Jacksonville Residents Can Find Help with Debt

Jacksonville is the nation’s 12th most populous city, yet Duval county’s median income of $49,554 is still slightly under 2008′s figure. This means that many Jaxsons are still trying to recover from the Great Recession, so you’re not alone if you’re struggling with debt. You can get help and guidance to find the right form of credit card debt relief—such as debt settlement, debt counseling, or debt consolidation—for your situation.

Debt Consolidation

If you live in Jacksonville and are struggling with more than $10,000 in debt, then debt consolidation may be a good option for your situation. Debt consolidation can help simplify your finances by putting all your debts in the same place and giving you a single payment to track.

There are many ways to consolidate debt, here are a few of the most popular:

• Balance transfer to a low-interest credit card

• Personal / debt consolidation loan

• Debt Management Plan (DMP)

• Cash-out refinancing

• Debt settlement

Balance Transfers Credit Card

You may have seen offers for balance transfers and they seem like a great option. A credit card balance transfer allows you to move debts to a low-interest or, if you’re eligible, 0% credit card — usually this will be only for balances from other credit card issuers and not the issuer with the offer promotion. For example, you cannot transfer a credit card debt from the same bank.

Before moving forward with a credit card balance transfer, make sure to:

• Select a card with no annual fee

• Review length of time for the special interest rate

• Calculate the balance-transfer fee and find out any other associated fees

• Determine if you can pay off the balance before the special rate expires

• Put away old and new cards and stop charging once you transfer debts

Debt Consolidation / Personal Loan

Consider a personal loan, also called a debt consolidation loan. Keep in mind that your credit score will heavily determine the interest rate. Average interest rates on personal loans are 14%–18%, yet these rates can vary widely from as low as just over 4% annually for people with exceptional credit and up to 25% or higher for people with poor credit.

Cash-Out Refinancing

If you own a home and have enough equity, you may be able to take out a home equity loan or line of credit and use the money to pay off all of your debts at the same time. Or, you can refinance your home for an increased amount compared to the current amount owed and then at the closing you can take cash out to use for your debts. Either way, you will still be paying your debts, yet hopefully for a significantly lower interest rate. This can offer a huge savings in what you’d pay on interest over the life of the debt.

Be aware that using your home to pay off debt can be very risky. If you can’t make the payments, then you will be at risk of foreclosure.

Debt Management Program

If you live in Jacksonville and are having trouble paying your bills each month, yet only need moderate debt relief, credit counseling and enrollment in a debt management plan (DMP) could be an effective option. Credit counseling does not reduce the amount of debt you owe. Instead, a credit counselor can set up an affordable payment plan via the DMP and offer lower interest rates, called “concession rates,” that have been pre-negotiated with your creditors. This lets you focus on one interest rate and one payment per month—this can be helpful if you are struggling with lots of accounts that have high interest rates.

You will pay back 100% of the debt, plus interest, yet the interest rate should be lower than the previous average interest rate, so this can save you money. Yet it’s important to know that monthly fees for credit counseling with DMP services can be high. Using a credit counseling service and enrollment in a DMP may hurt your credit score, plus impact your ability to open and use additional credit lines.

Debt Settlement

Freedom Debt Relief is proud to be the leader in the credit card debt relief industry, having resolved more debt than any other company in the nation. Settlements can provide significant savings compared with the original debt amount.

We look at your debt, your situation, and your goals to create a custom program that offers a great chance for success. And of course, we do not charge any fees until a debt settlement has been negotiated.

Request a free debt evaluation to find out how we could help you:

• Resolve your debt faster
• Significantly reduce what you owe
• Make one low monthly program payment

Solve Your Debt Problem

If you enroll in our debt settlement program, initially you will stop making payments on your enrolled debts and, instead, make monthly deposits into a special purpose account. Freedom Debt Relief will discuss your budget to understand how much you can put toward the settlement program each month. As the balance of your account increases, we then contact your creditors and negotiate settlements for less than what you owe.

After the full settlement amount is paid on each account, your creditors should report to the credit rating bureaus that your accounts are either settled in full, settled, paid, paid by settlement, or settled for less than the full amount. A debt settlement can negatively impact your credit score, yet this is less of an impact than filing for bankruptcy. Although our debt settlement programs will charge a fee, it may help you get out of debt faster and for less money on the whole.

Already you’re taking an important step by discovering a variety of debt solutions and figuring out how to get out of debt. Millions of people are struggling with high interest rates credit card debt, unstable employment, and stagnant wages, yet not everyone is actively looking for a solution. You are and that’s a huge! Nor are you powerless to get rid of debt. Whether you do it yourself or need a little help, you can get out of debt. If you want more advice on different debt solutions for Jacksonville residents, or to learn more about what Freedom Debt Relief does, speak with one of our debt specialists at 800-910-0065. Our team is available 7 days a week.