Credit counseling service for credit card and unsecured debt.
Credit counseling and debt settlement services for credit card debt and other unsecured bills.
Can't pay the minimums on your credit cards?
Consistently late paying one or more of your regular bills?
Being hounded by creditors and collection agencies?
Can't reach reasonable repayment plans with creditors?
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Don't know if credit counseling or debt
settlement is the best option?
Credit counseling vs debt settlement benefits
Both programs offer consumers a way to repay their unsecured debt. To decide which program is best for you, apply for both and review each one's plan specifically designed for your unique circumstances. Read below to review the differences between debt settlement and credit counseling:
About debt settlement:
Debt settlement may impact your credit; however, if your credit is already bad and if you don't think you'll be able to endure the longer debt repayment plan of credit counseling, then debt settlement may be best for you.
About credit counseling:
With credit counseling, you have the opportunity to improve credit if you can stick with the program. Debt counseling typically takes longer to repay debt or has a much higher monthly repayment plan.
Questions to ask a credit counselor:
Is your organization nonprofit? Nonprofit agencies, by the nature of their financial status, are in business to help the public. You want to work with an agency that has demonstrated a concern with serving the public, not itself.
How are you funded? Organizations should be willing to disclose this information and all other information about their operations. Nonprofit credit counseling agencies are normally funded in-part by creditors. The agency receives a fair-share contribution from some of your creditors because by working with you the organization is helping the creditor get the money it is owed. It should work with all your creditors, regardless of whether they receive fair share or not.
Are your counselors certified? Independent certification is a sign that the organization is committed to adhering to quality standards set for the credit counseling profession.
How are funds dispersed to creditors? It is important to make sure that your payments will be disbursed to your creditors in a timely fashion.
What fees will I be charged? Do not work with an agency that charges a large upfront fee. Some will promise to allow you to earn back the fee over a certain time, but conditions and timing may make an earn-back unlikely.
Do you offer counseling in person over the Web and by phone? The option of meeting with a counselor the way you want should be available to you if you would prefer that option.
How long will counseling take? Anything less than 30 to 45 minutes will deal only with surface issues and help the agency sign you up more than it will help you set new goals, understand how you got into debt in the first place and how to stay out of it in the future.
What lifestyle changes will I need to make to be successful? To be successful in getting out of debt, you probably have to make changes in your spending habits. The organization you work with should have educational opportunities for you to learn how to budget, set financial goals and begin a savings program.
Contact your local Better Business Bureau or the Consumer Federation of America to see if the organization has any consumer complaints.
Get your finances under control without credit counseling:
Look through your checkbook, statements, and receipts. Start gathering information on where, and how much money you spend in various categories on a weekly or monthly basis.
Just knowing where your money goes is a terrific education in and of itself. You will be amazed, and learn things about yourself you didn't realize. And right away, you'll get some great ideas on how to curb spending. This is the first step towards do-it-yourself credit counseling.
Preview Debt Relief Offers and Apply Online
Get more information about debt, and read our articles related to credit counseling.
Debt
When
debts are charged off or rather written off by a creditor, the borrower may get
a notice from the creditor when it is done. The charge off could be considered
income and may need to be claimed on a tax return. If so, the debt is legally
dead and taxes were paid on the income. Be aware that there is a statute of limitation
in all states, it is important to know what it is before trying to arrange to pay off a debt.
Collectors have a certain time period to collect on a debt.
When a debt is older than the statute of limitations, make that clear to bill collectors.
Debts
may not be on credit reports after seven years, if it has not been paid during
that time. How an account has been reported can make a difference between
ruining credit or having no affect on reports. The time a late payment can remain on
reports has nothing to do with the statute of limitations. People can be sued
for a debt even though it is not on a credit report, and the statue limitations
is still in effect. Once the statue is out of date, the debt is not
collectable.
When
people are not successful at getting out of debt by themselves, they often seek
a credit counseling service. Debt settlement programs
advertise they can help decrease debt up to fifty percent. This could be
possible when accounts are closed and a payment plan is developed. Some people
are able to get a debt settlement loan to pay the reduced payoff. Debts that are
delinquent can cause a creditor to take legal action, and they may win a
judgment. When this happens, part of a person's income could be garnished or
property could be seized. When a huge amount of debt is owed, the chances of
this happening can increase.
