Debt Management Consumer Counseling - Making a Plan
As the famous saying goes, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." The key to managing your consumer debt is to make a debt management plan. Debt management consumer counseling can help you make a debt management plan that is right for you.
Debt Management Plan Benefits
There are several benefits to establishing a debt management plan through consumer counseling. First, you repay your debts at reduced interest rates, with lower monthly payments. Second, you make just one payment to the debt management consumer counseling agency. The agency makes the payments to your individual creditors -- no more writing checks to the companies that used to make irritating calls to you at work. With a debt management consumer counseling agency, you'll never have to deal with them again.
Debt management consumer counseling agencies also use automatic deposit services for their payments, so you don't even have to write a check to them. It can't be much easier than that for you to keep your debts paid on time.
Perhaps the biggest benefit you gain from using a debt management consumer counseling service is peace of mind. You can start answering your phone again, and leave your car parked in the driveway all night without worrying that it's going to be repossessed.
How Debt Management Consumer Counseling Works
First, you need to contact the service and apply for counseling. Counselors are available 24/7 to provide financial guidance counseling to you. If you would rather not talk to a counselor over the phone, you can start an online counseling session over the Internet.
You will be asked to provide certain information, so have it handy before you call or go online.
Information You Need to Provide
You'll be asked to give your name, address, date of birth, and contact information. If you use more than one email address, decide which one you will us for communication with the debt management consumer counseling service.
You also need to provide information about your creditors. This is a scary step for most people who need credit counseling. That number - the grand total of all your debts - is a number you have been lying to yourself about and avoiding for months, or possibly even years.
You must overcome this fear before you can get help. Get out all your credit card statements, even the ones you haven't opened yet. Make a list of each creditor, the amount owed, and the minimum monthly payment.
