Getting your debt advice free would seem to to be a universally good idea. In fact, that’s why it is the title of this blog. I cannot stand the idea of people making money from the desperate without any guarantee that they will resolve your situation. In fact, if you take on a company that charge you upfront for their debt advice and they don’t provide you with a solution then they have just made the situation much worse for you/
What do I mean by debt advice free?
The important point is that the company that you are dealing with should only charge money for their service once the solution that they are proposing has been agreed by the creditors (people that you owe money to). I have no problem with companies/individuals making money if they actually resolve your debt problems but they should not charge you a penny for any work they do up until that point. Most forms of debt solution will have some companies/organisations that either will arrange it completely free (in the case of charities) or will only charge you once the solution is approved. The really good companies will then take the charges over the lifetime of the agreement so that they are more or less invisible to you.
So should you always use a charity/non-charging organisation to resolve your debt problems?
This is where the situation gets slightly more complicated. Your primary objective should be to get a debt solution agreed with your creditors. This may depend more on the reputation that the company organising your debt solution has with your creditors than it does to do with the amount of money that the creditor receives.
Frequently the charge for the debt solution comes out of the money that the creditors receive, that is if you had not been paying it for the debt solution it would have gone to the creditors so whether it is free or not at this point makes no difference to you.
Whether in fact it makes any difference to you depends on the type of debt solution being proposed. This part of the post relates specifically to England and Wales in the United Kingdom but there are probably some general points for readers from other countries:
Debt Management Plans – In this case you would be better off (if you can) getting your DMP from a free provider. This is because in a DMP you actually pay off everything you owe to your creditors. You probably won’t be any worse off each month if your DMP provider charges a fee, but the plan will go on for longer as the debt management company will be extracting their fee from the monthly payment that you make.
Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) and Full and Final Offers – for these debt solutions it really doesn’t matter that much whether your debt solution comes with a fee or not since it will come out of the amount that is to be paid to the creditors (or should do). Therefore the important thing is to select a company with a good record of getting debt solutions agreed (if possible with the creditors that you owe money to)
Tags: Debt Advice, debt assistance, Debt Problems, Debt Solutions
If you’re looking for debt assistance then you’re in the right place…
Well I suppose I don’t know exactly how you feel, so let me explain what my state of mind was like 4 years ago…
I had mounting debts that I couldn’t see how on earth I was ever going to be rid of.
I was missing payments.
I dreaded the phone ringing or opening the mail in case it was yet another abusive call or letter.
I was terrified that someone would call at my home to try and get me to pay up. I was especially worried in case this happened when we had friends or family over.
Having a young family I was very concerned about losing our home.
Basically I was at rock bottom and very nearly suicidal. How could someone of reasonable intelligence have got himself into such a position and how was I ever going to get out of it? Well thanks to the decisions that I made then I am now debt free (and have been for 2 years). The decisions I made then quickly reduced my stress over my debt problems and ended the tide of nasty phone calls and letters.
So who would you rather receive your debt assistance from? Someone who has been through hell and back financially or someone who is only interested in making money out of your situation? OK, so I do run ads on this site (part of not getting into debt again is earning more money!) but I am genuinely interested in helping people that are in the situation that I was. Post comments or questions here and I will do my best to answer them.
If you want your debt advice free then stick around, bookmark this site, or subscribe and I’ll hope to answer your questions.
Tags: Debt Advice, debt assistance, Debt Problems
Here is a selection of the lies that you will be confronted with. They are all designed to do one thing – get you to part with money that you don’t have:
“We are passing this debt over to doorstep collection”- They know that most people would be horrified at the idea of someone visiting their home and will play on this fear at the first opportunity. Unless the debt you owe was arranged on the doorstep or you have gone a very long way down the collection path (CCJs or debt being sold on) it is very unlikely that anyone will call at your house.
“We will be contacting your employer”Again most people would like to keep their financial difficulties from their employer/work colleagues. It is most unlikely that any company would follow through with this as (in the UK) it would count as harassment and would not be legal.
“If you don’t pay up then we will just deduct the money direct from your wages/pay” The impression is often given that this can happen at the whim of the creditor. In fact there is a legal process to be followed before this can happen so it can’t happen without warning.
Always remember that if you do speak to collection agents on the phone, they are probably working towards a target of money collected. They will tell you anything that they think they can get away with to make you pay. Remember this and believe very little of what they say.
Neil
Tags: Debt Advice, debt assistance, Debt Problems, Debt Solutions
