Victoria 4 Pillars: Dealing with Creditors Smartly (If You Can’t Pay)

You barely have enough to pay the rent and the thought of facing your creditors is making your knees tremble. Before you resort to filing for bankruptcy, know that there are other ways you can get out of a sticky situation. Instead of hiding from your creditors, you can make arrangements that can create a win-win for everyone. Here are smart ways to deal with your debt collectors and how you can start staying on top of your finances.

Be aware of your rights. Victoria 4 Pillars consultants understand that customers often experience harassment from aggressive debt collectors. Unprofessional collection agents tend to raise their voice and threaten debtors with lawsuit should they fail to pay up and close their account. By learning about BC’s Consumer Protection rights, no intimidation can make you take irrational actions, which may further jeopardize your finances. Learn about the guidelines debt collectors are legally required to abide, and know when the bounds of harassment have been crossed.

Understand the collector’s objective. Collection agents are paid by your creditors to extract whatever they can from you, and the more they collect, the greater the commission. They are not customer care agents or credit counselors to rely on to make you understand about your money issues. If you need to clarify some details, or to provide proof that some things in the account must be changed, or if you need to ask for an extension, talk to your creditor directly.

Answer the phone. The longer you put off talking to the collector, the more they will suspect that you don’t intend to fulfill your obligation. At the same time, your debt will continue to accumulate. Frustrating your collector would only shove your account to a third-party collection agency who’ll see you merely as a figure. The further down the line your account goes, the more difficult renegotiation gets. Make sure you return the call or ask for the agent’s email address if it’s hard to communicate through the phone.

Create a solid offer. If you’ve been a faithful payer in the past, your creditor would consider his business relationship with you. Try renegotiating the interest terms. Ask if he can reduce it to help you pay up your debts faster. According to MoneySense.ca, any settlement can do so much for your credit score. Better yet, read 4 Pillars reviews to see how a debt consultant like Blair Greenwood can help you. TheGlobeandMail.com strongly suggests working with a counsellor, who will create a realistic payment plan proposal, based on your assets, income, and expenses, on your behalf.

Source: If the debt collector calls, what do you do? TheGlobeAndMail.com

Source: Six ways to deal with collection agents, MoneySense.ca