Michigan Debt Consolidation

I certainly don’t have a problem with national companies looking to assist Michigan consumers. In fact we help consumers all over the country to resolve their debt issues as well. We do however have a very unique understanding of what Michigan consumers are dealing with specifically because we also live and work here.

If you are a Michigan consumer struggling with high interest rate credit cards and other debts you do have several options to consolidate your debt or even get rid of it all together. You should mainly research debt consolidation loans, credit counseling, debt settlement and bankruptcy.

At Donaldson Williams, we have been successfully helping consumers to negotiate and settle their debts for over 5 years. Debt settlement is potentially a great strategy for consumers that are unable to afford the payments in a credit counseling program and either can’t qualify or wish to avoid filing for bankruptcy.

We offer free consultations and financial reviews to help you determine whether or not a debt settlement strategy is the best solution for you to consolidate your debts. We charge no fees until successful settlements are reached with your creditors, so we will not bring you on as a client unless a settlement is your best option.

If you’ve received a letter from Zwicker and Associates PC, there’s a pretty good chance that a credit card company is thinking about suing you for an unpaid bill – probably American Express, Discover or Chase.

So, what should you do now?

The last thing you want to do is ignore them because the situation is likely to escalate and get worse. Don’t panic however, because there are solutions.

Get a Letter from Zwicker and Associates?

Here are the Steps…

American Express – If American Express sent your account to Zwicker and Associates PC they will sue you because American Express is one of the most aggressive creditors, and very quick to send their accounts off to Zwicker. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen accounts that weren’t even 60 days delinquent end up with Zwicker’s office for the purpose of litigation.

If you can afford to resolve your past due American Express account with Zwicker before a lawsuit is filed, this may be a good option, but of course it depends on the stage of delinquency. You see, Zwicker & Associates is limited on what they can do by how far delinquent your account is. In this case, it’s probably best to hire a debt settlement professional to represent you, either a lawyer or a debt negotiation company, one of whom will be very familiar with American Express settlement guidelines.

Discover Financial Services – If your Discover account was turned over to Zwicker and Associates they may or may not sue you. However, once a Discover account ends up with Zwicker, if you want to settle the account, don’t expect to settle for much less than 80% of the balance. Discover instructs Zwicker to not accept less than 80% of the balance when negotiating a settlement. And, I can tell you from years of experience, Zwicker & Associates holds out for that 80%. This has caused some of our clients to be put in a severe bind. Those who couldn’t come up with the money either had to enter into a long-term payment arrangement with Discover or ended up in bankruptcy court.

Chase Card Services – If you have a Chase account that was assigned to Zwicker and Associates, there’s a 50/50 chance that you will be sued. If you believe that you’ll eventually be able to come up with enough money to settle your account (probably around 40%-50% of the balance), but you don’t have these funds immediately, don’t worry – you have some time. Once Zwicker contacts you with a letter, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits collection agencies and law firms from taking any legal action until after 30 days from the date of their original letter.

If this time passes, and you eventually receive a summons stating that Zwicker & Associates is suing you on behalf of Chase, you’ll want to file an answer to avoid a default judgment from being entered. After doing so, you’ll receive a court date in the mail. But, there’s a good chance you’ll never need to appear in court as long as you make the necessary arrangements to pay off your account via debt settlement prior to that assigned court date.

Hopefully this information has been of assistance to you, but if you need additional information on what may or may not take place with Zwicker & Associates, feel free to visit us at Donaldson Williams.

5 Options for Paying Off Credit Card Debt

1. Debt Snowball

This method as been popularized over the past 10 years or so by Financial Consultant and Radio Show Host Dave Ramsey. This is a great method for consumers who have decent interest rates, can afford more than the minimum payments to their credit cards every month and just want to retire the debt as quickly as possible with the money they have available.

The concept is quite simple. Instead of paying a little more to each of your credit cards you focus on the card with the lowest balance. You only pay the minimums on all the other cards and put all of your extra money towards the lowest balance card until it is paid off. Once that card is retired, you will roll the extra money into the payment for the card with the next lowest balance and so on. Hence the name Debt Snowball.

There is also another angle to this method where you would target the highest interest rate cards first instead of the ones with the lowest balance. There is no arguing that if paying off your credit card debt is your goal, then paying the higher interest cards off first will save you a little money. However the flip side of that argument is that by getting the smaller cards knocked off quickly, you will feel rewarded with progress and be much more likely to see the plan through to the end.

2. Debt Consolidation Loans

Debt Consolidation loans are great options for consumers who have good credit, can afford their monthly payments, but would like to consolidate their high interest payment debt into 1 bill with a lower rate and possibly a lower payment.

In this economic client, low interest debt consolidation loans are typically only available to consumers with good credit (generally higher than 680). Taking a heloc on your home or refinancing the existing mortgage is an option for a secured consolidation loan. For an unsecured loan you can go to your bank or a local credit union. If you are denied from traditional sources, you can look into peer to peer lending networks like Lending Club to see if you can qualify for a loan up to 30,000.

