Managing Debt For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

If living on a strict budget is not enough to resolve your financial problems, meeting with a credit counselor to negotiate concessions from your creditor may help. Do your homework and get the following information together for your initial meeting with a credit counselor:

  • A list of all your debts. Include the amount of your current monthly payments, the interest rate on each debt, whether a certain debt is secured or unsecured, and whether you have fallen behind on a debt (and by how much).

  • Debt-related paperwork. This includes loan agreements, credit card statements, and any threatening notices you may have received recently from creditors.

  • Your budget. Take a stab at figuring out how much you can realistically afford to pay on your debts, starting with the highest priority ones.

  • A list of what you want from each of your creditors. You may need a temporary or permanent reduction in your interest rate, to make interest-only payments for a while, or a temporary or permanent reduction in the amount of your monthly payments.

  • A list of what you are willing to give up to get what you want. Here are some ideas:

    • You'll stop using your credit card until your debt is paid off.

    • You'll allow the creditor to put a lien on an asset you own.

    • You'll pay more on your debt than what you offered at the start of your negotiations (if you're certain you can afford it) or after you've made a certain number of reduced payments.

    • You'll give the creditor a balloon payment — a one-time larger payment (if you're certain you'll be able to afford that payment) — in the future.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

John Ventura: John is a best-selling author and a nationally boardcertified bankruptcy attorney. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law School and the director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center at the Law School.
As a young boy, John dreamed of becoming a Catholic priest so he could help everyday people, and he spent his high school years in a Catholic seminary. After graduating, however, John decided to achieve his dream by combining journalism with the law. Therefore, he earned an undergraduate degree in journalism and a law degree from the University of Houston Law School. Later, he and a partner established a law firm in Texas, building it into one of the most successful consumer bankruptcy firms in the state. He subsequently began a successful consumer law firm in South Texas.
Today, as Director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center, he supervises law students as they help consumers with their legal problems. He is also a regular speaker at law conferences around the country and serves on the Bankruptcy Council for the Texas Bar Association.
John is the author of 13 books on consumer and small business legal matters, including Law For Dummies, 2nd edition; The Everyday Law Kit For Dummies; Divorce For Dummies, 2nd edition; and Good Advice for a Bad Economy (Berkeley Books). John has been interviewed about consumer money matters by numerous national media including CNN, NBC, NPR, Bloomberg Television & Radio, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Money, Inc. Martha Stewart’s Living, Bottomline, Entrepreneur, Bankrate.com, CBSMarketWatch.com, and MSNMoney.com. In addition, his comments and advice have appeared in major newspapers around the country, and he has been a frequent guest on local radio programs.

Mary Reed: Mary Reed is a personal finance writer who has coauthored or ghostwritten numerous books on topics related to consumer money matters and legal rights. The books she has coauthored with John Ventura include The Everyday Law Kit for Dummies, Divorce For Dummies, and Good Advice for a Bad Economy (Berkeley Books). Mary has also written for the magazines Good Housekeeping, Home Office Computing, and Small Business Computing, and she has ghostwritten numerous articles that have appeared in national and local publications.
Mary is also the owner of Mary Reed Public Relations (MR•PR), an Austin, Texas-based firm that provides public relations services to a wide variety of clients, including authors, publishers, attorneys, financial planners, healthcare professionals, retailers, hotels, restaurants, and nonprofits.
Prior to starting her public relations business and writing career 20 years ago, she was vice president of marketing for a national market research firm, marketing director for a women’s healthcare organization, and public relations manager for Texas Monthly, a national award-winning magazine. She received her MBA from Boston University and her BA from Trinity University in Washington, DC.
In her free time, Mary serves on the board of a community development corporation in her neighborhood. She also enjoys long morning bike rides, road trips with her husband, gardening, working her way through the stack of books by her bed, taking care of her six cats, and spending time with her family and many friends.

This article can be found in the category: