I am sure you never planned to find yourself in a situation where you were in credit card default. But, the debt crept up on you and now you are months behind on your account. Collectors are calling day and night and you are receiving nasty letters in the mail with threats of a lawsuit. What happens next?
First – relax! Breathe! Credit card debt is a civil issue not a criminal one. No one is going to come cart you off to jail just because you failed to pay Visa. Of course, that does not meant that their aren’t any credit card default consequences.
When you are in default credit card debt collectors can be really aggressive. Let’s face it, dealing with debt collections is never fun! If you are being harassed by phone calls and are not able to make some sort of payment, the easiest thing to do is sent the creditor a certified letter telling them that you only wish to be contacted via mail. Once you have done this they may not legally contact you via phone again. Problem solved. Well, sort of.
There is still the little matter of the money you owe. What you should be most concerned about is your creditor filing a lawsuit against you. While this certainly can happen, the truth is that it is not very likely unless your balance is extremely large. The reality is that most creditors are not going to invest the time and money it takes to file a lawsuit against you.
If they do sue, they will seek a judgment against you, which will remain on your credit file for up to 10 years. They will then use this judgment to get a wage garnishment against you. Once they have the wage garnishment they will go directly to your employer who will be required to give them a portion of your paycheck each month before you are even paid.
Employers hate wage garnishments. They are extra work for them. You don’t have to worry about losing your job due to a single garnishment but it can cause you to lose some good will. (Not to mention cause some embarrassment.) The law does allow them to fire you if you have multiple wage garnishments however.
The best thing you can do if you are in credit card default is communicate. Ideally, try to communicate before you are in default on credit card debt. Try to find a way to make some type of payment, even if it is very small. In the face of credit card default, consumer debt settlement is a good alternative. Most of the time, if you are making a payment, the creditor will not go to the trouble of suing you.
If you have the funds, you can also try to settle credit card debt. Consumer debt settlement is where you negotiate with the creditor for them to accept an amount that is less than what you owe. When you negotiate credit card debt, your credit is damaged but it is a far better alternative than filing for bankruptcy or ignoring the debt.
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In the last post, we covered how to quickly clear credit card debt while maximizing your credit score throughout the process. Before I continue, I want to cover how to quickly clear debt that isn’t revolving debt like credit cards, in other words, mortgages, installment loans, student loans, etc.
Speaking strictly from a credit restoration perspective AND NOT A FINANCIAL PLANNING OR BUDGETING PERSPECTIVE, you do not want to pay off mortgages, installment loans or student loans earlier. The reason for this is from a credit restoration perspective, you want the loans to season as long as possible, which means, to report on time payments for the longest period possible. Paying them off early, is NOT good for your credit score regardless of what you may think. Credit cards yes, mortgages, installment loans and student loans, no. Having said that, we will address numerous techniques to eliminate these types of debt early while still maximizing your credit score.
For now, most of you want to know how to clear debt that is either positively reporting credit card debt or negatively reporting debt of any kind. So, let’s discuss how to quickly erase and clear debts that are negatively reporting. There are different strategies for each type of debt and different systems that must be followed depending on the type of bad debt you are dealing with.
So, let’s start with the easiest and most common forms of bad debt first and I will give you some clear debt solutions.
Collections & Charge-offs
If you have a collection or charge-off, the initial response most people take to erase debt of this kind is absolutely the worst and most expensive method, and that is, they mistakenly pay them off. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, “Big Mistake! HUGE!”.
Why is that?
Because paying them off only accomplishes paying them off. The same goes for consumer debt settlement unless it is properly negotiated. It doesn’t do anything positive for your credit report or score. And, paying them off refreshes the date of last activity so you get the added insult to injury of having a paid collection or charge-off on your credit report for an additional 7 years. Doesn’t sound like what you want, does it?
What you want is to erase and clear debt of this kind and have it completely removed from your credit report, ideally, in the least expensive way possible. So, how do you do that?
Simple.
Collections and charge-offs can be completely eliminated using the following methods:
- Debt Validation- for collection accounts with a collector
- 6-2-3 Method- for charge-offs with the original lender
- Pay For Delete- used as a last resort with either a collector or lender.
- Perhaps my favorite method is the Debt Validation method because it truly puts the power of the law and legal system in YOUR hands to help you clear debt quickly and end the harassment from collectors. Using this method, we recently got a legitimate $16,000 collection account removed from a family member’s credit report. Doing this enabled her to immediately qualify for a mortgage and she closed June 1st. Know what we had to do to accomplish this? Send one simple letter. That’s it. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? If you want to watch the video and get the actual letter we used to do this, simply click on the following link: How To Clear Debt With The Debt Validation Method.The 6-2-3 Method is similar but must be used with the original lender. I like this method because with all of the recent takeovers, acquisitions and bad systems that most of these lenders have in place, most of the time they do not stay in compliance with the law. Understanding this and utilizing the 6-2-3 Method, you can force their hand and legally require them to remove the charge-off from your credit report AND cease all collection efforts for the balance owed (since they cannot legally prove that you owe the money). This is a very effective method and all it takes is knowing the law and one simple letter. In the Members Only side of Credit Repair College, you can access the law in the Law Library, access the letter in the Other Training Materials section and understand exactly what you need to do by watching the video in our Video Training section. To see what you get access to on the Members Only side, simply click here: Clear Debt FastThe Pay For Delete Method is the last resort if the aforementioned methods don’t work. Using this method, essentially you will negotiate with the collector or lender to pay off the collection or charge-off in exchange for complete deletion of the account from your credit report. This has to be done in a very systematic way and you MUST get the correct documentation BEFORE you pay off anything otherwise they will simply collect your money, not do anything, not remove the account from your credit report and you will have no recourse. This is a highly effective method to clear debt and remove derogatory credit but it requires a very specific method to accomplish successfully. We teach this method on how to clear debt fast on the Members Only side as well with actual recorded conversations with collection agencies so you can hear what you will deal with and know how to handle the situation properly.Next up in our series on how to quickly erase debt and clear debt fast: How To Make Quick Cash so you can avoid collection accounts and charge-offs and get out of revolving debt faster. Stay tuned for more strategies on how to clear your debt!
No matter what your credit situation we can help you! Remember, knowledge is power and on the inside of CreditRepairCollege, we will teach you everything you need to know about credit restoration! Our curriculum includes: dealing with student loan default, insider secrets on getting poor credit auto loans, how to decide if Christian debt counseling is right for you, how to navigate consumer debt settlement and more! Enroll now!
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