Like many people, you may have financial issues that cause you a tremendous amount of stress. Indeed, these financial issues may cast a dark cloud over all aspects of your life. Your financial status may have left you depressed and suffering from anxiety.
If that is the case when it comes to your life at this juncture in time, there are some strategies that you can employ that can assist in bringing order to your finances. If you bring order to your finances, you very well may find that your emotional state will improve as well.
Even if you are seeking assistance from a professional in regard to your emotional state, you may not find true relief to depression, anxiety, or similar issues until you do get your hands around your finances. Keep in mind that some of these suggestions are major steps. However, depending on the actual state of your financial affairs, the time for serious action may have arrived.
Credit and Debt Counseling
On course of action that you might want to consider taking in order to attempt to get your financial house into better order is to seek assistance for a consumer credit counseling service. There are a variety of different types of organizations and agencies that provide these types of services. This includes nonprofit organizations that work with people like you who do have serious financial problems and debt that seems to be beyond control.
Through credit and debt counseling, you will receive guidance on not only how you can deal with some of your immediate debt issues, but also about how you can improve your budgeting skills into the future. A consumer credit counseling organization will assist you for an extended period of time.
In seeking a reputable debt counseling service, you might want to ask around. For example, you might have friends or family members who have utilized the services of a debt counseling service. Word of mouth remains a solid way of finding a debt counseling service that will be able to provide you with the services you need in regard to your own current financial situation.
Debt Consolidation
Another option available to you is debt consolidation. Through debt consolidation you can combine your debts via one loan. You end up making one payment for the debts that have been consolidated in this manner. Typically, through a debt consolidation loan, you will have a lower interest rate than what you faced with your individual debt obligations.
There are a variety of ways in which you can pursue debt consolidation. For example, you can work with a bank or some other type of lending institution who offer debt consolidation loans.
You can also work with a credit and debt counseling organization that may be able to assist you in obtaining a debt consolidation. In the alternative, some of these organizations offer their own debt consolidation programs as part of their programs on behalf of their clients.
Bankruptcy
If you have exhausted other alternatives, you may have reached the point where bankruptcy is the only viable option available to you. As a consumer, you actually have two different types of bankruptcy available to you.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a legal process through which the court develops a plan through which you repay most, if not all, of your creditors. Through the plan, you make one monthly payment of a set amount to the bankruptcy court trustee. The trustee in turn than makes individual payments to your various creditors that have been included in the repayment plan. A Chapter 13 payment plan can go on for five years.
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy does not involve a repayment plan. Rather, through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you end up with a discharge of your debts at the conclusion of the case. In some ways, you end up with a clean financial slate at the conclusion of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
At the start of any type of bankruptcy case, the court issues what is known as an automatic stay order. Through the automatic stay order, your creditors — people or businesses to whom you owe money — have to stop taking action against you to collect debts. They can only proceed if they obtain special permission from the court to do so.
You are very likely to find that once the automatic stay order is issued, you will feel less tense. You will have relief from the constant barrage of contacts from creditors seeking money from you.
Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who focuses on personal finance and other money matters. She currently writes for Checkworks.com, where you can get personal checks and business checks.