Debt Consolidation Blog

Due to present crisis, one word that we hear from most of the people is debt. It is because decrease in earning capacity of the individuals by which they are not able to pay their monthly payments like mortgage, credit card debt payments etc.

The reason for this credit card debt is that the average American carries about five credit cards with an average balance of $10,000. There are around 650 million credit card in circulation of which around 50 million pay off their balances every month while 115 million do not pay their balances. The remaining are put unused.

The credit card industry makes their profit from the APR interest rate they charge on credit card purchases. Due to increased burden of debt many people have declared themselves bankrupt in USA. They do so because filling bankruptcy, people can clear all their unpaid expenses but unfortunately they fail to remember that filling bankruptcy will hinder the chances of getting credit in future again.

Fortunately, in this economic hardship time people should be aware of the facts that bankruptcy is not the only way to recover form the debt. Many credit card lenders offer credit card hardship programs to who is suffering from any kind of financial stress.

One might be thinking what actually this credit card hardship programs are? Basically this program is debt settlement agreement with your lender. In this agreement your lender may reduce the APR interest rate that they charge on your balances which leads to reduce in monthly payments which can be affordable to you.

But one must understand that credit card hardship programs will not completely eliminate your debt instead there are several downsides of credit card hardship programs. So, one must make sure to find out the terms and conditions of the hardship programs before availing them. Call your lender to find out the new terms of the programs and find out terms and conditions.

Before availing the credit card hardship programs, one must be aware of certain myths and facts about this sort of programs. This article will try to give out some information about common myths that many people may not have an idea.

One may think that debt which has been reduced by the lender will give you relief and forget about it but it is not the case. In this case you may receive 1099-C tax notice. It means any borrower who benefited by the debt settlement from the lender for amount more than $600 has to file the 1099-C forms with IRS as it considers this settlement as income to borrower. For this reason one must consult your attorney to resolve all the issues related to debt settlement.

Other thing many people think that choosing the credit card hardship programs will not affect your credit score, but this is not the case, as you try to settle the credit card balance you may default the payments for at least two to six months in this case the defaults will affect your credit score. So beware of these things when dealing with credit cards.

Articles on this site have been acquired from a variety of sources.  No content on this site should be considered financial or legal advice.

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