If your credit card debt is keeping you up at night, it's likely that you're trying to figure out how to get out of debt and start living again. In fact, you've probably spent hours looking through the Internet, but you're still confused and don't know if Consumer Credit Counseling or Debt Settlement is the best way to get out of debt.
Your own personal financial situation is really the most important thing that will help you choose the best way to get out of debt. Consumer Credit Counseling is a good option for people who don't have a lot of debt and are willing to work out a long-term payment plan with their creditors. If you hire a Consumer Credit Counseling agency, they will talk to your creditors to get lower interest rates on your accounts. They will also set you up with a reasonable monthly payment that they will split up among your different creditors. Most of the time, the whole process will be over in about five years, and you won't owe any more money. You'll still have to pay some interest and the full balance on each account, but as was already said, you won't have any more debt after that.
Can everyone benefit from consumer credit counselling? No, definitely not. I recently talked to someone who had been going to Consumer Credit Counseling for almost two years and paying almost $1,700 per month. Worse yet, the programme wasn't supposed to end and get this person out of debt for at least three more years. This makes sense, since the Consumer Credit Counseling Agency could only get the interest rates on this person's accounts down to 16%. In this case, it's clear that Debt Settlement could be the right choice. Taking into account how much money is still owed, this person will be out of debt in less than 18 months if they try to negotiate with their creditors for a lower payoff amount (debt settlement). So, as you can see, if Consumer Credit Counseling is not a good option for you, Debt Settlement may be if you can save up enough money each month, or if you have money available through a 401K or home equity line of credit. Some people have even borrowed money from close family members in order to use Debt Settlement to get rid of their debt. If you have access to one or more of these options, you might want to think about Debt Settlement as a way to get out of debt.
In any case, the most important thing is to get rid of your high-interest credit card debt as soon as possible. If you keep making the minimum monthly payments, it could take you more than 30 years to pay off your debt.
