Tips On How To Avoid Bankruptcy

Consumers often feel that bankruptcy is the only option they have when struggling with overwhelming debts and striving to become debt free. However, this is not necessarily the truth. Depending on the consumer’s particular financial situation, there may be several alternative options to filing bankruptcy that will be less harmful to their credit. Declaring bankruptcy will negatively affect your credit and could make it very difficult to get any type of credit or financing at decent rates for a long time after filing. Therefore, it is best to explore all other options in your quest to becoming debt free before deciding to file bankruptcy.

One of the first things you can do to help improve your financial standing and avoid bankruptcy is to get started using a budget. Determine what you make each month, what you have in bills, and then see what you have left to spend. If you stick to your monthly budget each month, you can avoid over spending and build a savings. This will keep you from falling into more debt and help you pay more towards your current debts each month.

Another tip to debt reduction while avoiding bankruptcy is to stop using credit cards and building more debt. Cut them up, hide them, and do whatever you have to in order to avoid the temptation of using them. In addition, turn off any automatic debits that may be linked to your credit cards. Eliminating credit cards will keep you from accruing more debt and allow you to focus on paying off your current debts.

If basic budgeting, and discontinued credit card use still leaves you in a financial hardship, a debt consolidation program or debt settlement program may be options that can help you become debt free and avoid bankruptcy. Debt consolidation is a program that consolidates your payments into one monthly payment, often with lower interest rates. One monthly payment assures all your credit cards are being paid on time and lower interest rates allow more of your monthly payment to be applied to the principle. This is a great option to assist you in debt reduction, while maintaining good credit.

Debt settlement, or debt negotiation, is the process of settling debt owed for a much lower amount than the original balance. Debt Settlement programs will allow you to only pay a portion of the debt back. Debt settlement might negatively affect your credit, but not on the same level as filing bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy is not always the quick solution to financial distress that many people perceive it to be. It is an extreme move, and should be taken only after all other options have been exhausted.