Ask The Money Coach

Posts Tagged ‘debt’

Higher education costs in the U.S. are increasing. State funding to aid college students is on the decline. And a growing number of university and college students in America are taking on loans to foot their tuition bills and other expenses. Add it all up and the results are scary: In addition to racking up massive amounts of credit card debt, college students in the U.S. are now graduating with record levels of student loans as well.

Nationwide, the median student loan debt for undergraduates currently stands at close to $20,000. Those who attend graduate school wind up with an additional $32,000 in debt on average, according to Nellie Mae, the nations largest student loan provider. The upside to all this debt is that people with Bachelors or graduate and professional degrees stand to earn substantially greater incomes than those without degrees. In the meantime, though, millions of people like you still need help in managing those enormous student loans.

In this session you’ll learn:

• How student loans impact your credit
• How to bring past-due loans out of default status in 3 months or less
• The ins and outs of loan rehabilitation programs
• Whether you’re eligible for a student loan cancellation and may not even know it
• How to seek and get a deferment on repaying student loans
• When to request forbearance
• How to ease your financial burdens with a graduated repayment program
• How to get your lender to agree to an extended repayment option
• The pros and cons of paying loans based on an income contingent plan
• When to consider student loan consolidation and MORE!

Length – 60 minutes

Format MP3 Audio - Click to download for just $5.99

Related articles by Zemanta

• College grads take extreme measures to repay student loans (walletpop.com)
• Alternative Ways To Pay Off Your Student Loan Debt (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)

The National Foundation for Debt Management (NFDM) is an excellent non-profit agency that can help you get your credit card debt under control.  You can trust that they are reputable and will do a good job. NFDM negotiates with your creditors on your behalf. In fact, they have already pre-negotiated with most creditors, so when you contact them (www.NFDM.org or 866-409-6336), they will be able to tell you what your new interest rates would be and what your total monthly payment would be to repay all your creditors using a debt management program.

We’ve answered this question in a previous post.  Here it is below:

It will take multiple steps to help you eliminate your medical debt. But here are six strategies you can use to knock down those hospital bills and improve your credit rating.

Examine Everything

Start by going over all your medical bills with a fine-tooth comb. Question charges that seem inflated (like that $20 bottle of aspirin). Also, ask for explanations from your healthcare providers regarding invoices for services you don’t recognize or understand. Simply forcing them to account for everything may result is certain charges being waived or reduced.

Find Out About State Freebies

Lots of states offer their residents free mandatory coverage or health insurance with small co-pays and low deductibles. If any of your treatment should have been covered by a state program, see if state resources can fill the gap and pay what you’ve been charged.

Ask Directly for Discounts

Ask the hospitals, clinics and healthcare professionals that serviced you whether or not you qualify for any discounts, charity, or write-downs of your total bill outstanding. Don’t be ashamed to let the hospital(s) know about your entire financial predicament. They may be more lenient if they know that you’re not working, are not insured, have lots of other debts, are a single mom, etc.

Request a Payment Plan

If you can talk to a kindly, flexible billing representative/hospital administrator, or even better, the doctor(s) who treated you, ask if you can get on a payment plan. Try to stretch out the plan for as long as reasonable in order to give yourself time to pay off all that you owe. If they agree to discount $2,000 of your original $5,000 in bills, then you’ll have $3,000 remaining to pay off over time. If you can commit to pay that off in two years, that means you’ll have to pay $125 a month ($3,000 divided by 24 months).

Negotiate to Improve Your Credit Rating

Also, while you are negotiating, request upfront that the hospital agree to delete all negative references to your credit files. They may only do it once you’ve completed your repayment plan. But that’s better than letting the late payment or collection information sit on your credit reports for seven years. Get any agreements in writing.

Get a Medical Advocate

Don’t give up on negotiating down that medical debt, or to improve your credit standing. Sometimes you have to go to multiple people or write numerous letters. But it will be worth it in the end if you can rid yourself of thousands of dollars of medical bills. If your own efforts don’t get you anywhere, get help from a third party, such as Access Project (http://www.accessproject.org) or Medical Bill Advocates (http://www.billadvocates.com). For those with hefty hospital bills, The Access Project’s Medical Debt Resolution Program can guide you through the maze of negotiating with insurance companies, medical providers and public programs to resolve your medical debt.

Related articles

• How to Handle Overdue Hospital Bills (ybpguide.com)

Nobody likes to live paycheck to paycheck. It is stressful, depressing, and makes you feel like you’re not getting ahead.

Unfortunately, though, most people live under these exact circumstances, and it’s mainly because they’ve never been taught some basic personal finance principles like budgeting, saving, and proper cash management.

In this session you’ll learn:

• The three ways to tell if you’re truly serious about wiping out your debt
• The importance of setting financial goals to motivate yourself
• Strategies for creating and maintaining a realistic budget
• How to get products and services you need FREE of charge
• The financial impact of various habits and activities
• Smart ways to make saving and investing automatic
• How to stop making excuses about your situation and get out of debt denial
• How to get rid of money-draining friends, relatives and others
• How to slash expenses in multiple areas of your life
• Pain-free ways to build up your cash cushion and MORE!Length – 60 minutes
  Download Now and Pay Just $2.99

Related articles by Zemanta

• Money Makeover: Three-part Strategy Should Ease Nurse’s Student-loan Debt (Boston Globe) (financialaidnews.com)
• Money Tips For Your 20′s, 30′s & 40′s (hellobeautiful.com)

There comes a point in most people’s lives when they slip up with their credit cards. Maybe you forgot to pay a bill on time and got hit with a late fee. Or perhaps you fell on hard times, and got several months behind on your debts. What should you do when you want to re-establish your good name, pay off debts, and improve your credit standing? Chances are, you’ll have to negotiate with your creditors. Negotiating with institutions you owe is more art than science. But there are some proven negotiation strategies and techniques you must know in order to save yourself hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

In this session you’ll learn:

• What re-aging is, its benefits, and how to get a creditor to re-age your account
• How and when to ask a credit card company to un-rate your account
• How to legally buy time paying a bill or possibly even eliminate the need to pay the debt
• How to avoid over-the-limit fees or have them eliminated
• How to get interest rates lowered
• How to get late fees waived and late payments removed from your credit file
• What requests to make over the phone and when to send letters to your creditors
• Why it may be smart to get the due date on your credit card changed and how to do it
• The 5 times you should ALWAYS pick up the phone and call your credit card company
• How to protect your credit rating when you don’t pay a bill and MORE!

Length 60 minutes
Download Now for $5.99