3. Consumer Credit Counseling

A CCCS or Debt Management program are great options for consumers who have high interest rates and are unable to qualify for any sort of debt consolidation loan to pay off their credit card debt. Typically a good credit counseling company will be able to lower your interest rate down to around 7 to 10 percent. If you can afford your current minimum payments but would like to consolidate the payments, and lower the interest so that more of your payment will go toward your principle, than a CCCS type program is worth a look. Typically the program will last 3 to 5 years and you will be debt free.

Credit Counseling organizations help you to pay off your debt by negotiating your interest rates with your creditors, closing your accounts and putting you on a repayment plan that with the new interest rates will have you debt free within 5 years. In order to be successful with a plan of this nature, you must make sure that you will have no problem making the consistent monthly payment until the program is over.

4. Debt Settlement

If none of the above options will provide the amount of relief that you need, and you are trying to avoid filing for bankruptcy, than a debt settlement plan is a possible option for paying off credit card debt. This is a good strategy for a consumer who cannot, or does not want to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy but also does not have the cash flow to continue making full monthly payments towards their debts.

Debt settlement works when a consumer is no longer able to continue making full monthly payments and instead saves what money they can afford to apply towards a less than full balance debt settlement. Debt settlement is best if a consumer can raise the required funds, (about 50% of the current balance) within a 2 to 3 year period of time.

While debt settlement can get you out of debt much faster and for much less money than any of the above options, it is an aggressive strategy and you should first speak with a debt settlement professional to determine if you are a good candidate for a debt settlement company.

5. Bankruptcy

Although most consumers do not like to hear it, bankruptcy can make some very good financial sense depending on a consumers circumstances. If you research all of the above options and find that none of them will work to resolve your situation, then you need to consult with a bankruptcy attorney to find out how a bankruptcy filing would affect you specifically.

With bankruptcy, there are two chapters that a consumer will typically deal with, chapter 7 and chapter 13. A chapter 7 is more of a liquidation, which is how most people think of bankruptcy, however if you are not able to qualify, you could be forced into a 5 year chapter 13 repayment plan, which in most cases is not a great option for the debtor.

So if you think you may need to file for bankruptcy, be sure to first consult with a bankruptcy attorney to discuss what bankruptcy would mean for you.

Received a Letter from NCO Financial Systems? Give us a Call

If you’d like to resolve your past due account with NCO Financial systems, but the collector assigned to your account simply will not cooperate with you, it may be necessary to hire a credit card debt settlement company to assist you with your past due debt. It’s sad, but factual that bill collectors at NCO Financial can sometimes be extremely rude with consumers, but when our office contacts them we don’t encounter any problems resolving our clients’ accounts with NCO. Again, it just doesn’t seem fair, but I suppose that some employees of NCO (and many other collection agencies) take advantage of unknowing consumers, but when they realize they’re dealing with a professional, their tactics suddenly change, and their level of cooperation increases to the point of actually reaching satisfactory results.

NCO Financial is not as bad as what you’re going to find on the Internet, but sometimes it does take the work of a debt negotiation professional to get the job done. I wish you the best in your dealings with NCO Financial Systems, and encourage you to post your own personal experience with them on this blog.

Encore Receivable Management Inc is a collection agency, which is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas. If you’re receiving calls from Encore Receivable Management, it’s probably because you have a past due credit account which was assigned to their office for collection.

Our company has had several years of dealing with Encore Receivable Management, and I can tell you that they have been known, on occasion to violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). However, once their compliance department learns of any violation of the FDCPA, the situation is immediately rectified, and all violations are discontinued. If you believe that Encore Receivable Management has violated the FDCPA and have a complaint, I suggest contacting their Compliance Department right away.

One of the key complaints we hear about (and experience ourselves) Encore Receivable Management is that they call debtors continuously and endlessly. If you’ve found this to be a problem, you can write to Encore Receivable Management, and request that all further communications to you be in written form only. If Encore Receivable Management continues to call you after receiving this letter from you, this would be considered a clear violation of the FDCPA, and you’ll want to inform their compliance department.

Is Encore Receivable Management contacting you about a debt?

Additionally, some people have had to hire our company to assist them simply because representatives at Encore Receivable Management refused to work with them. Of course, I can’t single out Encore Receivable Management, as we’ve found that many collection agencies take advantage of unknowing consumers, and use intimidation tactics to get as much money as they possibly can. If you believe that you’re not being treated fairly, and want a professional to help you, please take a look at our Credit Card Debt Settlement Program, and we’ll be more than happy to assist you in any way we can.

The bottom line is, Encore Receivable Management isn’t one of the “bad” collection agencies, but sometimes it’s necessary to seek out the assistance of a Debt Negotiation professional if you happen to have a representative who is trying to suck every last dime out of you. Our experience with Encore Receivable has always been positive, and they’ve treated us with nothing less than professionalism. Hopefully the same can be said about your experience with them. Best of luck!

