Credit card companies are no easy nut to deal with. No one dares mingling with them in peace time. But financial distress often makes us helpless. So, if you are thinking how to deal with your credit card company, read on to understand about some of the ways to deal with them.
What to start with
Credit card is the financial bait that hardly fails. We all understand credit card never waives cost of purchase we make. It just delays the payment by couple of days. Company earns from commission and interest payments that we cough up for not paying backing with in specified time. No doubt, interest on delayed payments is more lucrative and earns most of the profit for credit card companies. This is one reason companies love if you keep paying minimum dues through the life time. But thatâs just not a healthy, feasible and financially sound idea for you, the credit card user.
So, if your finance is going topsy turvy, you may consider a credit settlement. In laymanâs term that means asking credit card company to reduce your debt burden. But no creditor prefers reducing debt voluntarily unless the repayment is at stake.
Hence, stop paying even the minimum dues. That might sound suicidal but you canât even talk on settlement if you are paying regularly. They wonât listen because they donât see why you canât pay all of a sudden. After all a settlement means a cut on the companyâs profit. However, this advice is not for you if financial adversity already compelled you to stop paying.
Days of agony
If you want to land a successful settlement you must stay unfazed through out this period. This is the time you will receive relentless phone calls from your credit card company. To be more precise, they will call every hour, every half an hour and every quarter of an hour, starting from morning till evening.
Even more boring is they will keep on asking you the same question again and again: when will you pay? Many people fall into the trap and end up paying to relieve themselves from the mental torture. But that wonât settle your debt. So, bear the torture.
When will it end
Answer is 90 days; because companies take that much time to test debtorsâ nerve. If you succeed, you will win a settlement offer from companyâs side. But settlement itself is also a trial process. It involves a lot of bone jarring cut throat negotiation.
Are you confident you can do that? Donât worry; it is not cup of tea for many of us. But you need to pass through this. The more you negotiate the better debt reduction you can expect. There are professional negotiators of course. You can appoint them when large sum is involved.
During this time, only panic factor to credit card companies is your personal bankruptcy. In that case, they wonât get even a dime. If you can convince them, you will get much better settlement in much faster time.
How easy is personal bankruptcy
Itâs difficult in a single word, at least, after latest Congress legislations. Congressmen donât like people taking unjust benefit out of the law.
In fact, personal bankruptcy should be the last resort of debt settlement. It sounds easy but comes with inherent hazards. Once you have been declared personally bankrupt, lots of other implications will emerge.
Your insurance rates will go up because you wonât remain enough reliable to insurance companies. You wonât receive any loan from organized lenders for 7 to 10 years at least. Getting a rented accommodation could become difficult for you in certain cases.
Besides, filing personal bankruptcy involves lot of expenses. You need to pay lawyer, court fees and other legal charges. Lawyers hardly show mercy. Instead they often charge at higher rates. This is because of 2 reasons. First, number of insolvency lawyers is going down everyday due to professional liabilities attached to these cases. Demand out numbers supply. Second, personal bankruptcy laws are complex in nature and lawyers charge more to compensate extra work.
So, if you are not really hard pressed, chances of getting personal bankruptcy is really bleak.
How much reduction to expect
A 60% reduction and favorable interest rate or no interest rate is a real nice settlement. However, thatâs relative. You can try negotiating an even better deal. But you need to arrange that fund as companies donât give much time once the settlement is reached.
It is always better to avoid a bitter experience like debt settlement. An easy way out is to stop overspending on credit cards. Donât carry too many credit cards also. And stop debt building up at first place.