Just
because there are a lot of debts, does not mean a person should automatically
jump into filing bankruptcy. Sometimes people are so stressed they jump to this
option. They may not want to risk garnishment of wages or seizure of their
property. This is not a possibility without having court take place first. Bankruptcy
is one choice that should be used when there are no other alternatives.
The
creditor who settles for a lesser amount of money, may mail a 1099 tax form to
the borrower, so it can reported as income on their tax return. Yet, if a person
owed $50,000 and the creditor settled for $25,000 that may be worth getting a
1099.
Review Disclaimer:
Review information was gleaned from the website, and is neither an endorsement by us nor an confirmation of content nor a warranty of any promises made by the website. Use the review information at your sole discretion and sole liability.
At Superior Debt Services we work for you, the consumer. Many debt relief companies, especially those that are non-profit, are actually set up by creditors themselves to recover as much of the debt as possible. We won’t ensnarl you in that trap here. Here are some company highlights:
* We have over 11 years of experience learning the ins and outs of the debt settlement industry.
* We do not charge upfront fees! We do not pay ourselves until at least one of your accounts is settled. In fact, we’ve successfully operated a settlement-based fee model since 2006.
* We have an ‘A’ rating with the Better Business Bureau- you can verify this by visiting bbb.org. Just click on Check Out a Business or Charity, then type in Superior Debt Relief. The state is Colorado (CO).
* We use an FDIC insured account in order to grow funds that go toward your settlements. Clients have full access to this account 24/7, and we are authorized to view the balance when creditors call us.
* We are certified by the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA). We have been listed #1 with the IAPDA for 4 years in a row!
Credit Card Debt Relief: Credit card debt is easy to get into. Unfortunately, it has also been designed to be nearly impossible to get out of. Minimum payments can keep a consumer on the hook for 30 years or more. In this time, he/she will have typically paid back the original credit card debt - ten times! Obviously, making only the minimum payment is not an effective way to get out of debt. But when a financial hardship inevitably occurs, it gives the credit card companies a reason to increase interest rates, making even the minimum payments unaffordable. We understand how devastating this practice is. That is why we are committed to a debt settlement model designed to work for you - the consumer.
What makes Superior Debt Relief Services different? First, we are a debt negotiation company that saves you money before we get paid. Most other debt settlement companies will charge fees before settling even one of your debts. We believe such an approach is detrimental to the consumer that is already struggling to make ends meet resulting in no debt relief. We defer being paid until you see results. Don’t be mislead by the non-profit status of many companies out there, nobody works for free. These non-profit entities are typically set up by the credit card companies and have only their own best interests in mind. We are paid fees only if we save you money, and that is our incentive to get the best possible results for you. Second, we give you a full 30 days to rescind the contract if you are unhappy with our services, or decide another route is more appropriate. This is a length of time that is unheard of in the debt relief industry. We are that confident that you will be satisfied. While most debt relief companies have a sales team larger than the customer service department in order to bring new clients in faster than they drop out of the program, we take the opposite approach. We believe that client retention will make us successful. Our sales team is comprised of educated and trained financial advisors. This department accounts for only 1/6 of our total workforce. We spend relatively little on marketing; most of our business is generated by word of mouth and the positive reviews across the Internet and BBB. That is why we have one of the highest client retention rates in the debt reduction industry. Third, we really do what we say we will do. The debt settlement statistics you see on this page are not some automated program that incrementally increases these numbers with length of visitation. These are real numbers that we post every month. We include any and all settlements processed within a given month. These numbers do not include settlements for student loans, secured debt, mortgages, etc. We will tell you upfront that these are not types of debt we can work with - any company that tells you differently should be viewed with great skepticism. We get the best results with credit card debt, but all unsecured debt is negotiable
Debt Settlement: With this approach, negotiations are made with a credit card company in efforts to reduce the total amount of debt owed. With this forceful method of credit card debt relief there are many important advantages. Many consumers are able to significantly lower the total amount owed while paying off debt in 12-36 months. Making only minimum payments is not an effective way to get rid of large amounts of debt. Debt settlement clients notice a drastic reduction in their monthly payments as compared to monthly payments made to creditors. Debt settlement is a superb debt relief option for consumers who have unsecured debt of $10,000 or more, struggle to meet the minimum monthly payment, or are already behind on payments.
