Instant Credit Card Debt Relief Secrets

Instant Debt Relief

First a quick lesson in the law. When you enter into a payment agreement with a corporation, that agreement will usually come to an end when the outstanding balance is fully paid off.

If the account is a revolving credit account like a department store account it remains open and active until you pay it off and voluntarily close it or the creditor closes it for it’s own reasons.

Other accounts will close when the final payment has been paid. Take a car loan for instance. When you make the final payment the bank sends you your final clear title with their lien removed.

But the only thing for sure is – you can’t close an account while there is an outstanding balance owed. So the only option you have is to keep on paying – right?

Well yes and no.

That contract is an agreement between yourself and the creditor who has provided you with some product or service. What few non-lawyers don’t know is that such an agreement can be rendered completely void if the creditor accepts a new replacement agreement.

In other words, you’re going to offer them a new and different deal. If they accept it – the old agreement dies and is legally replaced with the new one.

Say you owe a payment of a hundred dollars a month for the next five years. If you call the creditor and inform them that due to a sudden and terrible illness, or the loss of a job or the death of your spouse, you cannot pay them the original amount owed as originally agreed they will be motivated to accept a replacement agreement.

In fact, most credit card firms have standard deals they will offer almost anyone who bothers to call them. But if you desire a better deal – you’ll have to negotiate the terms in detail.

Of course you signed the agreement with every intention of making all the payments but unexpected circumstances beyond your control have made it impossible to continue to make the full payment amount. You then offer them a new deal. You tell them that you can afford to pay say sixty bucks each month with no real problem.

They may counter offer asking for more or they may accept your first offer. (Creditors are highly unpredictable in these matters) Deals like this are not unusual and are made and accepted all the time.

If they accept a new deal, you have an entirely new agreement as soon as they say they accept your offer. Of course you’re now legally bound to make the new payments on schedule.
In order to get such a reduction you’ll have to convince the creditor on two points.

First they will have to be convinced that you really are having genuine financial problems and secondly that you will be able to reliably make the new payments on schedule without any undue hardship.

And let us not forget the credit bureaus. They are watching you and if you’re having financial problems, they’re taking it all in and reselling that information to any and all who buy it.

When a creditor accepts your new offer, immediately demand that they expunge your credit record of any and all late payments made under the old agreement. Their response will fall into one of three categories:

1. The creditor will willingly agree and then forget to file the required paperwork - so you end up getting screwed. This is sadly a very common practice in the industry.

2. The creditor will agree and issue you a letter confirming their intentions. (Which you can later use to clean up your credit record even if the creditor forgets to.)

3. The creditor will steadfastly refuse to discuss the issue.

One sharp ploy when negotiating – take a tip from the big unions. When they sit down to negotiate a new labor contract with a big employer, they always make an initial demand that is clearly excessive. And why not – it’s only an opening offer. Later a more equitable agreement can be struck.

You do the same thing. Offer a creditor a really bad deal and wait for them to respond. Or wait until they offer up something and then make a counter offer. Be very careful should they ask “what do you propose?” Be sure your initial offer is insanely stingy and then go from there.

If you land a juicy deal, be sure you perform as you promised. If it involves a much lower interest rate or a “no-principal” breather which allows you to save up a few bucks, be sure you perform as promised or that creditor’s confidence in your desire to pay will crash and you’ll soon be receiving a lump sum demand for payment.

Also demand a letter confirming the deal so you have everything in writing.