Frederick J. Hanna and Associates – One of the Good Guys in Debt Collection

Frederick Hanna’s law firm is compliant with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and they will do everything in their power to ensure that they follow the laws that are in place to protect consumers. So, if you have an account with this law firm you can be sure that you will be able to resolve this matter. Despite the ramblings of others who may have posted complaints about Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, Fred Hanna is a gentleman and a professional; I have personally been in touch with him, and found him to be extremely intelligent, kind and cooperative – and I repeat – professional.

While you may end up talking with one of his employees, who may not be quite as professional as Fred, you can be confident that in the end you will be able to work out an arrangement with this law firm. If possible, I suggest doing so through debt settlement so that you can pay your account for less than the full balance. If you run into a problem working with Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, feel free to contact Donaldson Williams. I have a wonderful working relationship with Mr. Hanna, and you will be pleased with the end result.

One other word of caution: When an account lands with Frederick J. Hanna and Associates, it usually means that the account is headed toward a lawsuit, so please do everything in your power to work with this law firm prior to a lawsuit being filed. Obviously, the last thing you’ll want to face is a lawsuit if you’re already having difficulty paying your bills.

I wish you the best!

United Recovery Systems – An Easy Way to Handle Them

As unbelievable as it sounds, with all of the complaints mounting up, there is actually a very easy way to handle it. Just don’t choose to do business with them. In more reasonable times, we instructed our clients to call United Recovery Systems on their own and attempt to negotiate directly with them. What a mistake. Huge mistake. Our clients were interrogated, intimidated and treated like dirt. So, now when our clients’ accounts end up with United Recovery Systems Inc, we simply hold off and wait for the account to be either recalled by the original creditor, or get transferred to another collection agency, many of whom we have great relationships with.

So, what should you do if your account goes to United Recovery Systems? I know it can be tempting to call them when they offer to settle your account for 20% of the balance, but when you do make that call don’t expect the person on the other end to necessarily honor that agreement – at least not until after they’ve made you feel like you’re a loser for not paying your bill, and then interrogate you for an hour, asking why it is that you’ve neglected your responsibilities. My advice is to hold off and wait until the account goes to a collection agency that is cooperative and willing to work with you.

Obviously, all collection agencies are going to try to get the most out of you, but United Recovery Systems Inc will be brutal in their attempts to do so, and they have the complaints to prove it. If you have several outstanding accounts that need to be resolved, feel free to contact us and we will help you create a specific debt resolution plan that works for your circumstances.

If you’re in way over your head financially, and you’re struggling just to get by each month, there’s a good chance that you’ve taken a long and serious look at your options to become debt-free. You’ve probably read more than you care to know about consumer credit counseling, bankruptcy, debt consolidation and debt settlement, but your diligence in finding a solution to your financial predicament has led you to believe that debt settlement may be a viable option.

There are a few considerations, however, that need to be factored into your final decision regarding debt settlement, and probably the most critical of these is the availability of sufficient funds to follow through with the agreed-upon settlements with your creditors. You see, if it’s simply not realistic that you’ll be able to fund the negotiated settlements with your creditors, your choice has already been made for you, and debt settlement is not the solution for you.

When negotiations have been ongoing and a mutually agreeable settlement has finally been reached, you’re expected to release funds to the creditor with whom you reached an agreement. Some creditors will accept the settlement amount over several months, while others will insist on one lump sum payment. Either way, if you default on the negotiated settlement agreement with your creditor, the settlement becomes null and void, and you’re expected to pay the entire debt in full.

If you believe funding will not be an obstacle, then debt settlement can be an excellent solution to your financial crisis. While your credit score may be reduced for a short period of time (if it’s not already), it will improve a great deal once your accounts are updated to reflect a zero balance. Also, many people have concerns regarding the possibility of a tax liability as a result of debt settlement. To get a clearer picture regarding debt settlement and taxes, click here.

Finally, let’s take a look at your final decision because reaching that decision is simply not that easy. As a matter of fact, it’s downright frightening, and something most people are hesitant to think about. No matter what choice you make regarding the best resolution for putting your financial problems behind you, it’s new territory, and the thought of losing your credit privileges, whether through bankruptcy, debt settlement or consumer credit counseling, is not something any of us really want to face. I can say with a great deal of confidence, however, that once you’ve decided which option is best for you, you’ll finally feel a sense of relief. I would encourage you to not procrastinate; procrastination simply leads to several more months of struggling to pay your bills. Think long-term and you’ll realize that in a few short years (very possibly months), you’ll be debt-free, your credit score will be restored and you can hold your head high knowing that you faced an extremely difficult situation and made it through just fine – and very likely accumulated a great deal of knowledge in the process.

If you should have any questions, or need assistance, feel free to contact us. For a free consultation, click here. Remember, Donaldson Williams, Inc. charges absolutely no monthly fee and no set-up costs because we work on a contingency basis, and you don’t pay a fee for our services until after a satisfactory settlement has been reached with your creditor(s).