Debt Relief Methods

Well the news has said that the Great Recession is drawing to a close. President Obama is basking in the glory of having managed to rescue the economy and Wall Street is once again showing us the reason they got into trouble to begin with: they are massively greedy. Meanwhile, unemployment continues to inch closer and closer to 10%. And even that number is not accurate since the unemployment rolls only include those who have registered recently with unemployment. If your benefits have ended, you will not be included and you are likely to end up in a different set of statistics: the people who need to find debt relief since you can no longer manage to make payments on your credit cards and mortgage. As a good Christian, you of course would think that a place that talks about offering Christian debt solutions would be a legitimate thing. Sadly however, you could very well be wrong.

Let’s first talk about a bit about what these kinds of places do. In essence, the way a debt consolidation service would work is that they take all your bills, combine them into one lower payment and then help you get out of debt by allowing you to pay just one payment to them instead of dozens of payments to every creditor you have. There are thousands of companies all over the United States offering such services. Some are legitimate and some are not. But how can you tell the difference between them? What sets the real guys apart from the fakes in the world of debt consolidation? And what does any of this have to do with Christian debt solutions?

Basically, a legitimate company will have their information displayed clearly, with correct spelling on their home page and they will answer any questions you have. They will tell you how long they’ve been in business, they will meet with you in person and they will be realistic in their estimates of what they can do for you. That last is especially important since so many people who are drowning in debt see only the dollar signs and the relief that they are promised. However, in order for you to get relief, it means your creditors will have to take a loss. Typically, you can expect to get your creditors to settle for around 70 to 80 cents on the dollar or a little better if you’re able to pay most or all of your debt at one time. I have seen cases where people were able to settle for as little as 40 to 50 cents on the dollar, but those are extremely rare.

In essence, what some unscrupulous people are doing is to try to pull you in using your religious beliefs. One place I saw who claimed they were a “Christian run” debt consolidator and said they could get your debt settled for as little as 35 to 60 cents on the dollar. Of course they managed to rush to write that and misspelled 35 as 305. They also had other misspellings in their text and looked incredibly fishy. A further hunt turned up dozens of people complaining of scams by the place and saying how they were bilked out of hundreds and even thousands of dollars, having trusted them because they thought they were religious people doing God’s work.

So how can you protect yourself? Follow these simple guidelines:

• Look for a place that has been in business for a while.
• Be realistic. Don’t expect them to settle for next to nothing.
• Check them out. Ask friends about them and check the Internet for scam warnings.
• Check with the Better Business Bureau if they’ve had complaints filed.
• If you specifically want a Christian debt solution service, speak to your priest or minister and get recommendations from him or her. That’s your best bet by far to find someone reputable.