Insurance and Credit

The phone rings. You don’t pick it up, because you know that it’s going to be another debt collector. You’ve fallen behind – the mortgage, rent, credit cards. It doesn’t matter, you’re still under water for a lot of money and are looking for a way out.

The time to remedy this is before it reaches a collections agency. There are some very basic things you can do to keep your credit in good standing.

First and foremost, maintain a channel of communication. Contact your creditors (even the collections agencies) proactively and talk to them. Explain what’s going on in your life; the common perception that they’re heartless sharks isn’t close to reality. They want to get their money, yes. But they’re worried that you’ll vanish down a rabbit hole leaving them with an uncollectable debt as well.

Before you call, have a plan. Tally up all of your debts, all of your expenses in a month, including a general “oops” amount, and figure out how much you can really afford to pay. Paying down your debts takes some fiscal discipline; cut back on going to fast food restaurants and learn to cook more vegetables for meals are two surprisingly easy ways to cut back on expenses.

Unless you’re already at least three months behind on your payments, creditors aren’t going to be willing to negotiate a settlement with you; and since so far, you’ve been in good standing they have little incentive to do so. It’s not uncommon to make a late payment now and again and other than paying some late fees or interest payments, there’s really nothing else to it. Consumers typically return to making regular payments.

Fourth – talk to your creditors. Call them if you’re going to be late with a bill. Tell them about what’s going on, and demonstrate that you do consider your debts important. Most creditors live in fear of a person becoming noncommunicative and bailing out on the debt or filing bankruptcy. Most will be quite happy to extend a payment deadline by a week or two to help you out.

If you are dealing with a collection agency, have a copy of your credit report handy. Try to get the final disposition of the debt changed to “settled for less than the total outstanding balance” rather than “did not pay as agreed”. Even better, if you can work out a livable agreement, and pay it off, make sure to get your credit report again and get your creditors to report it as settled.

You might be able to take care of one or even a couple small debt negotiations by yourself – but if you have many delinquent accounts, it can be too much to juggle on your own. However, most people who are in such serious financial trouble that they’re considering debt negotiation have more than one past due account in need of settlement. If you only have one delinquent account, your creditor probably won’t be willing to settle since you’re keeping current with other accounts. Most of the time, professional help is the way to go to get a handle on your debts. A good debt management company is dedicated to helping consumers make wise choices and connect with the most appropriate debt solution to manage their debt.