Debt Consolidation Program: Debt consolidation can be thought of as ‘many for one.’ This means that a consumer takes out one loan in order to pay off several debts. Reasons for choosing this option include securing a lower or fixed interest rate, or to make one convenient monthly payment rather than many. However, this monthly payment occurs over a longer period of time. The decision to consolidate must be weighed very carefully, as a consolidation program can severely limit the ability of a debtor to eliminate debts in bankruptcy. Further, due to the theoretical advantage that debt consolidation offers a debtor with high interest balances, companies will often charge very high fees for the debt consolidation loan. Another detrimental aside is that some companies will actually wait until a client has painted themselves into a corner and must refinance in order to consolidate and pay off debt.
Credit Counseling: This involves actually working with credit card companies in order to lower the amount of interest charged. Consumer credit counseling usually allows a debtor to eradicate debt in around 4-5 years while saving some money from the original interest charged. The dark side of this debt relief option is that many of these companies are actually set up by the credit card companies with the goal of collecting as much of the original debt as they can. Their traditional non-profit status is generally a distraction, as all their profit after operation expenses goes straight back into the credit card companies’ pockets. Another drawback is that any assistance from these companies shows up on your credit report as TPA (third party assistance), which can be just as detrimental to your credit score and rating as a bankruptcy!
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: This is considered the final option for debt relief because of the harsh credit consequences. For debtors who owe large sums of money on their credit cards and don’t have enough income to make up the difference, this may seem like the best solution. With Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a debtor is usually forced to liquidate all non-exempt assets of value and pay the creditor money from the sale. The majority of consumers who file a chapter 7 bankruptcy will warn you that the long term consequences are really not worth it.
Superior Debt Relief
625 Redwing Road #140
Fort Collins, CO 80526
1-888-366-3414
Review Disclaimer:
Review information was gleaned from the website, and is neither an endorsement by us nor an confirmation of content nor a warranty of any promises made by the website. Use the review information at your sole discretion and sole liability.
IF YOU AND YOUR partner are like most couples, chances are, you fight about money. Numerous studies have shown that money is the No. 1 reason why couples argue and many of the recently divorced say those battles were the main reason why they untied the knot.
While anyone will tell you that talking about money is the first step in resolving problems, talk alone won't do the trick.
Merging the Finances:
The Wrong Approach: United we stand, divided we bank.
The Right Approach: It's yours, mine and ours.
One of the first issues newlyweds face is how to handle their finances. "Couples struggle about this one," says Ruth Hayden, author of "For Richer, Not Poorer: The Money Book for Couples." Should you merge everything you have and earn into one joint account, or should you maintain individual accounts and open a joint one for household expenses?
SmartMoney magazine's survey found that the majority of couples (64%) put all of their money in joint accounts, while 14% kept everything in separate accounts, and 18% had both. "Married couples should try different ways of handling the money to see what works for them," says Ginita Wall, CFP and co-founder of the Women's Institute for Financial Education.
For many newlyweds, the right choice may be somewhere in the middle. "You should have some autonomy money, I should have some autonomy money, and we need to learn how to practice being a couple together with our money," says Hayden.
The advice is different when one spouse enters the marriage with a high debt load. (See our next point below.) But assuming you both have a clean bill of fiscal health, finding a way to blend finances comfortably without feeling like big brother is watching every financial move you make can dramatically cut down on fights. Over time once kids and mortgages come into play many couples find that merging all their finances is simply easier. But unless you're both comfortable with the idea, there's no need to rush things.
Dealing With Debt:
The Wrong Approach: Your debt will ruin us; you must find a way to pay it off.
The Right Approach: It's our debt: Let's decide how to pay it off together.
Of all the issues that spark a fight, debt ranked No. 1 for most (37%) of SmartMoney's survey respondents. "That's one of the places where couples have most disagreement," says Hayden. Couples often don't see eye to eye on how much debt is too much and which kind of debt is bad.
Compounding the problem: in many cases, one spouse enters the marriage with a lot more debt than the other. "We saw that more frequently than we anticipated when we began interviewing couples [for our book]," says Allvine. "It's almost unavoidable. Even if you manage to get to your 20s or 30s without debt, you hook up with a partner who's in debt."
