Debt Management, Debt Counseling, Debt Settlement - What Are the Differences?

Debt management and debt counseling are two good alternatives to managing your debt. Although a lot of people will confuse debt management or counseling with debt settlement, there are some differences.

Debt Management and debt counseling are two different programs, but can be confused as one. In this article, we will take a look at all three options, Management, debt counseling and debt settlement, Hopefully you can choose which solution fits your needs, we will also look at some of the pros and cons too.

Debt management is usually for people who have fallen a little bit behind and are having a hard time paying their bills and want to catch up. Management can also be for people who are not sure of how to manage their money. The decision of what bills to pay and where to cut back can be troublesome at times.

This is how debt management usually works. You hire a management company to take care of your finances for you and catch up on our late payments, in return you give them a big portion or all of your paycheck. They look at your expenses and decide which debts to allocate the money towards and how much.

The debt management company also takes into consideration what you need for living expenses. Pros, a good management company takes care of all the work for you and will assure your debts are paid on time. Not all management programs are bad, only believe a tenth of the bull you read on the web. Let me give you a good example. My ex-wife has to travel allot, at times she will be gone for up to 3 months. She has a debt management company take care of her finances for her, because she does not have the time. Sure they charge a small fee, but when she gets back, she can rest knowing all is well.

Cons, most debt management programs charge a fee and there are some bad debt management companies. Some debt management companies want you to use consolidation as a technique, this only works if your borrowing the same amount of money as you have debt, at a lower interest. A good debt management company will help you get out of debt, not create more.

Debt Counseling can be utilized for a few reasons. Most people don't fall into this first category, but there are some individuals who just don't know how to manage money. A good debt counseling program can teach someone how to manage their finances and get back on track.

Debt counseling can also be used for someone who's fallen behind on their bills and just needs a good plan to get caught up. A good debt counseling advisor should be able to take your income compared to your debt and come up with a plan that will show you where you need to budget your money.

Pros, a good debt counseling program should not take that long to come up with a plan, less expensive.

Cons, there's some bad debt counseling programs. be leery of one that wants to take to long making up a plan, unless your seeking counseling because you don't know how to manage money.

Debt Settlement, negotiation, relief, or reduction the outcome is the same. This is where a person has to much debt and doesn't have the monetary means to pay it off and is looking for creditors to relinquish some of their debt. Most people in this situation have fallen behind on their debts and have thought about filing bankruptcy. The good news is a lot of creditors are willing to work with you. The bad news is most people don't know how to deal with creditors and end up hiring a debt settlement company.

Most debt settlement programs don't work, they take to long to settle and charge outrageous fees. Some debt settlement programs can take 2 to 5 years and can charge up to 15 thousand or more in fees.Most creditors will not wait 2 to 5 years before taking action to collect. No matter what you've heard, the laws on bankruptcy have changed and most people will have to set up a payment plan with their credit debt companies.The only thing you can do is protect what credit you have left.

The great news is you can negotiate your own debt settlement and save a lot of money. You don't need to hire a professional negotiator. All you need is the right tools and information to get the job done.

If your considering any of these alternatives and would like to learn more, we would like to help you decide which program is better by giving you a free debt consultation.