How Did This Happen?

If you are in financial trouble, and the creditors are calling daily to dun you, you need more than a stiff drink and a night out to relax. You need serious help!

If your difficulties are not the result of major life events, such as medical problems, divorce, loss of job, then you have to look at how you got where you are. Chances are you got to this point because you lack basic personal financial responsibility. Don’t beat yourself up over this – you are not alone, and financial responsibility is not simply acquired by osmosis or instinct. It is a skill, acquired through good teaching, practicing, and having good adult role models as you grew up.

Help Is Out There

You need to find a good credit counselor to help you out of your current jam and to get you on a lifelong path of responsible spending. Fortunately, with some investigation, and some “comparison shopping,” you should be able to find a good one. There are a number of federally-funded or religiously-sponsored organizations that provide credit counseling for free. For-profit credit counseling services charge a fee, but many provide additional services for their fees, so do not discount them immediately. As stated, do the research and find out exactly what each counseling service offers. Then compare your needs to their services.

Pick Your Poison

Debt counseling is not fun, but it is important that you choose the service that can best meet your needs. Among services offered are the following:

1. An objective outsider who can analyze your debt, its ratio to your income, and your ability to repay that debt.
2. The development of options for you to eliminate your debt and a truthful listing of pros and cons for each option
3. Negotiations with your creditors to lower interest, spread payments out over a longer period of time, or to reduce the amount of the total debt.
4. Assistance in securing a bill consolidation loan if that option is viable for you. You will have one payment which is lower than the total of your old payments.
5. Thorough instruction and training in the development of a realistic budget based upon your income, your expenses, and your goals.
6. Consistent and regular follow-up counseling to insure that you are meeting the guidelines which you have developed together
7. Assistance in obtaining additional counseling and training, if you need it. For example, if your habits have been the result of obsessive/compulsive behaviors, such as gambling or shopping to excess, you need professional help in changing those behaviors. This is a more long-term effort, far more than just getting your immediate financial house in order.

Credit counseling can provide two important services – assistance with your immediate debt problems and the development of long-range education, planning, and counseling as necessary to alter your behaviors.

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