As a Texas consumer struggling to make the minimum monthly payments on your credit card bills, loans and other debts, you may be at your financial wits’ end. Fortunately, there are a number of Texas debt relief programs available at a fraction of the cost of debt consolidation loans or debt negotiation lawyers. The key is taking action before your financial situation deteriorates further.
If you’re carrying balances of a few thousand dollars or more on your credit cards, business loans and open business lines of credit, you’ve likely already been subjected to threatening phone calls, official-looking letters, and intimidating surprise visits from your creditors and their collection-agency pals. This verbal and physical harassment will only worsen as your debts continue to pile up.
Unfortunately, Texas law permits your creditors to do more than just threaten you. Although Texas is one of the few states that does not allow banks and credit card companies to garnish your wages, the state has lenient statutes of limitations pertaining to outstanding debts. Your creditors can pursue you for open-account debts, which include credit card liabilities, and written contracts, which include business loans, stretching back over four years.
For both domestic and foreign judgments, the timescale is even longer: 10 years, with the possibility of a renewal of judgment that could give your creditors another decade with which to pursue you.
What’s worse, Texas law provides for high rates of penalty interest on delinquent credit balances. If you’re fortunate enough to have made a pre-existing agreement with your creditors, your penalty interest is capped at 6 percent. If not, your interest rate can skyrocket to as much as 18 percent above what you’re currently paying. Regardless, even $600 in extra annual interest payments is an unwelcome surprise.
Many Texas homeowners in your position have made the mistake of opting for debt consolidation loans rather than true debt consolidation programs. Although debt consolidation loans give you the money you need to pay your current bills, they won’t reduce the actual amount that you owe. In most cases, they won’t reduce your interest rates by much either. In fact, the only benefit to a debt consolidation loan is the convenience of replacing multiple monthly payments with a single one.
It will be an expensive payment, though. Unless you have excellent credit, which is virtually impossible when you’re in danger of missing your monthly payments, you’re virtually guaranteed to pay double-digit rates of interest on these loans.
If your borrower rating lies in the ‘C’ to ‘D’ grade range, signifying mediocre credit, you can expect rates between 14 and 20 percent, or an annual outlay of $2,800 to $4,000 if you owe $20,000. If you’ve already missed credit card or loan payments, your credit is probably worse still. Borrowers with ratings of ‘E’ through ‘G’ are liable for rates of up to 25 percent, which are unsustainable for most families.
You may also be considering contacting one of the slick debt negotiation attorneys that constantly advertise on television and the Internet. While these professionals can typically produce favorable outcomes, saving you some money on your outstanding debts, they do so at a fearsome price.
A typical debt negotiation attorney charges three basic fees. First, you’ll be assessed a flat, non-negotiable consultation fee of 5 percent of your total balance before you even sit down with your attorney. Next, you’ll be required to pay a $50 “account maintenance fee” every month during the three to five years that your case stays open, merely for the privilege of having occasional conversations with your lawyer.
In other words, you’ll be relieved of thousands of dollars in fees before you see any savings. And once your lawyer finally does negotiate a settlement with your creditors on your behalf, 25 percent of the total savings will belong to them.
You’ll find the best Texas debt relief programs courtesy of the non-attorney debt consolidation through settlement professionals at DebtConsolidationUSA.com. You won’t be asked for a cent until your debts are completely settled, and your final cost will still be several times lower than it would be with the help of a debt consolidation loan or expensive attorney.
Best of all, you’ll settle your existing debts once and for all with a single payment that can eliminate continuing expenses like interest and late fees. The whole process typically takes between two and four years, and you’ll be able to begin rebuilding your credit immediately upon its successful conclusion.
Remember, your creditors want you to procrastinate. Every day you wait is another day of potential late fees, penalty interest, and threatening phone calls. Call us or fill out our free form online today to schedule a complimentary debt analysis and enroll in one of our Texas debt relief programs today!