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Published:
January 30, 2007

Getting Out of Debt For Dummies

Overview

Get out and stay out of debt the smart and easy way

This is a clear and simple guide to getting out from under credit card debt, student loan debt, and all other forms of owing people money. With simple changes and smart decisions, you can start today and enjoy financial stability moving forward. This book covers everything you need to know to take the sting out of those monthly repayments, offering strategies for coping with personal loans, car loans, mortgages, home equity loans, and beyond. Getting Out of Debt For Dummies will help you prioritize and consolidate debt, so you can pay off the most pressing bills first and reduce the number of debtors coming after you. You'll also get pro tips for using credit cards responsibly, building up your credit score,

and avoiding debt-generating traps when you make purchases. Getting out of debt doesn't have to be overwhelming. Let this Dummies guide help you quickly and easily repair your finances.

  • Understand the different types of debt, including good and bad debt
  • Develop a strategy for managing student loans and getting on a repayment plan
  • Know what you're signing up for when you use credit cards and pay-later platforms
  • Negotiate with collection agencies, the IRS, and angry creditors
  • Design a realistic and painless payback schedule—even for serious debt

For the millions who have substantial debt and want to turn their financial situation around, Getting Out of Debt For Dummies offers hope and a straightforward way forward.

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About The Author

Steven Bucci has been helping people master personal finance issues for 20 years. He authors a popular weekly personal finance column for the financial mega-site Bankrate. Steve is also a personal credit coach, speaker, and expert witness. Steve was formerly president of the Money Management International Financial Education Foundation.

Sample Chapters

getting out of debt for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Everyone hates having debt, but most people can’t feasibly make a big purchase or handle a crisis without taking on some kind of debt, like student loans, auto loans, and credit cards. Debt happens to everyone at some point. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. Here you find some tips to start getting out of debt.

