Free Financial Planning Advice » Debt Settlement

The Importance Of A Debt Management Consultant

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:35:34 +0000

Excessive debt is not only a financial matter. While of course the financial pressure and stressors are real, excessive debt is often a symptom of underlying issues. The inability to manage one’s finances responsibly, or a tendency to create repeated situations of large debt need real attention by the individual in debt. The action, getting a debt management consultant, has two parts. Both are tremendously important. They can (and perhaps, should) take place simultaneously.

One thing is to manage the debt. Debt management services like debt settlement will help to consolidate and/or minimize the debt owed. The experts (often attorneys) involved will mediate with the creditors and arrange certain payment programs that the debtor can handle reasonably. Sometimes such a dept management program can cut debts to 40% or 60%. Yes, you can say “wow.”

The second aspect is to take care of the financial situation in the long run. If you’ve been in excessive debt once, you know you don’t want to do it again. Nor do you want to pay for the attorneys again. What you really need is to get debt management credit counseling. With a little research online, you can undertake a full debt management plan that not only helps you settle the debts, but gives you a personal debt management consultant. This expert is usually not a lawyer. Instead, it is an individual who has full knowledge of the financial, psychological, and emotional situation that a debtor is in. Debt management consultants are qualified to guide and advise you through financial decisions as well as build plans for your financial future. Understanding how to manage your finances for the rest of your life is key to staying out of debt. In fact, not only avoiding debt, but building real life savings.

One such service to look into is called Freedom Debt Management. It is a non profit organization community service that provides a number of services to the public. The staff is dedicated to educating and counseling consumers through budgeting, credit, debt, and homeownership. The organization has a number of different debt management programs designed to help the individual through various steps of financial stability. Perhaps we can say, financial success. For example, you can take care of credit consolidation and obtain free budget counseling from the same organization, from experts in the respective fields. They even offer unemployment services. Definitely worth considering in order to solve your debt problems, long term.

Debt Settlement USA: Things You Need To Know

Chava — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:58:49 +0000

Settling excessive debt is not easy. Doing it yourself may take significant time and energy, and may not be successful. Hiring a debt relief group to do the job for you is an often preferred choice. One such company, Debt Settlement USA, has been in the business for about ten years. DSUSA has a fairly clear and easy to maneuver website that explains much of their process in settling debt. They handle debts of $12,000 or more, with at least $1,000 of debt due to each of your creditors. Most credit card, medical, rent, and unsecured loan debts are dealt with.

DSUSA presents itself as a advising and negotiating company. Upon your qualification and contract, they are to contact each of your creditors and settle debt for anywhere between 40% and 60% of your debt. Settlements are to occur between 18 to 36 months, and result in a lower payment and less amount of time that you’ll actually be in debt. It seems that they settle you for a single lump payment that wipes clear all the debt.

The problem, however, arises when you read Debt Settlement USA reviews. Nearly all the reviews available online are negative. Some mildly so, others aggressively so. It seems that many complaints have been filed against the company, to the point that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has given Debt Settlement USA Inc an F rating on their scale of A+ to F. The company is not accredited by the BBB.

Dect Settlement USA complaints range from unprofessional employees, to debts not being fully settled, to unreturned phone calls, to outright refusal to return owed money or keeping payments for work that was never done. According to a number of customers, the company takes monthly payments from your account, some to be set aside and “saved” for the final negotiated payment to creditor, and some as their own company fees or payment. After a number of months, debts are still unsettled and DSUSA seems to back out on their word. Clients rage that they were able to do a better job at settling on their own, without DSUSA as mediator.

To counter these complaints, one Debt Settlement USA review points out that this company has been around for a number of years and has over 20,000 clients. This means service is not personalized, and complaints are filed; that is the norm and the expectation for such a large company. Especially a company in such a touchy business.

All in all, be a cautious consumer. Before making use of DSUSA’s services, do further research to confirm their validity and trustworthiness.