Credit Solutions
Debt Settlement: Your Debt Consolidation Loan and Bankruptcy alternative.

• 25 Indications You Need Debt Relief
  

  American consumers have nearly $2.5 trillion of outstanding debt, according to the Federal Reserve's Consumer Credit report. Unfortunately, the probability you account for a portion of that debt is high. The following 25 warning signs of excessive debt are useful for determining if you need assistance with your debt.

  • You have been denied new credit
  • You always make the minimum payments on your credit card debt
  • You've used a credit card to pay off other credit cards
  • You charge more in expenses than your monthly credit card payment
  • You don't know how much total debt you have
  • You have never checked your credit report nor do you know how to check it
  • You receive demanding letters and telephone calls from your creditors
  • You have stopped putting money into a savings account
  • You hide your spending from your spouse and family
  • You bounce checks frequently
  • Your bills are higher than you expect each month
  • You have reached your credit limit on one or more credit cards
  • You depend on credit cards to purchase items like gas, groceries, and clothing
  • You routinely get cash advances or use payday loans
  • You live paycheck-to-paycheck
  • 25 percent of your monthly income goes toward credit card bills
  • You have three or more credit cards
  • You ask friends and family for money to cover credit card debt
  • You lease because you cannot find financing to buy
  • You've taken a second job just to repay credit card debt
  • You pawn personal items because you desperately need cash
  • You have made three late payments in the last 12 months
  • You have seriously considered bankruptcy
  • You increase credit limits on already maxed-out credit cards
  • You depend on the time before a check clears to obtain the necessary funds

  If you are experiencing any of these financial problems, then you need to seek debt relief. There are several methods of debt help available to you including debt settlement, credit counseling and debt consolidation. Debt settlement can wipe out your credit card debt in 12 to 36 months and act as a buffer between you and your creditors. Don't let debt linger in your life, act now before these indicators result in bankruptcy.

  Author Bio: Scott Sumerford has several years of experience working in the financial industry and has written a myriad of articles on various financial matters. Read more about how Credit Solutions offers a viable alternative to debt consolidation.

• 7 Tips to Prepare Your Home for Winter
  

  Winter is just around the corner and so are those high energy costs to heat your home. The average family spends $1,400 a year on energy and nearly half that is spent on heating and cooling. This year, you can make your home more efficient with these simple tips:

  • Make sure windows and doors shut snuggly. Your heating unit will run longer, costing you more money, if there are cracks around your doors and windows.
  • Make sure if you replace old heating equipment you don’t go too big, you’ll end up paying much more in energy costs to run a unnecessarily large heating unit.
  • Check to see if your air ducts have any holes or leaks; especially check the duct leading outside. You also want to make sure no vents are obstructed.
  • Check with your local utility provider and see if there are any rebates or specials on heating equipment.
  • If your heating unit is more than 10 years old, you should have a professional examine the unit to see if it needs to be replaced. An ineffective heating unit will add extra costs to your energy bill.
  • Set your thermostat to a lower setting, 70 is typically comfortable and affordable. You also want to make sure that when you leave for an extended period of time you lower the temperature only a few degrees. A drastic drop in temperature will require more energy to reheat your home if the temperature falls too low.
  • Make sure your walls are properly insulated. Additionally, you can insulate wall outlets to completely insulate your home from the elements. Try asking a professional at Home Depot or Lowes to see what might work best in your home.

  Saving money on your energy bills can make the holiday season more bearable. Expensive Christmas gifts can prompt credit card debt if you're already stretched financially. Every penny saved can make a tough season a little easier.

  Author Bio: Scott Sumerford has several years of experience working in the financial industry and has written a myriad of articles on various financial matters. Read more about how Credit Solutions offers a viable alternative to debt consolidation.

• Two Debt Consolidation Programs
  

  Debt can be one of the most stressful burdens in your life. If you need debt relief, then you need to understand your options. Debt consolidation, which establishes new terms on an existing debt, approaches debt relief in two ways.

  Rescheduling

  Debt consolidation can reschedule your current debt by extending the current due date and conditions. For instance, you may be able to extend a $10,000 debt another 5 years to lower the monthly payment and reduce the interest rate. However, rescheduling your debt and extending the repayment period, even with a lower interest rate, can cost you thousands in interest charges because you will pay more interest with every payment you make. Therefore, the longer you're in debt, the more interest you will pay over the life of the loan.

  Refinancing

  When you refinance your current debt, you replace the old debt with a new debt. A common form of this debt consolidation is a home equity loan. You can refinance your home to repay multiple credit card debts; thus, consolidating your debt. The dangers of a home equity loan are risking foreclosure if you fail to make payments and paying more interest. Home equity loans offer lower interest rates because the loan is secured by an asset, your home. However, if you extend the debt, like rescheduling, you will pay more interest over the life of the loan than if you repaid the debt in a shorter time span.

  You can also refinance by obtaining an unsecured debt consolidation loan. These loans have higher interest rates because there is not collateral to secure repayment of the debt. The benefit of this loan is one payment per month instead of the myriad of credit card bills. You can also work the structure of the new loan to shorten the repayment period, which can save you interest charges. The drawback, though, is you need to have good credit to obtain a favorable interest rate or you will negate any possible savings a debt consolidation loan may offer.

  Another Debt-Relief Option

  Overwhelming debt doesn't have to linger in your life. Debt consolidation provides a debt-relief plan that decreases your interest and, possibly, saves you some money. Yet, another form of debt relief, debt settlement, offers a plan to reduce your total credit card debt in 12-36 months. Regardless of the debt relief program you choose, debt is a burden you don't have to bear alone.

  Author Bio: Scott Sumerford has several years of experience working in the financial industry and has written a myriad of articles on various financial matters. Read more about how Credit Solutions offers a viable alternative to debt consolidation.

• 4 Reasons To Try Debt Consolidation
  

  Debt is a problem plaguing millions of people in America today. If you are distressed by debt, the sooner you act to fix your debt situation, the easier it will be to recover.

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