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To ensure that your debt management plan helps you get out of debt, you must take an active role in overseeing it. Even when working with a reputable credit counseling agency, problems can develop if you participate in a debt management plan. Follow these tips to minimize the potential for problems: After your counselor tells you which of your unsecured creditors have agreed to participate in your debt management plan, contact them to confirm their participation before you send the counselor any money.
When a debt collector contacts you about a debt, he must send a written statement of your right to request written verification of the debt and your right to dispute the debt. Request verification of the amount money you owe and to whom you owe it if the debt is not yours or you think that you owe less money than the debt collector wants you to pay.
The federal Truth in Lending Act makes it easy to compare credit card offers, because it requires credit card companies to provide written information about the credit card terms. Do a comparison of credit cards fees, rates, APRs, and balance calculation methods before you accept even a preapproved credit card.
Debt collectors who pursue old debts are not breaking any laws unless they violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) or your state’s debt collection laws. Beware fast-buck motives, though! Some debt collectors go so far as to Contact consumers about debts that have been charged off as uncollectible.
Whether your debt is good or bad depends on the type of debt, the reason you owe it, and whether you can afford to repay it. When used the right way, debt can help you manage your finances more effectively, leverage your wealth, buy things you need, and handle emergencies. Debt can be a positive force in your life when it helps you Build your family’s net worth — the difference between the current value of your assets and the amount of debt you owe.
Secured debt means that you’ve put something you own on the line in promise of paying what you borrowed. Unsecured debt requires repayment, too, but your lenders don’t have immediate rights to your property. A secured debt is a debt that you collateralized with an asset that you own. When you collateralize a debt, the lender puts a lien on that asset, which gives the lender the legal right to take the asset if you fall behind on your payments.
Your credit report contains information your current creditors and potential future lenders review to make decisions about your creditworthiness. You are entitled to one free copy of each of your credit reports every 12 months. To order your free reports, go to AnnualCreditReport.com, or call 877-FACT-ACT. For a comprehensive picture of your creditworthiness, order a copy of your credit report from each of the national credit reporting agencies, not just from one.
A growing number of creditors, as well as insurance companies, employers, and landlords, use your credit score together with (or rather than) your credit history to make decisions about you. Your credit score is a numeric representation of your creditworthiness, and the number is derived from your credit history information.
All credit is not created equal. There are many forms of credit available, and getting familiar with credit types can help you become a better credit consumer. Secured: With this kind of credit, the creditor guarantees that it will be paid back by putting a lien on an asset you own. The lien entitles the creditor to take the asset if you don’t live up to the terms of your credit agreement.
Everyone hates having debt, but most people can’t feasibly make a big purchase or handle a crisis without taking on some kind of debt, like student loans, auto loans, and credit cards. Debt happens to everyone at some point. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. Here you find some tips to start getting out of debt.
Even if a debt collector violates the law in a relatively minor way, you can file a formal complaint. Take the following steps to protect your rights: File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces the FDCPA. Whenever a debt collector violates that law, you should file a complaint with the FTC.
You’re contacted by a debt collector. You don’t agree that you owe that much — or anything at all! What to do next to save your credit from crashing? Send the debt collector a letter disputing it within 30 days of the debt collector’s initial contact with you. After the debt collector receives your letter of dispute letter, he must either provide you with written proof of the debt or cease all communications with you.
If you’re living with a large debt, putting together a budget — an itemized account of income and expenses — is only the first step to getting your financial house in order. You may need to take some bold measures to manage your debts. Cut deals with your creditors. Ask your creditors to lower your monthly payments on a temporary or permanent basis, reduce the interest rate on your debts, or let you make interest-only payments for a limited period of time.
Beware of debt settlement firms that may be out to fleece consumers in crisis. If you get taken by a disreputable credit counseling organization or by a debt settlement firm, contact a consumer law attorney right away. The attorney will advise you of your rights. He may recommend sending a letter on his law firm stationery to the credit counseling organization or debt settlement firm threatening legal action unless the firm makes amends to you (such as by giving you your money back).
The best way to avoid financial problems is to establish financial goals and a household budget to help achieve them. Your financial goals should be specific, realistic, time based, and flexible. As you put together your financial plan, place each goal into one of three categories: Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Ximagination Short-term goals: These are goals that you believe you can accomplish within the next six months to one year, such as putting a certain amount of money in your savings, paying off a loan, outfitting your kids for the start of school, or having enough money to join a health club.
The credit history rebuilding process is not difficult, but it takes time. Your goal is to add positive information to your credit history by obtaining a small amount of new credit from a reputable creditor, paying it off according to the terms of your credit agreement, securing additional credit and paying it off on time, and continuing the pattern.
Your debt counselor may recommend a debt management plan to help you to pay off your obligations if reducing your expenses and making more money are not possible. Many creditors offer special concessions to consumers who pay off their bills through a debt management plan. When you participate in a debt management plan, the counselor tries to negotiate smaller monthly payments with your creditors.
If your credit history is poor, you can rebuild it over time so that when you apply for credit, creditors who evaluate your application see an improved credit history and a higher credit score. Before you begin the credit rebuilding process, you need to get some preliminaries out of the way. These steps help you ensure that the credit-rebuilding process goes smoothly.
If you don’t have enough money to pay all your living expenses and debts, do not take out a loan that will compound your financial problems. Although personal loans may give you temporary financial relief, more debt won’t fix your money problems. When it comes to improving your finances, you won't find any easy answers or shortcuts to common sense and dedicated budgeting.
A debt collector may agree to let you pay less than the total amount you owe on a debt. Although settling a debt shows up as negative information in your credit report, negotiating a settlement indicates that you took responsibility for paying as much as you could on the debt. Your credit report will show that the settled debt is not outstanding anymore.
April 15 is the deadline for filing state and federal individual income tax returns. An extension to file your tax return is not an extension to pay your taxes. Taxes are due on April 15, and the IRS begins charging interest and penalties on your unpaid taxes on April 16. For this reason, paying some of your taxes on April 15 is better than paying nothing at all.
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).
Not paying unsecured debts can result in loss of assets. If you cut your budget to the bare bones and still can’t pay all your debts and living expenses, you have to decide what you will pay. Unsecured debts that deserve priority treatment include: Child support, especially if it’s court ordered. If your child support order was written after December 31, 2003, and you are employed, your child support payments can automatically be deducted from your paycheck.
If you're drowning in debt, a credit counseling agency can be a great help. Use caution when finding an agency to help you mange debt, not every agency is as dependable as they say. Use any of the following resources to find a legitimate credit counseling agency: The National Foundation for Credit Counseling: www.
A call from a debt collector can be intimidating to say the least. The following tips will help you stay in control and calmly handle a debt collector so you avoid saying something that could create more problems. Keep this list close to your phone so you're ready when you get a call from a debt collector: Never engage in casual conversation with a debt collector.
Federal laws and agencies govern lender behavior when you apply for and use credit, protecting you from creditors who engage in illegal or bad credit practices. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act: This law prohibits creditors from discriminating against you because of your race, country of national origin, gender, age, religion, or marital status.
Knowing what debt collectors cannot do to collect a debt from you may help you deal with and protect you from their approaches to debt collection. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is the federal law that governs debt collection for personal, household, and family debts like your mortgage and car loan, other personal loans, your credit card debts, past-due utility bills, past-due student loans, medical and insurance debts, condo fees, unpaid legal judgments against you, and bounced checks.
Laws govern what debt collectors can do if you fall behind on an unsecured debt. If a debt collector sues you, you will be notified of the lawsuit via a summons, which tells you why you are being sued and for how much, who sued you, and when you must appear in court. Get in touch with a consumer law attorney if you receive a summons.
After you have chosen a credit counseling agency to help you get out of debt, your assigned credit counselor will spend time becoming familiar with you and your finances. Your initial face-to-face meeting with the counselor is likely to last about an hour, and you should expect to have a couple of follow-up meetings.
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