Unfortunately, all bets are off should you get divorced. For more on that, click here. But even with separate finances, your spouse's credit score will affect your ability to get joint credit. "It's a public [credit reporting] system, and what you do will absolutely affect the other," says Hayden.
For those couples not yet married, it may be worthwhile to think about a prenup, just to make sure that assets that one spouse brings into a marriage will always be protected from the other spouse's creditors.
But those who've already tied the knot should find a way to pay down the debts as quickly as possible, and without any late payments. For help with this, visit our Debt Management center.
Keeping Spending in Check
The Wrong Approach: I'm a saver and you're a spender. That's the problem.
The Right Approach: We both spend, but on different things. Let's budget.
Your husband keeps nagging at you that you spend too much but then comes home one day with a huge smile and surprise! a 70-inch flat-screen plasma TV. He happily explains how he sealed the "terrific" deal. You're definitely not impressed.
Sound familiar? Spending is the second most common reason why couples fight, according to SmartMoney's survey. What usually happens, explains Hayden, is that one spouse gets labeled the "spender" and is blamed for skimming all the money out the checkbook. In most cases, however, that's not accurate. "Studies show that men and women spend the same, they just spend differently," she says. Women usually take care of most of the family's daily expenses: the groceries, the bills, clothes for the family while men spend on large purchases like plasma TVs, cars or computers. "If you counted up your money, you would be spending about the same," Hayden says. "But because you spend so differently, the perception is different."
The solution here is to identify the real problem, Hayden says namely, that you're both spending money on a tight budget. Then sit down and decide how much money you'll allocate to the "dailyness" of life, and how much to save for the big purchases. "What we're trying to do is get the 'Surprise!' out of it," she says.
Keeping Money Secrets
The Wrong Approach: What my spouse doesn't know will never hurt him/her.
The Right Approach: Big financial secrets can ruin a marriage.
Among Hayden's clients is a family that first came to see her when the wife found out that her husband had lost a lot of money trading commodities. The real problem? She didn't know his little secret. "It got them in horrible trouble!" Hayden says. "He's very steady, he's a fabulous doctor, he's a great dad...but he had this other part of him that's pure gambler, and it almost brought the marriage down."
Will you be shocked to hear that most couples do keep money secrets from each other? While secret trading or gambling may not be that common, our survey saw 36% of men and 40% of women confess that they had at one time or another lied to their spouse about the price of something they bought. "It's the most common secret," says Wall.
Is it a big problem? Depends on how you deal with it. "Most people also lie to themselves about what they're spending, just as they lie to themselves about how much they're eating," says "The Family CFO" author Allvine. And let's face it, if your wife saved up the extra $100 for her "only $30" Givenchy scarf from her monthly mad money, it's not that big a deal. But if your spouse has been squirreling away thousands of dollars, it may be time to seek the help of a family finance professional. "If this happened in a company," Allvine says, "they'd call it embezzlement."
Emergency Planning
The Wrong Approach: We're fine. We don't need to worry about money.
The Right Approach: Anything could happen. Let's plan for emergencies.
Even if you have a great career, earn a comfortable living and don't have to worry about debt, you could find yourself woefully unprepared for an emergency. "Couples today are under so much stress that anything could tip them," says Hayden. An unexpected pink slip, an accident, illness anything could throw you off track if you don't have an emergency savings account.
"With the couples we interviewed, we found a tendency to panic [in an unexpected emergency] that could lead to the wrong decisions," says Larson. Bottom line? All couples should have an emergency stash of three to six months' worth of living expenses held in a safe place, like a money-market fund. Simply knowing it's there can reduce stress, since you know you're not walking a fine line between comfort and catastrophe.
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What is a common cause of debt? Although some low income borrowers were already in a debt situation, instead of creating or modifying their budget they continued to spend as usual by obtaining unsecured personal loans or high limit credit cards. Somehow, lenders end-up being accused as the original source of the debt problem versus a temporary cure. Credit and Debt always go hand-in-hand. Having credit means you either already owe, or may one day owe, money to a lender. Nevertheless, credit can be used successfully if not abused or relied upon as a source of income. When borrowers look at credit as a source of funds versus a debt, that can easily become a tragedy.
