By Sean A. Kelly

Robert, the primary wage earner of the family household was laid off from work, then unable to find a job for an extended period of time. When he did finally land a job as an analyst for a government contractor his salary was substantially less than his previous job. With the reduced salary, he was then unable to meet his prior financial obligations. To complicate matters further, Robert could not file bankruptcy because it would jeopardize his security clearance required for his new job. Therefore, the only viable solution for solving his financial problems was to take out a loan against his home to pay off his outstanding debts. Freedom Debt Relief went to work and was able to successfully negotiate settlements for less than the full balance with Robert’s creditors, which then allowed his home loan to be approved and to settle the outstanding debts.

If you are considering using debt consolidation services, credit counseling or a debt negotiation company to help you get out of debt faster and ‘cheaper’, then I encourage you to try and understand as much as you can about these types of companies before you sign up. A little knowledge of debt consolidation services now could save you time, money, stress and aggravation down the road. What exactly do debt consolidation services companies do for you? When you sign up for a debt consolidation services program, you are assigned a debt counselor that works closely with you and your creditors. One of the first things that will happen is that all of your creditors will be contacted and made aware that you are working with debt consolidation services or a credit counseling company. Your creditors will be advised that all future contact regarding your accounts is to be directed to your debt counselor, not you. This alone should take a huge amount of stress off you. No more dealing with angry creditors and wincing when the phone rings wondering if it is someone calling to collect a debt! The next likely thing to happen is that the debt consolidation services or credit counseling company begins negotiating with your creditors to lower your interest rates, remove late fees from your accounts and arrive at a monthly payment that fits your budget.

Debt consolidation services can do much to improve the likelihood that you’ll make it out of debt. However, in order to understand the psychology of debt, it helps to think about your relationship with money. For most Americans, money remains an intangible and abstract goal, one that is usually defined more in terms of a metaphor than in terms of reality. So where do debt consolidation services come in? By working with an objective, third party professional, you can handle your spending habits better. Once you’re able to gain a perspective on your money handling habits, you can take more active steps to relieve your financial burdens. You can find good debt consolidation services companies, but there is a 50-50 chance that you will find a legitimate company. Honest and reputable debt consolidations services don’t make outlandish claims, and the claims they make are not meant to mislead. Debt consolidation services companies actually work with your creditors to reduce your overall debt. But this is only with the debt that is unsecured, meaning they don’t work with your mortgage or Car Loan Company, or any other creditor that has some sort of security underwriting the debt. They also don’t work with utilities or taxes. And even with your unsecured creditors, it is really rare that they get anywhere near a 60% reduction in your unsecured debt. Even top-notch debt consolidation services firms pretty much only get about 40% at most. While it is true that the debt consolidation services firms will consolidate your payments into one monthly payment, they can only do so for your unsecured loans (essentially your credit card bills and personal loans), and that bit about the payment being low…well, it might be lower than what you’re paying for your credit cards right now, but it may not be what you’d consider low.

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Freedom Debt Relief

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