San
Diego Debt Consolidation
T’is the season for San Diego
debtors to be “stressful” or
“hopeful” over the holidays
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San Diego,
California, September 2, 2007
- - For many San Diegans, the holidays
are the season when excessive credit
card shopping and stress over personal
finances are at their highest peak.
Remarkably, this is when people already
burdened with considerable debt carelessly
go into shopping sprees and after
the New Year, end up filing for Chapter
7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy or enroll
in inefficient credit counseling programs.
If you already hit the rooftop with
your debt, despite what any San Diego
bankruptcy attorney or credit counselor
might tell you, it may still be possible
to take control of your personal and
small business finances through personal
debt
consolidation.
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In doing your own personal debt consolidation,
the first step is to review your outstanding
debts and devise a system to pay off each
creditor. Knowing how much you owe and the
nature of each account, such as the annual
interest rate, or if the account has a prepayment
penalty are essential toward creating a
sound game plan to pay your bills.
Your second step is to curb unnecessary
personal and business spending. But controlling
holiday spending is not at the top of most
people’s New Year's resolutions list.
Rather, most San Diego cardholders easily
acquire more debt making holiday charges
for expensive gifts and New Year’s
resolutions expenses. Thus to alleviate
post-holiday stress, you should get your
finances in order and control holiday spending.
Even if you could control your spending,
you must be very cautious during the holiday
season. Over the holidays credit card consumers
are bombarded with "no-interest, no-payment"
offers that promise interest free purchases
without any payments for 6 to 24 months.
But if you don’t pay the full price
of the purchase within the grace period,
you’ll be charged interest on the
entire purchase amount dating back to the
purchase date. So if you accept one of these
offers always read the fine print of your
credit card agreement and don’t wait
until the end of the grace period to pay
down your full balance. Being watchful of
your overall spending should also be a year-round
activity.
Your third step in personal debt consolidation
is to avoid adding interest from accruing
on your San Diego personal and business
credit cards. Not including late fee and
over-the-limit charges, it’s absolute
insanity that the average U.S. cardholder
already pays an 18% interest rate. With
such exorbitant credit card interest charges,
the process of paying off your debts can
be incredibly frustrating. To speed up the
process and pay a lower interest rate, always
pay more than the minimum due.
Paying the minimum payment due on your
billing statement each month is what keeps
you in “debtor’s prison”
and causes you to take an eternity to pay
off your balances. As an example, to payoff
a $3,000 credit card balance, if you’re
making a $60 minimum payment, you would
take eight years and would end up putting
in the creditor’s pocket $2,780 in
interest, nearly the same amount of your
original credit card balance. To stop the
“minimum payment insanity”,
make every effort to double up on your minimum
payments and payoff your balances whenever
possible.
If you’re now struggling to make
the minimum payments on time, you can still
negotiate directly with credit card companies.
Also do everything in your power to avoid
bankruptcy. Credit-wise, it’s the
absolute worse choice you can make. You
should also avoid Credit counseling debt
management plans because they can also cause
long-term damage to your credit rating and
hurt your ability to get a loan for a car
or home. The good news is that as long as
you make your credit card payments on time,
most credit card companies are willing to
negotiate with you to reduce interest rates
and fees. Plus you may be able to save your
good credit standing.
Personal debt
consolidation may still be possible
even if you’re paying your bills late.
Sadly, many San Diego consumers prematurely
decide on bankruptcy or credit counseling
to resolve this predicament. But if you’re
late, you can still call your credit card
company to work out a temporary solution.
The last thing you should do is wait until
your accounts are severely delinquent and
turned over to a nasty debt collector. But
if you end up in collections and debt collectors
are constantly harassing you, remember that
you still have rights to protect you.
To give you an idea of some of your rights,
under the Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act (FDCPA), all of the following debt collection
practices are illegal:
• A debt collector many not contact
you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
• A debt collector many not contact
you at work (if the debt collector is aware
your employer does not allow such contact).
• A debt collector may not contact
you when they are aware an attorney represents
you.
• A debt collector may not make false
implications of government affiliation.
• A debt collector may not contact
you at unusual times or places.
• A debt collector may not deposit
a postdated check prematurely.
• A debt collector may not assert
false threats of legal action or legal status.
• A debt collector may not repeatedly
use the telephone to annoy you.
• A debt collector may not falsely
imply that you committed a crime.
• A debt collector may only contact
third parties to ascertain your location
or whereabouts.
• A debt collector may not harass
you, or third parties in connection with
collecting a debt.
• A debt collector may not use threats
of violence or harm, profane or obscene
language.
• A debt collector may not reveal
to third parties that you owe debt.
• A debt collector may not publish
a list of debtors (except lists sent to
credit bureaus).
Debt Free League can also assist you to
stop creditor harassment and give you valuable
information regarding the federal, Fair
Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA),
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and other
related consumer protection legislation.
The Debt Free League Debt Liquidation program
specializes in helping San Diego consumers
and small business owners settle their outstanding
unsecured personal and business debts at
a fraction of the total balance owed. It
is also an ideal solution to help San Diegans
avoid home foreclosures, wage garnishments,
Chapter 7, and Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy.
Debt Free League also accepts a variety
of unsecured debts, including credit
card debt, medical bills, department
store accounts and overdue business account
payables. Although the debt settlement company
does not work with secured debts, such as
auto or home loans, they accept post vehicle
repossession deficiency balances and post
foreclosure deficiency balances.
About Debt Free League
Debt Free League is a Debt Settlement organization
that works on behalf of consumers and small
businesses to negotiate the settlement of
unsecured debt. Working through key relationships
with creditors, collection agencies, and
collection attorneys throughout the country,
their Debt Liquidation Program has produced
substantial unsecured debt reductions and
a variety of credit improvement benefits
for many clients.
For more information, Contact
Debt Free League’s Web site at www.debtfreeleague.com
Contact:
Sales
sales@DebtFreeLeague.com
(800) 213-9968
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