Looking for debt relief help these days is pretty tough. With so many scammers and ripoff businesses claiming to help you get out of debt around the web it’s pretty hard to know who you can trust and who you can’t.
In this article I’m going to identify several groups of people and places that you shouldn’t go to for debt relief help. At the same time I’m also going to identify a few people and places that will help you on the road to debt freedom.
Friends & Family
The first group of people you shouldn’t be taking advice from about getting out of debt is close friends and family. This may seem odd that I say this but let me explain why.
The problem with taking advice from family and friends is a lot of times they’ve never gone through the situation you are going through right now. In fact they may even be up to their eyeballs in debt as well. This is kind of like trusting a bold barber to cut your hair.
I also don’t recommend taking money or giving money out to other family members when it comes to getting out of debt. I’ve found out from a personal experience what this can be like.
I once lent my oldest brother five grand to pay off some bills and he promised me he would pay me back in couple months. Well one month turned into two months and two months turned into four months and three years later after continually haggling with himI finally got my money back.
Cash Advance Businesses
The next place you should never look for debt relief help is cash advance businesses. These places will cost you an arm and a leg if you use them.
These typical businesses will usually charge you a $15 fee and will lend you a few hundred dollars for a couple of weeks. That fee isn’t much but what the cash advance stores are counting on is that you will get behind on your payments. This will cause them to tack an interest penalty onto your debt.
In some states the rates can go as high as 800%, however some states like Ohio and Arizona have put laws into place that only allow these companies to charge up to 30% interest.
However I should mention just because some states have lower interest rates doesn’t make it any better. In a worst case scenario you could end up continuously borrowing money from these places in order to survive, which could end up creating more debt than you started with.
Debt Relief Companies
The final place you should avoid is debt relief companies. A lot of times these companies will make things look almost to good and almost to easy to get out of debt.
The typical offer will claim to get you out of debt within 3 to 4 years and you will only have to pay back half of the money you owe. They do this by negotiating with your creditors to cut down your balance owed.
Doing this can have some huge effects on your credit score. On top of that the cost to be in such a program can be very costly. The average cost to get in a debt negotiation plan is around 17% of the total amount of debt that gets excepted into the plan.
To illustrate my point if you had $35,000 of debt it would cost you $5950 to pay off that debt. However they don’t typically collect that fee all at once but instead though monthly payments.
Who Can You Trust
When it comes to getting out of debt their are only a few people who give you real help with debt relief. First off you have the National Foundation for Credit Counselors. This is non profit organization that works with people on a one on one basis to help them pay back all of the debt that they owe.
The next debt relief option you have is Dave Ramsey who is probably the king of helping people get out of debt. His plan has helped thousands of people realize that being in debt doesn’t have to be a lifestyle. If you would like to learn more about this option you can read my review on Dave Ramseys Baby Steps Plan here.
Finally, of all the options I have a real free debt relief help for you. If you check out my debt plans page you’ll find helpful free spreadsheets that will allow you setup your own debt plan and help you get on the road to debt relief.