Debt Clear Direct

by David Michael Morris

House Price Deflation Exposes The Real Scale of the UK Personal Debt Problem

According to the Land Registry’s figures the annual rate of house price deflation in April 09 was approximately 16%, the biggest drop on record. This reduction in prices is generally accepted as being bad for the economy. If home owners see the value of their properties reduce, this means that their perceived wealth in the form of home equity reduces and on the whole they feel poorer. This in turn reduces their economic confidence and has a negative effect on the amount that they are prepared to spend on the high street.

In addition to this wider economic problem, house price deflation and the credit crunch is starting to expose the extent of personal debt problems in the UK. Over the past 10-15 years, as house prices have increased, so has the growth of home owner’s equity. With the comparative availability of mortgage credit, home owners have been able to realize this equity in a way not seen previously.

This situation has turned home equity into a realizable asset which could be accessed without actually having to sell the property.

I believe that this accessibility to home equity was a significant contributor to the growth of personal debt in the UK over the last 10 years. People have been confident to take out personal loans or use credit cards to purchase cars, household goods and holidays because they have felt that if required, they could fall back on the equity available in their properties. As a result, the number of remortgage deals sold to home owners with the purpose of releasing equity to consolidate unsecured debt massively increased.

In itself, one could argue that releasing equity to consolidate unsecured debt was not a significant problem.

After all, the incremental monthly mortgage payment was normally significantly lower than the monthly unsecured debt repayments thus saving money on a monthly basis. However, in my view, this process of consolidation significantly fueled consumer confidence and as a result drove up the amount of unsecured debt individuals were prepared to take on.

Unfortunately, the rapid reduction in house prices has meant that many homeowners have seen the equity in their property drastically reduce. Worse than this, figures released this week suggested that 10% of all home owners were now in negative equity. This situation coupled with the credit crunch has meant that the ability of home owners to release equity to consolidate debt has dramatically reduced.

This turnaround in homeowner fortunes has happened so quickly that individuals have been taken unawares and have not had the time or the inclination to reduce their unsecured borrowing appropriately. Of course, if unsecured borrowing is sustainable and monthly repayments are made on time, there is no issue. However, the pressures on the family finances have never been greater with a shrinking economy and increasing numbers of people taking reductions in their income and at worst losing their jobs all together. This situation will inevitably lead to increasing numbers of issues when it comes to repaying debt.

The problem that we face as individuals and an economy is that as and when the repayment of unsecured debt becomes unsustainable, homeowners will not be able to fall back on home equity to bail them out in the way that they have been used to in the recent past. As a result I believe that the number of people facing insolvency problems in the coming months will significantly increase. I expect this will be reflected in the Insolvency Services next set of insolvency figures due to be published in August 09 which I expect to show a significant increase in the number of personal bankruptcies and IVAs.

Worse still, as I highlighted in my May article “Is the Insolvency Problem being pushed underground”, I believe that even these figures will not properly reflect extent of the personal debt problem in the UK. The majority of insolvent cases are dealt with via informal Debt Management which is not officially recorded. As such, the problem will be far larger than even the governments own figures suggest. With large numbers of people likely to default on their personal unsecured borrowing in the coming months, the government should be justifiably concerned that a consumer lead economic recovery still seems a very long way off.

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by MANILA IMPERIAL MOTOR SALES . . . .

How to Negotiate Your Credit Card Debt

Dealing with credit card debt is making many people frown, but in reality this is not such an intractable problem. When planning to negotiate down your credit card debt you must start by researching the legal specifics of your state, know the local laws and taxes and get a minimal understanding of credit reporting. And the most important thing, you must keep cool and manage this problem like any other in your life, least you want to let it become your life.

Debt is not to be treated lightly. A survey showed that American families owe on average $ 20,000 in unsecured debt. Credit cards have high interests and expensive penalties – there is no surprise they spiral out of control, especially in these uncertain times.

