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The problem of personal, or individual, debt has been on the rise in recent years. It is estimated that the average household in the US has nearly $20,000 in non-mortgage debt. Due to such a large amount of debt most people have trouble repaying their debts and need help to do so due to. There are a couple ways to start on the road to debt relief, however.

An individual may take out a loan in order to pay off other loans that they already have. The act of taking out a loan to make payments on previous ones is known as debt consolidation. The primary reasons for debt consolidation are to secure a lower interest rate, the convenience of servicing one loan, or to secure a fixed interest rate.

Something to watch out for is predatory lending. Predatory lending is when a company takes advantage of the benefit of refinancing to charge very high fees in the debt consolidation loan. Some unscrupulous companies will purposely wait until an individual has backed themselves into a corner and must refinance in order to consolidate and pay off bills that they are behind on the payments. The individual may lose their house if they do not refinance, therefore they are willing to pay any allowable fee to complete the debt consolidation. Most debt consolidation transactions do not involve predatory lending.

Another way to start your own debt relief is through credit counseling. Credit counseling offers education to consumers on how to avoid incurring debts that cannot be repaid. Credit counseling generally involves negotiating with creditors to establish a debt management plan, or a DMP, for a consumer. DMP’s normally offer reduced fees, interest rates, and payments to the client. A DMP will help the debtor work out a payment plan with the creditor so they may pay off their debt.

Unfortunately there are some draw backs to DMP’s and credit counseling. Credit counseling services tend to hire people off the street who have no background in credit counseling until after they get the job. This means that the person who may be helping you only has experience as a credit counselor and no other form of financial management. This is because the training to become a credit counselor is based only on that service and not overall financial management.

Another criticism of credit counseling is that participating in a Debt Management Plan will ruin a consumer’s credit. The participation in such a plan does appear on consumer credit reports, and the client may have more difficulty getting a car or home loan and possibly be denied any further unsecured credit, such as a credit card. Some lenders view a customer’s participation in a Debt Management Plan as indicative of the customer being unfit to manage their finances. This is because lenders often take into consideration multiple risk factors to decide if you are worthy of credit. However it is much better to have the fact that you used a DMP rather than going into bankruptcy on your file. Most lenders won’t do business with an individual who has bankruptcy on their file, and bankruptcy stays on your file for 10 years. A DMP, however, is considered a minor risk and is more likely to be overlooked by a lender.

Final Thoughts

The way to debt relief isn’t easy but with debt consolidation and credit counseling it can be much easier for you. You can take out a loan to pay off your previous ones through debt consolidation. Make sure you watch out for predatory lending if you choose to consolidate your debt. You can also work with your creditors to reduce your payments and start a Debt Management Plan through credit counseling. Either choice can help you achieve debt relief, but only you can choose which course of action to take.

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