I Can’t Pay My Bills – Help Me!

So, you have decided that settling your credit card debts on your own is the better path instead of hiring a debt relief company for the purpose. Well, if you have the talents and abilities to rival those of the professionals especially in the areas of communication, negotiation and documentation, then go on right ahead. After all, if a nurse with little background in taxation and the law can single-handedly take on the Internal Revenue Service and win, then so can you where debt relief is concerned.

There are certain things, however, that you must consider when settling credit card debts as a personal endeavor. These three tips will ensure that you are one step closer to successfully taking on those credit card companies.

Make Sure that Your Accounts Are Significantly Delinquent

You can try to negotiate a lower principal amount on your credit card bills as soon as you feel that making the minimum monthly payment is not going to be possible or if you feel that the debts are not going to be paid due to other fiscal priorities/emergencies.You should bear in mind that the debt relief process cannot be used unless your accounts are sufficiently delinquent.

How deep should you be? Well, delinquent credit card accounts are written off as an accounting procedure once these have reached 180-plus days in the ageing method.The writeoff causes the account to drop in value significantly and third parties usually buy these for real cheap – sometimes around 4-6% of the original amount.

To prevent this from taking place, the credit card company will be eager to settle the debt through a negotiation process.If the creditors get half of what you owe, thats much better than the 5% they would’ve gotten from the third party collection agencies.

Document Everything

The days of verbal agreements holding any value are long gone and especially when it comes to credit card debt settlement. After all, it will be your word against the word of the collection agents and you should know by now that nobody wins in such a case.

The other option is that you maintain excellent written records of all the matters related to the settlement and negotiation process with your creditors.Send out the letters with accurate and comprehensive information to clearly specified addresses/addressees.After that, file the letters and other forms of communication in a binder that is easily accessible.

If you must make a conversation over the phone, keep descriptive records of it. Take note of the time and date, the persons you spoke to, their contact number and the general flow of the conversation.

Make It Certified Mail

Once the settlement has been reached, send your payment through certified mail or any mail that can be tracked. Send the check together with a memo saying that said check is for full payment, if indeed it is, along with a copy of the agreed settlement.Now, you will have pretty good documentation.

Dont forget the specific strategies that you need to use to settle the debt by yourself. Just remember these three tips and you should be alright during the entire process.

These are some specific steps that you can take. For more tips on how to fix a bad credit report you should read our articles about getting the best credit card debt relief help