Some debtors think that hiring a debt professional to help with debt relief is a waste of money. Instead of paying the service fee, why not just put that in your reserve fund and work on your debts alone? A debt counselor usually charges $40-$50 a month. If you think that is a high price to pay, it helps to think about what a professional can do for you.
First of all, you need the financial expertise that they can give you. If not for the advice on how to get out of debt, you can benefit from their financial management skills. You should realize that if you are in debt, that means there is something wrong with how you managed your money. More than getting out of debt, you need to learn how you can stay out of it and this is what a debt professional can help you accomplish. The very first thing that they will do is to analyze your finances. You can listen carefully and ask how they came about the proposed solution to your problems. Talk about what got you into debt and what you can do so that you are never placed in the same situation again. They will also assist you in creating plans such as a debt management plan and a budget plan. More importantly, they will teach you how to make these plans work.
Another advantage of a debt counselor is their negotiating skills. One of the goals of debt management is to lower your monthly payments. To accomplish that, they will lengthen your payment period and if you are lucky, they may even get your creditor to agree to a lower interest rate. Most of the time, these companies are funded by creditors so the chances of them hearing out your case is more likely. And before you react about their loyalties, the creditors fund these agencies because they provide a solution that will help you pay off your debts without reducing it. They will help you make your monthly dues lower than the current so you can see that it is a win-win situation.
If you got an agency that had been practicing for a long time, you can benefit from their reputation. A long tenure in the industry means they have established a working relationship is practically all creditors or collectors. That would make them more likely to get you a good negotiation than if you handled things on your own.
Probably the best advantage to hiring a debt counselor is you get to be protected from harassing calls that are forcing you to pay your dues. Once you enrol your debts with them, they will take over all creditor communications immediately. Also, their presence will indicate that you have plans to pay off your dues. That will make your creditors back off.
All of these benefits seem a lot compared to the $50 a month that will be requested from you.
Of course, debt freedom will still depend on your ability to commit to the program. You may have the best debt counselor beside you but if you are still incurring debts, you will never solve your problems. Be sure to practice the right spending habits while you are paying off your debts.