Exploring Your Options

If you are having trouble paying your bills, find yourself falling behind in your payments, or dodging collection calls, you have a number of options.

Option 1 – Continue to struggle on your own

Unsecured debt has a nasty way of getting more and more out of control once it has built up. Interest continues to accumulate, making your payments and your principal balance higher and higher. This situation is worsened by the addition of late fees and over the limit fees. By making only the minimum payment, you are making little headway in paying down your debt. In fact, a person who has 0,000 in unsecured debt and pays only the minimum payment will not be able to pay off his debt for over 50 years!

However, if you are certain that within the next month or two, your financial circumstances will vastly improve, you may be able to handle this situation on your own. If you are not sure that you will have significantly more income or lower expenses in the very short term, you should probably explore other options.

Option 2 – Get help from a credit counselor

By talking to a certified credit counselor and having a free financial analysis done, you can get a handle on the right way to navigate your financial difficulties. Because talking to a counselor is free and there is no obligation, you have nothing to lose. After you have all of the facts and the credit counselor's recommendation, you can choose from a number of different ways to handle your debt.

At ACCI, we are here to help you get on the right track and we will give you all of the information and tools you need to do just that. Be sure to ask about our free financial educational materials and courses.

Option 3 – Get help from a credit counselor & enroll in a debt management program

After reviewing your financial situation, the credit counselor may recommend that you start a debt management program. If you decide to sign up for a debt management program with ACCI, here is what happens:

• You give ACCI information on all of your unsecured debt such as the creditor name, balance, account numbers and interest rates.
• ACCI contacts the creditors and informs them that you are in a debt management program.
• Creditors reduce their interest rates, and usually waive late fees and over the limit fees.
• Creditors stop calling you to try to collect their money.
• You make one easy monthly payment to ACCI, and ACCI pays your creditors for you.
• As long as you stay on the program and continue to make your monthly payments, your debt gets paid off in an accelerated way, usually within 3-5 years.