Debt Management Program
Here is the short and sweet system. Get some paper and your bills for the last 4 months. Write in a column what you spent and add it up, month to month. Go find your income for the last 4 months. Compare those numbers, how's it look?
If you are like the other 80% of the population the out-flow is bigger than the in-flow. Now for the management program, step one decide if you want to be ... Read debt consolidation 1 article
Debt consolidation program - All you need to know
Debt consolidation programs are devised to get you out of debt in the quickest and most inexpensive manner possible. When you sign up with a debt consolidation manager they will work with your creditors to combine all your debt and lower your monthly payments. It is a debt settlement arrangement that works by lowering your interest rates and forgiving your late fees thereby lowering your monthly p... Read debt consolidation 1 article
Debt Consolidation - When You Owe Them Money
There is no doubt about this area of debt consolidation and collection that it is indeed most controversial. Where and how does a legitimate well managed debt programme slide into the murky world of illegitimate threats and debt harassment?
Additionally there is no doubt that this whole subject is one huge grey area and in a lot of cases depends upon whether the persons contacting you are either collecting the debt on behalf of someone else or employed by the Creditors themselves directly. In the United States if the Collector is employed directly then the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act does not apply to them and conversely if the collector is trying to collect on behalf of someone else then the Act does apply - make sense?
The relevant legislation that covers this area for the United Kingdom and the United States is as follows:
UK - Consumer Credit Act 1974 http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/CCA/default.htm
The Administration of Justice Act 1970 (Section 40)
USA - Fair Debt Collection Practices Act http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm
The bottom line as in all cases is that it is a CRIMINAL offence if a Creditor or their Agents contravene any of the above relevant acts and that contravention causes the debtor or their family alarm, distress or humiliation. Specifically, harassment is a criminal offence under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and if convicted, the transgressor could be liable to six months imprisonment and/or a level 5 fine (up to ?5,000 fine).
In part two of this series we will go into the above legislation and the practical ramifications in more detail but let me stress here and now that this series is not all about trying to coach people into debt avoidance. The principle of Credit and Debt is as old as time itself and to act as some form of proponent for the abolition of one of the corner stones of Capitalism and the Free Market Economy would be nothing more than economic suicide and highly irresponsible but there comes a time when as far as some individuals are concerned, enough is enough.
As Shakespeare said "To err is only human, to forgive divine", well I am not trying to imply that all types of successful debt consolidation rely upon divine intervention (though there is many an Insolvency practitioner who would concur that some Individual Voluntary Arrangement applications would need divine intervention to make them succeed) rather that we consider why it is that some of the less fortunate amongst us have difficulty in dealing with their debts.
The really intriguing aspect of all of this is that the profile of those who are now filing for either Bankruptcy or an IVA is changing almost daily. Gone are the old fashioned stereotypes and welcome to the world of everybody. Today a news item reported rather tragically of a UK Student who took his own life because his bank was not prepared to help him with a ?1200 overdraft facility.
"The Debtors they are a changing" (apologies to Bob Dylan) and so must be the way that we deal with them.
In the present scenario, our demanding lifestyle and consistent craving for things have forced us to come under many debts. Although we have come a long way as far as scientific developments are concerned, in the same way we could not keep up with the demands of an average human being. Sometimes, we opt for some other sources like debts to keep up the balance between demand and fulfilment. Everything goes fine until these debts accumulate into a big loan amount and begin to pose problems for our financial health. In those shaky and demanding situations, people can easily revive their financial situation with the help of a debt consolidation loan.
A debt consolidation loans is a specially designed loan option to bring relief in those trying times, when you fell overburden by debts. You should really feel very good, if you are a homeowner. Actually, being a homeowner means that you can easily use the tied up equity of your home to procure the loan amount. Therefore, it becomes quite easy to procure a debt consolidation loan by offering the home as collateral against the loan amount.
The basic concept behind the debt consolidation loan is quite simple. In fact, it's hard to control many things or debts at a moment, but the borrower can easily concentrate on a single debt. Thus, by taking a debt consolidation loan, the borrower not only gets the much-needed mental peace, but also gets rid of other problems. By consolidating all the debts, borrower also get rid of huge interest rate, which becomes huge as all the debts accumulate and become a big loan amount. Moreover, the monthly instalments also reduce consequently.
There are numerous banks and finance companies in the UK, which provide a debt consolidation loan. But, borrower's favour lies in the best deal. Thus, borrower should do a prior research about a debt consolidation loan before opting for one. This research could be done easily either by shopping around or by visiting the websites of many lenders. This would give all the required information and it would help the borrower to make the right decision.
The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting Longdogfinance as a finance specialist.
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Debt Consolidation - When You Owe Them Money
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