Archive for Category 'Credit Counseling USA'

Personal bankruptcy should be treated as the final option, the last resort to deal with money problems.

If you have made a household budget to understand where your money goes each month, and if you don’t qualify for a debt consolidation loan, and if you have explored credit counselling and a debt management planand if you have looked into a consumer proposal for Canadians, or for Americans a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy , and none of those options will work, personal bankruptcy may be the correct option for you.

The key is to evaluate all other options, and then meet with a licensed bankruptcy trustee to review your options in deal. A free initial consultation will help you make an informed decision about whether or not bankruptcy is the correct option for you.

Credit counseling (which is called credit counseling in the United States, and credit counselling (with two l’s in Canada and England) typically involves using the services of a credit counsellor to negotiate a settlement with your creditors. It’s called a debt management plan, and here’s how it works:

Your credit counselor contacts each of your creditors, and works out a plan where you repay your debts, in full, over a three to five year period. Often they can negotiate a plan where your repayments are made with little or no interest, so you can repay your debts faster than if you repaid them on your own.

How do you know if credit counselling is the correct solution for you? Start by looking at your household budget to see what you can afford to pay each month. Then add up all of your credit cards, bank loans, and other debts, and divide that number by 48 (with 48 being the typical number of months in a debt management plan, although they can last for up to 60 months). If your total debts are $48,000, you would be paying approximately $1,000 per month in a debt management plan.

If you can afford that, credit counseling may be the correct option for you. If not, you may need to consider a consumer proposal for Canadians, or for Americans a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy .

Welcome to the new Money Problems Blog. The www.moneyproblems.ca web site started in 1999 to provide free information about how to deal with your money problems, and now receives tens of thousands of visitors every month from Canada and the United States.

Our site is based in Canada, and contains extensive listings of local credit counsellors, bankruptcy trustees and mortgage brokers.

While www.moneyproblems.ca has helped a lot of people, we have also realized that many people want to ask an anonymous question before contacting an advisor, or simply want to read constantly updated information. That’s why we have introduced the Money Problems Blog, where you can read articles written by our team of experts, and even ask questions.

We have organized the Blog into categories, so simply click on a category to find articles and questions and answers about Budgeting, Debt Consolidation, Bankruptcy Alternatives (including credit counseling, consumer proposals for Canadians and Chapter 13 bankruptcy for Americans), Credit Repair, and Personal Bankruptcy.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to providing information and answering your questions about how to solve your money problems.