Do-It-Yourself - Christian Debt Solutions |
By Frank Jones on February 1, 2011
.jpg.aspx?width=75&height=75) A quick visit to the About US section of the Christian Debt Solutions website shows the details of their approach:After gaining an in-depth understanding of your financial situation, your personal, dedicated Christian Debt Advisor will create a customized debt settlement program for you that allows you to get out of debt as fast as possible while ensuring that you have an affordable monthly payment.
In addition, your specialist will negotiate to cut the amount of unsecured debt that you owe - enabling you to get out of debt, and on with your life, even faster.
This begs the question: What are they doing that you could not do yourself? More importantly, what are they charging for?
Debt Consolidation
Christian Debt Solutions is quite simply another in a long line of debt consolidation companies. They will only help with unsecured debt and associated negotiations. They operate just like any other debt consolidation service. However, they also use the Christian faith of their clients to manipulate and guilt their clients into paying their excessive fees. For example, in the FAQ section of their site, they state “One only has to turn to Psalm 37:21 - "The wicked borrow and do not repay..." to get God's feeling on bankruptcy.” Even if bankruptcy is not the solution for your current debt problems, there is nothing that Christian Debt Solutions can do which you cannot do for yourself. Additionally, many companies have refused to work with debt settlement companies. This means you will often be better off negotiating your debt on your own.
Unsecured Debt
The reason that Christian Debt Solutions only works with unsecured debt is that these creditors will negotiate to cut your total debt and cut their losses. The idea is that the creditor would prefer to collect 50-80% of what you owe instead of collecting nothing. Unsecured debt includes credit cards & department store cards, medical bills & utility bills.
Credit Cards & Department Store Cards
There are some great resources online which can help educate you about credit card debt negotiation as well as some tips & tricks for lower credit card bills. These same guides apply to department store cards and will save you the fees associated with Christian Debt Solutions.
Medical Bills & Utility Bills
Medical Bills and Utility Bills can also be negotiated or consolidated. Also, there are guides which can help you find ways to repay your medical bills while avoiding the many scams in the marketplace. Debt negotiation services which charge a premium for these services are only one such pitfall of these financial services.
Pitfalls
Bogus Debt Negotiation Services
The best ways to avoid bogus debt negotiation services is through education about debt negotiation and maintaining a healthy skepticism. This includes a quick review of internet comments about the successes and failures of Christian debt Solutions before soliciting their services.
Home Equity Loans
Another common pitfall is improperly using home equity loans as a way of reducing unsecured debt. This can unnecessarily jeopardize your home or other major assets. |
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