Credit consolidation and credit settlement advertisements are all over these days. Companies (or more often, law firms) offer to settle your debt to 40% to 60% less and/or help you repair your credit report.

This is a lucrative business and you should make sure you will be getting any kind of service before paying more money for this kind of counseling.

Some of what they are doing to settle you debt is probably within your power to do it yourself. In general they try to negotiate a settlement with the aid of a lump sum you agree to pay to the credit card issuers in return for erasing the whole amount owned. This can be attractive to credit card companies, who find it an acceptable way to remove the loss from their books for about 60% of the total amount (loan+interest owned).

It is up to you if you decide to call the card issuers personally and negotiate down your debt yourself. Not particularly a phone call for the weak, you must prepare to make the offer (the lump sum) and ask for settlement in the best terms for you.

Debt settlement is recorded in your credit report – so this needs to be followed-up with, making further arrangements so that future lenders are not prevented from working with you by your past settlements.

Many families are on the brink of financial disaster, not just because of debt but because of hard economic times. More people have lost their jobs in the last six months, and the card issuing companies are fully aware of this. You have bills to pay, make sure that you inform credit issuing companies that you’ve lost your job and check and see if you have credit card insurance.

Insurance is part of the original offer for a credit card (on application). It should not be very expensive, but worth a lot in case of unexpected loss of revenue (following an accident, for example, that would prevent you from going to work, or in the event of unemployment itself). If you see that month after month keeping up with your payments becomes more and more difficult, it might be interesting to see if possible to apply for it retroactively as a precaution.

Accumulating credit card debt is a risky game, as many families discovered in these difficult times. Taking too much unsecured credit and releasing equity from property are signs of a growing economy. A readjustment is required during periods of recession like this we are currently experiencing. You must insure your monthly income allows you to pay the bills – otherwise do not waste any time before looking into credit card insurance, debt consolidation or settlement.

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by DimitraTzanos

Debt Relief Problems – How New Regulation Ensures Consumers Get A Good Deal With Debt Settlement

Many people are going for debt settlement to get rid of their financial problems. However simple thinking about settlement is not going to help you. The only thing that can help you out in this though time is a legitimate debt settlement company. There are many fraud companies out there who have their eyes on your hard earned money. But there is no need to worry anymore. The US government realized that the increasing number of fraud cases in the settlement industry is the main reason of its downfall. This forced the US administration to take some strict actions and pass new laws to govern the settlement industry.

In the year 2009 new laws were amended to the American constitution. These new regulations were specially created to bring back people trust in the debt settlement industry. According to the new government regulations any American citizen whose unsecured debt exceeds ten thousand has the right to go for the negotiation process.

The debt amount must be from a single loan and not as a total amount of all your pending debt.

In addition to this, new laws have been passed by the federal trade commission in order to keep a check on the working of all the legitimate debt settlement companies. According to the new regulations, no legitimate debt settlement company can take any sort of upfront payment from their clients. These firms now provide their negotiation services on contingency basis i.e. they only get paid after your unsecured debt has been successfully negotiated. This was the major factor in making the settlement industry more reliable and trustworthy.

You do not have to worry about getting over charged for their services. These legitimate firms can charge maximum of 15% from the amount which they were able to get deducted from your debt. So they will work hard to get you the best deal, as their profit lies with your benefit. A heavy amount of fine of $ 16,000 can be imposed on these firms in case of any sort of complaint from their client regarding the firm using unfair practices.

Settlement with your creditors is always a viable and legitimate solution to all your debt problems. You can negotiate up to 50% on more from your pending debt, depending upon your financial condition. The new regulations ensure that the customer gets the best deal with debt settlement.

