s certainly not fair and I’ll give you an easy way to get out of debt without loans or debt consolidation programs and more importantly, stay out of debt.

When you know how to invest the money you’re currently spending on mortgage payments, car loans, credit card debt and any other type of monthly installment debt, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you can become debt-free.

Make a commitment to yourself to find at least 10% of your monthly take home pay to help you get out of debt. Look for ways to cut costs. Go over your cable bill, your cell phone plans, see if it still makes sense to keep your home phone, revisit insurance policies, etc. and see where you can redirect money to help you get out of your debt situation.

Now go and gather up your credit card bills, automobile loans, and any other installment loans you have and total them up. Keep in mind there’s a difference between debt and expenses. Expenses are things like utilities, foods and taxes.

After you’ve come to grand total, look at the monthly payments for each debt. Select the monthly payment that is the smallest amount. Now, you’ll add the money you’ve “found” to help you pay down this debt to zero. Once this debt is paid in full, take the money you were paying on this debt, add it to your second debt, plus the extra money you found and continue to payoff your debt in this manner.

It won’t happen overnight, but you didn’t get into debt overnight either. Consistency is the name of this game. By faithfully following this method, it will take the average person between 5-7 years to get completely out of debt.

In today’s world it can seem almost impossible to have freedom from debt. But you can live debt free with a little discipline and knowledge in the right areas. You need to learn some real world skills that can give you the most out of the money you make. Many of us make enough money to live a comfortable life.

First thing you need to do is make a list of all your debts: mortgage & auto loan, credit card and other personal loans. Prioritize your debts. Decide the debts that you want to pay off first. Some financial experts say freedom from debt is possible. But recommend paying the debts that have higher interest rate while making minimum payments on the rest. While there are others who suggest going from the smallest debt to the largest one, because this helps to give you a sense of accomplishment that can help you stay with the plan.

The next step is to list down all the priority expenses such as phone, electricity, food, clothes and other non-priority expenses such as entertainment, gym, dinner at restaurant & etc. Then record down your monthly income. Decide how much money you are left with at the end of each month to pay towards your debt. Are you charging your purchases instead of paying in cash or debit card? How often do you use your credit card on those insignificant purchases when you could have just as easily used cash or even your debit card? This raises your balances and costs you more money in interest. Use cash, check, or a debit card and save yourself some money. Then freedom from debt is possible.

You need to make a budget. Many people feel that budgeting is just a waste of time, but in all actuality budgeting will show you exactly where your money is going and benefit you greatly. It will stretch your dollars further and help you keep track your spending. Budgeting is a very useful and should be used in your home every month. You will be surprised by how much you spend and you will be even more surprised by how much you save if you set up a reasonable budget that the whole family can live within. Freedom from debt is possible. All you need to do is make a list of all your debts. Decide the debts that you want to pay off first. You need make a list of your priority and non-priority expenses and set up a reasonable budget that the whole family can live within. It’s a great feeling when you can live free of debt. You can do it, you just need to get started and the rest will be easy.

So many of the debt relief advertisements that we see in Ohio talk about bankruptcy or debt settlement as a way for solving debt problems. For a few unfortunate families, these might be realistic options. However, most of us have access to better solutions for finding debt relief.

First of all, we should look at our total financial situation. If we need our credit cards just to make it to payday, then we are already living beyond our means. What we need to do is stop using the credit cards and find a way to get a lower payment.

Lower payments are possible through a couple of methods. Debt consolidation loans are available for homeowners with good credit and existing equity. These are more commonly referred to as home equity loans or home equity lines of credit (HELOC).

Accredited Financial Counselors can help us evaluate our financial situation to determine our needs. One of the methods that they specialize in is a self-directed repayment plan. What this means is they can coach us on how to earn lower interest rates and lower payments on our own. All we need is some discretionary income in order to pay more than our minimum payment.

Debt management plans are another possibility that we can attempt to qualify for, regardless of whether we own our home. Debt management plans do not require a high credit score to qualify. Instead, we must show financial need in order to prove that our situation warrants a break from our creditors.

Most major credit card issuers are willing to grant us lower interest rates and lower minimum payments if we meet the qualifications for a debt management plan. It sounds counterintuitive that they would agree to reduce their profits. However, what they are doing is actually reducing the chances that we will default on the debts. This in turn actually serves to increase their profits by helping them avoid bad debt write-offs.

This is why most major credit card providers offer breaks to debt management plan enrollees and even provide some financial support to the credit counseling agencies that provide these plans. They want to make sure that we are getting the budget counseling that we deserve as well as a plan for successful debt repayment. Fortunately, there are a number of credit counseling agencies that serve Ohio.