The economy is in the tank, and likely to get worse. Your house is now worth less than the value of your mortgage, and you’re worried about getting laid off. And sometimes, you’re juggling bills, trying to get some paid before others turn late because you’re short on cash.
The time to remedy this is before it reaches a collections agency. There are some very basic things you can do to keep your credit in good standing.
First - talk to your bank or your mortgage company about renegotiating the loan. They are terrified of loan defaults, and may be more flexible than you’d think (Of course, if you’ve been in your home for seven years or so - before the start of the housing bubble - you may be sitting pretty now.)
Before you make that call, find out if your debt has been sent to collections or is still with the creditor. Call them and tell them you’re willing to work with them to pay what you owe. This can prevent your debt from being sold to a collection agency, and possibly prevent the “charge off”.
Unless you’re already at least three months behind on your payments, creditors aren’t going to be willing to negotiate a settlement with you; and since so far, you’ve been in good standing they have little incentive to do so. It’s not uncommon to make a late payment now and again and other than paying some late fees or interest payments, there’s really nothing else to it. Consumers typically return to making regular payments.
Fourth - talk to your creditors. Call them if you’re going to be late with a bill. Tell them about what’s going on, and demonstrate that you do consider your debts important. Most creditors live in fear of a person becoming noncommunicative and bailing out on the debt or filing bankruptcy. Most will be quite happy to extend a payment deadline by a week or two to help you out.
Fifth - start saving. Yes, it seems crazy to start saving while digging your way out of debt, but it’s a good habit to get into. Once you’ve paid off one of your largest debts, take half the money you’d been allocating to it to paying down the next highest debt and put the other half of the money in a money market account or a series of certificates of deposit.
You might be able to take care of one or even a couple small debt negotiations by yourself - but if you have many delinquent accounts, it can be too much to juggle on your own. However, most people who are in such serious financial trouble that they’re considering debt negotiation have more than one past due account in need of settlement. If you only have one delinquent account, your creditor probably won’t be willing to settle since you’re keeping current with other accounts. Most of the time, professional help is the way to go to get a handle on your debts. A good debt management company is dedicated to helping consumers make wise choices and connect with the most appropriate debt solution to manage their debt.