Debt settlement is a viable alternative to filing bankruptcy. Most consumers are able to eliminate at least 60% of their unsecured debt while avoiding many of the negative consequences with filing bankruptcy. If you are over $ 10k in unsecured debt you will be eligible for debt settlement. To locate legitimate debt settlement companies in your state check out the following link:

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by xmacex

Debt Relief Problems – Why The FTC Has Cracked Down On The Debt Settlement Industry

Debt settlement is process that helps you to get out of your long pending unsecured debt. Increasing financial debt on individuals is leading to increased number of people filing bankruptcy. This was having a huge negative impact on the economy. The government came up with debt settlement programs to stabilize the trembling economy. However due to lack of a guidelines and policies in the debt settlement industry, the settlement programmed lacked behind. Most of the firms involved in this industry had a sole motive to make profits; they didn’t hesitate to cheat their clients in order to maximize their gains.

The government understood the seriousness of the matter, and appointed the federal trade commission to create guidelines and policies for the debt settlement industry. Firstly they made it compulsory or all the firms to get themselves legally registered with the association of debt settlement companies.

Any firm who does not register themselves would be considered illegal.

Previously many settlement firms use to take upfront payment from their clients in exchange for their negotiation services. But now these companies have to work on contingency basis, i.e. the new law states that the consumers will pay the settlement company fees only after the entire debt have been settled successfully. The federal trade commission has cracked down all the companies which were cheating their client, by taking upfront payment from them and provided no real service for negotiation later. Prohibiting the need of upfront gives the consumer faith that they won’t get cheated by these firms.

In addition to this, if any client of these firms flies a complaint of unfair practice or harassment the license of the firm can be canceled. They can also be fined a heavy amount of $ 16,000 in case any of the complaint filed is found true. The new laws also state that the debt settlement firm should have all the proceedings of negotiation with the various creditors in written as a record. You can now pay for the services of these forms on monthly installments basis. This make them quite affordable for every type of customer,

So if your unsecured debt is more than ten thousand dollars and you are thinking about a settlement, then you can trust the services of a legitimate settlement company. The Federal trade commission keeps an eye over the function of these firms so that you get the best service from them.

Debt settlement is a viable alternative to filing bankruptcy. Most consumers are able to eliminate at least 60% of their unsecured debt while avoiding many of the negative consequences with filing bankruptcy. If you are over $ 10k in unsecured debt you will be eligible for debt settlement. To locate legitimate debt settlement companies in your state check out the following link:

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by DimitraTzanos

Don’t Get Caught in a Debt Settlement Problem

If you are behind on your debts of your debt-load is so high that you spend all your income making payments, you have probably thought about getting out from under the burden, perhaps by responding to one of the many debt settlement advertisements seen daily. Before you commit to the debt settlement path, there are some important things you need to know. Further, you must also guard against impostors who are not in the business at all but who operate illegally with theaim oftaking your money.

What is debt settlement about anyway?

In a nutshell, debt settlement is a negotiation process where the creditor agrees to accept less money than they are owed in return for releasing the debtor from his or her obligation or the creditor agrees to reduce the amount of the debt, monthly payment and/or interest of the loan. The obvious question is “Why would a creditor do that?”

Creditors may take these steps because it is in their best interest.

Faced with the probability of having a customer declare bankruptcy involving unsecured debt whereby the usual outcome will result in the creditor getting no reimbursement at all, creditors opt to settle voluntarily in order to get some of the money owed. So it is not out of the goodness of their hearts that they take less. It is because that step is better than getting nothing at all.

Generally speaking, people who owe debts such as credit cards use the services of settlement companies to negotiate of their behalf. This is true because credit card companies and similar creditors are notably inflexible when dealing directly with the debtor. When dealing with a third party, however, the results seem to show them being more flexible. So debtors opt to pay the rather stiff fees charged by settlement companies in order to avoid confrontations with collection agents who work for credit card companies.

This dynamic opens the door for scam artists who pose as settlement companies. They prey on unsuspecting people who desperately want to stop the harassing collection phone calls and the stress over unpaid bills. Unwittingly, these individuals turn over their personal information and finances to people who have no intention of helping them. They simply want money and in the process will further destroy the victim’s credit.

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