Credit Card Relief

Some credit card relief solutions may be better than others depending on your specific financial situation. Below the most common debt relief choices available in today's market for consumers:

Minimum Payment Plan
Paying creditors on their terms may keep you a good credit rating or may not, but it will certainly get you no where making minimum monthly payments. Did you know typically 85% of your minimum credit card payment goes toward interest only and not towards reducing the principal debt amount?

Debt Balance Transfers
One way to save money on credit card bills is to transfer those high interest card balances to a new card that initially offers a low or zero interest rate. When you're not paying any interest, and don't go astray from the plan, you can save a lot of money. Another good benefit to using credit card balance transfers is that you can maintain your credit score.

However, if you have no discipline when it comes to money, then the process of transferring balances may not work for you. Using the balance transfer method requires you to pay attention to when the introductory offers expire. If you don't, you will likely get hit with huge rate increases.

Consumer Credit Counseling Services
With Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS), you will repay 100% of your debt back at a discounted interest rate. CCCS is ultimately a service that is supposed to offer financial education to consumers about how to avoid incurring debts that cannot be repaid. This option is best suited for those who can afford to repay 100% of their debt, do not want to file bankruptcy, and want to maintain a good credit score rating.

Debt Settlement Services
Debt settlement is a debt relief strategy for those who can afford to pay something towards their debts, but not the full amount, and for those who want to avoid filing bankruptcy. Also, because debt settlement requires withholding payments from the creditor, there is an inherent risk of getting sued.

Debt Consolidation Loans
If you're a homeowner, a debt consolidation loan may be a debt relief choice to consider. These loans supposedly help consumers by consolidating debt into a single monthly payment with a lower interest rate and payment amount. However, be very careful when you borrow money against your home to pay off unsecured credit card debt. You are then converting unsecured debt into secured debt. This could serious problems should you be unable to make the payments.

Consumer Bankruptcy
Most consumers want to avoid filing bankruptcy for obvious reasons. However, bankruptcy may be your best debt relief choice for your specific financial situation. Under the U.S. Constitution, you have the ability to relieve all or part of your debts when you can no longer meet your obligations to creditors and lenders.

Do Nothing
Doing absolutely nothing about your debt obligations is the worse thing you can do. But may be you only choice should you have no income and don't mind continued calls from debt collectors. Some debt collectors will call your neighbors, call your work, and even threaten you with wage garnishment action for non payment.