Free Credit Counseling

This Two Pronged Approach Can Get You Back On Track Fast, Financially

    By now it should be quite clear to anyone reading this article that there is no government program that is going to bail anyone out of a financial crises. The bottom line,as I have written so many times, is that the key is self empowerment. In keeping with this line of rational and practical thought, I offer the following.

    If you are overcome by unsecured debt, whether it be credit cards,payday loans, retail store cards, deficiency judgments for car repossessions or medical bills and you would seriously like to try to regain control over your situation, first, speak with a credit counselor and see what programs may be available to you for dealing with the debt, outside of a bankruptcy. If the answer is a debt management program and that works for you, fine. Whether the answer is debt management or debt settlement may sure it is a program you can afford. Enroll in the program. First lets talk about if debt settlement is the program you selected. If it is, then most likely many of your accounts have either gone to collection or are about to.

  Once 180 days passes without your having made any type of payment to your original creditor, by law, the original creditor has to charge off the account. This is usually when the account is sent to an outside collection agency. Your credit report is noted account charged off, and the missed or late payments stop being reported. These missed and or late payments have of course lowered your credit score. Next, and here is part two of your two pronged approach, enroll in a credit restoration program at the same time or shortly after you enroll in the debt settlement program. That way, you can work on both eliminating the debt in an affordable manner and eliminate the missed payment negatives and late payments from your credit report at the same time. By the time you are finished with the settlement program, you stand an excellent chance of being well on your way to a higher credit score.

  If you are knowledgeable and have the time you can try he credit restoration part yourself. If not, may I suggest:  http://www.vrtechmarketinggroup.com/aciantro/ . American Debt Enders is an affiliate of this awesome credit restoration program. This recommended approach works. I have personally seen it work over and over. The most important aspect of insuring success is that above all else, you actually overcome inertia, and act.

Written By:
Steven Ciantro
Nifce Certified Credit Counselor
Member of the National Association Of Certified Credit Counselors
American Debt Enders
877-766-2465
Help@americandebtenders.com

This article may be reproduced in its entirety provided the full signature line is used including this permission line.

If Your Credit Counselor Can Only Offer You One Solution, Find Another Counselor

    Having just completed my recertification as a Nifce certified credit counselor and member of the National Association of Credit Counselors, I noticed that the banks actually created there own definition of credit counseling. As amazing as it seems, if you tell a banker from the credit card industry that you are going through credit counseling, they think that you mean you have enrolled in a debt management program, which they control. If you say you are being counseled about the difference between debt management and debt settlement then the banker would comment that this is something other than credit counseling.

  It should be no surprise to anyone in the industry that the banks and some legislative bodies have managed to narrow the definition of what the real spirit of credit counseling is. It is about offering a solution which really meets a persons needs. People with debt problems have more needs than just the immediacy of getting rid of the debt. They have a need to live. In order to keep going there are certain other needs that must be met. What happens if they need a car and, of course, because of bad credit or lack of a cosigner cannot get one. What about credit restoration? Should the counselor tell them they have to wait seven years before the negatives on the credit report will improve? What about a credit card? Even a basic, secured credit card. It is very difficult to function in todays world without one credit card. You cannot rent a car, etc.

   Frankly, non-profit credit counseling conveniently ignores these issues. Why? Because they do not have answers. They can only offer you budgeting education, and a debt management program, or even sometimes housing counseling, but nothing else. The legislators need to take a deep breath and start thinking of credit counseling in different terms. Smart companies have chosen to operate as for-profit credit counseling/referral companies. This allows the counselors to offer a wide array of debt solutions through strategic alliances with partner companies which offer programs more suitable or specific to a clients needs.

  A client opting for a debt settlement program should know that the nature of the program is that the creditors will not be receiving money until it is time to settle the debts in one lump sum. So, this clients credit score, although 99% of the time already quite low, is going to need some credit restoration sooner than seven years. Is it possible? Absolutely. Many of todays more astute referral companies when enrolling someone into debt settlement will also enroll them into a credit restoration program. How about also offering a secured credit card and bad credit car loan.

   The wave of the future in the credit counseling industry is for companies which can offer this array of life saving programs to the debt oppressed to truly allow them to achieve self empowerment.

    If you would like to read more self empowering articles on debt reduction and debt relief, please subscribe to the newsletter feed from this blog by visiting: http://freecreditcounselingblog.typepad.com/creditcounseling/, the subscription is free and we never share your information.

Written By:
Steven Ciantro
www.americandebtenders.com
Certified Credit Counselor
877-766-2465

This article may be reprinted in its entirety provided the full signature line including this permission line are included.