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Tips to Legally Write Off Your Credit Card Debt

By: Corey Landis


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If you're like a lot of people today you've got more than $10,000 in credit card debt, along with car payments, mortgage payments or rent. And you're having a bit of trouble getting everything paid every month. You're not alone. There are several management alternatives including debt consolidation, debt counseling, debt settlement or how to write off credit card debt legally.

Debt consolidation is using a new loan to pay off all the smaller unsecured loans, such as medical bills, store credit, student loans, and of course credit card balances. Most of the time the payment for the consolidation loan is less money that the total of the payments for your other loans. That can mean more money for your living expenses and a bit of relief from worry. A debt consolidation loan is usually secured against your home.

Debt counseling is provided by nonprofit and for profit companies. The counselor will go over your budget, credit card balances, verify your income and assets and come up with a program where you can pay off the card balances within a specified time period, usually 5 years. You may be asked to sell off some assets, such as a boat, or car, get a second job, and cut expenses. The money from asset sales goes to pay down your debt. You make the payment to the debt counseling company and they make the payments to the credit card companies. The debt counseling company may take a percentage of your payment for themselves.
Debt settlement is negotiating with each of your lenders to get them to accept a lesser amount than what you owe, as payment in full. There are a number of companies that will do the negotiating for you. The catch is they take a percentage of the amount they were able to reduce your debt by as payment for their services. Another way they make money is to get your balances lowered and you make monthly payments to them until you have enough to reach the agreed to settlement amount. A portion of the payment goes to the settlement company every month. When the payments reach the amount that the credit card companies agreed to accept the settlement company makes the payment to each of your creditors. This is how to write off credit card debt legally.

Bankruptcy is the final option for debt management. You file bankruptcy in court. When the court approves the bankruptcy, you are no longer legally responsible for your unsecured debts. The court may order you to sell assets such as a car, jewelry, stocks and bonds and divide those among your creditors. The court may also decide that you have the ability to pay your debts and not approve the bankruptcy.
Debt management includes several options, depending on your personal situation one of them may be right for you.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction business books. The first step in how to get out of debt is to get your free credit report and scores.

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