My Personal Finance Blog

Many people turn to debt management companies and credit counseling services to get help lowering payments or interest rates with their creditors. There is another way you can do this which simply involves a do-it-yourself approach for negotiating with your creditors. If you are looking to settle your debt (pay less than you owe) or get lower interest or a lower monthly payment – why not take the initiative and attempt to negotiate for yourself? You can sometimes get just as good of a settlement when you do it yourself, and it won’t cost you any fees.

Here is what you should know about negotiating a settlement or lower monthly payment with your creditors:

Know What Your Financial Rights Are

In order to have the best possible chance of negotiating with your creditors, you should take some time to look at what your financial rights are. The Federal Trade Commission has established the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) which applies to all debts of a personal, family and household nature for people in the United States.

Most of the rights under this act involve what debt collectors can and cannot do, including that they are prohibited from engaging in unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices when they attempt to collect debts.

Some of the guidelines under the FDCPA mean that debt collectors:



May not contact you before 8 a.m or after 9 p.m.



May not contact you at work if you’ve asked them not to or your employer disapproves.



May not harass, oppress, or abuse you verbally or otherwise



May not falsely imply that you have committed a crime, or otherwise lie to you to intimidate you into paying a debt.



Must identify themselves to you on the phone.



Must stop contacting you if you ask them to do so in writing.



Figure Out How Much You Owe and to Whom

Once you know what your rights are, you will want to gather an accurate list of creditors and how much you owe them. Get a credit report if you do not already have a recent one. Verify first that everything on your credit report is accurate (take steps to correct anything that is not accurate), and then start contacting your creditors one at a time to negotiate.

Negotiations

Creditors would rather settle your debt than go into litigation or lose all money through a bankruptcy. This puts you in a position of strength and you should use that to your benefit when looking to negotiate your credit. Creditors will probably lose money if the matter is taken to court, and they stand to lose much more if you file bankruptcy. For this reason, many are willing to settle the debts for less than what you owe – particularly if the debts you are attempting to negotiate are unsecured. Unsecured debt means the creditor has nothing they can take from you to sell and recoup their money.

Do Not Let Emotions Get in the Way

Don’t let emotions rule your actions when you negotiate. When decisions are made as a result of emotions, they are often poorly made decisions. If your call with the creditors are badgering your emotions, terminate the call and try again after you’ve had a chance to calm down again.

Stick to the Settlement

If you’ve arranged a settlement that you and the creditor agree with that fits into your budget, make sure you keep to the settlement arrangement. Be sure you get the details of the settlement in writing from the creditor to make sure that there are no problems later on and that everyone is on the same page.

If you are unable to negotiate a satisfactory settlement, you might try to get a lower interest credit card to complete a balance transfer, or try to find an outside agency to help you.

Elizabeth Williams, Editor-in-Chief for CreditCardFlyers.com

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