Credit counseling can help make your monthly bills manageable
Depending on your specific financial situation, credit counseling and a debt management plan may be a better option for you than debt settlement. That’s why Think Debt Relief also offers consumer credit counseling services as one of our debt relief options.
Here at Think Debt Relief, we understand that when you’re having a hard time paying your bills, it’s not necessarily the result of reckless spending habits but may have started in an unexpected emergency or in circumstances beyond your control — a car accident, a stay at the hospital, a lost job.
We make an effort to understand the full extent of your financial situation so we can help you find the debt relief program that’s best for you.
When you come to us for credit counseling, our consumer credit counseling professionals will work with you and your creditors to help you get out of debt responsibly and as quickly as possible. We’ll help you set up a debt management plan that could reduce your monthly payments, lower your interest rates, and help you get your debt under control.
Our goal here at Think Debt Relief isn’t just to help you get your unsecured debts paid off in the short term, but to provide you with resources, credit counseling, and education that you can keep using for years to come as you move on to a financially stable future.
Credit Counseling vs. Debt Settlement
Unlike debt settlement, there’s little to no principal reduction involved in a credit counseling debt management plan, so you’ll usually have to pay 100 percent of what you owe.
On the other hand, because you’re making an effort to pay off your full debt by enrolling in a credit counseling program (rather than trying to negotiate a lower payoff amount, as in a debt settlement), your creditors may be more open to arranging different, more manageable repayment terms, such as lower monthly payments or interest rates. And by sticking to your credit counseling debt management plan, you can put an end to late fees and over-the-limit fees on those unsecured debts that you enroll.
When you enroll in a credit counseling debt management plan with us, we may be able to negotiate with your creditors for benefits that a debt settlement program may not be able to provide:
- Interest-rate reductions
- Lower monthly payments
- No late fees
- No over-the-limit fees
- Additional help with bringing your accounts current
A credit counseling debt management plan may also have less of a credit impact than debt settlement.
Credit Counseling: What to Expect
When you call us, we can provide an initial credit counseling session at no charge. Our professionally trained credit counselors will ask you questions to evaluate your current financial situation, including taking a detailed review of what your expenses are each month versus your income and what you can realistically afford to pay.
We’ll offer you a budget analysis, based on your own individual financial situation, to help you decide whether a debt management plan is the right debt relief solution for you. We’ll always make sure you know what your other debt reduction options are, so that you can make an informed decision that’s the best fit for your situation.
Our professional credit counselors will work with you to come up with monthly payments that you can handle while getting your debts paid off as quickly as possible. We’ll also work with your creditors to see if we can negotiate lower monthly payments, more time to pay off your debt, and a reduction in interest rates, finance charges, and any penalties like late fees and over-the-limit charges.
And our services don’t stop just because you’ve enrolled in our program. After we’ve gone through your initial credit counseling session and budget review, if you decide that a debt management plan is your best option for debt relief, our credit counselors will provide you with ongoing credit counseling and education the entire time you’re enrolled in our program, to help you stay on track and make sure you’re on your way toward meeting your debt reduction goals.
Debt Management Plans: What They Are and How They Work
A debt management plan is a realistic payment plan, set up as part of a credit counseling program, that can help you simplify your monthly debt obligations, reduce your debt, and get your financial footing back.
Each debt management plan is individually designed to provide you with a unique debt relief solution custom-tailored to your own financial situation. Our goal is to help you pay off your enrolled debt in five years or less — even in as little as 12 months! Remember that the sooner you pay off a debt, the more you save in interest charges that accumulate month after month.
When you enroll in a Think Debt Relief debt management plan, we’ll consolidate the individual monthly payments on your qualifying unsecured debt into a single monthly debt management payment. You only need to make one monthly payment toward your debt management program, and we’ll distribute the money from that payment to your creditors on your behalf. Your monthly enrolled debts get paid, and you only have one monthly payment to worry about.
With credit counseling, because you’re working to pay off the full amount of each unsecured debt that you enroll, your creditors may be more willing to work with us to come up with a payment plan that you can handle within your debt management plan. If your creditors see your enrollment in a credit counseling program as you making an effort to pay your bills without defaulting, they may be more open to negotiating with us to arrange more manageable repayment terms — lowering your monthly payment, cutting your interest rate, giving you more time to pay, or reducing any late fees or over-the-limit penalties.
What Credit Counseling Can Do for You
- Save money with lower payments and lower interest rates§
Because you’re making a commitment to pay off the full amount of each of your unsecured debts when you enroll in a credit counseling debt management plan, your creditors may be more willing to arrange different repayment terms with us that are more manageable for you. Our professionally trained credit counselors will work with your creditors to negotiate lower monthly payments and interest rates and a possible reduction in any late fees or over-the-limit fees you’ve accumulated. - Get out of debt faster
The Think Debt Relief credit counseling program is designed to help you pay off your enrolled debt within 12 months to five years.§ The length of your program will depend, in part, on your monthly income, the total amount of your debt, your creditors, and whether you can send additional funds as you become more financially stable. - Make just one convenient monthly payment
Once we’ve negotiated your repayment terms with each of your creditors, we’ll combine all of your new, lower monthly payments into one monthly amount as part of your debt management plan. All you have to do is make that single monthly payment that we’ll set up with your debt management plan. When we receive your monthly payment, we’ll issue individual payments to your creditors on your behalf.
Keep in mind that when you enroll in a credit counseling program, your creditors may note your enrollment in your credit report. Your current creditors and any prospective creditors (if you apply for any new lines of credit) may view your enrollment in a credit counseling debt management plan as either a positive or a negative: Some creditors will see credit counseling as you making an effort to manage your debt responsibly without defaulting or declaring bankruptcy; others may see credit counseling as a sign of irresponsibility with credit, spending, and debt. You may want to speak with your creditors if you have any questions about the potential impact of a credit counseling program on how they report your debt to the credit bureaus.
