Surviving Debt: A Guide for Consumers in Financial Stress - Softcover

Jonathan Sheldon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1881793400 ISBN 13: 9781881793403

Publisher: Natl Consumer Law Center, 1996

Synopsis

Expert advice and strategies for consumers about debt collection, prioritzing debt, credit rights, bankruptcy, stopping eviction or foreclosure, repossessions and more.

About this title

Reviews

Sheldon and Klein's outstanding manual is an update, revision, and substantial expansion of the National Consumer Law Center's 1992 guide, which targeted nonlegal counselors of consumers in financial trouble. For more than 25 years, the Boston-based center has been a court and legislative advocate for low-income consumers. This new version of their book speaks to consumers directly and offers tips on prioritizing debts, refinancing, and credit rights. Additional chapters spell out strategies regarding home foreclosure, eviction, repossession, utility shutoff, bankruptcy, etc. Seldom is such useful, authoritative information available for so small a price! David Rouse

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1 Choosing Which Debts To Pay

*Sixteen Rules to Help Choose Which Debts to Pay First *The Consequences of Not Paying Different Types of Debt *What If You Cannot Pay All Your High Priority Debts? If you are having serious financial problems, you probably are having trouble keeping current on all of your debts. You can only cut expenses so much, and your income cannot be stretched to cover all of your obligations. This leaves you with no choice but to delay or eliminate payment on certain of your debts.

One of the most important choices you will have to make is which debts to pay first. Your home or apartment, your utility service, your car, and even your household possessions may be at stake. Following the rules in this chapter may make the difference between keeping or losing this property.

Instead of delaying or eliminating certain debt repayments, you may be tempted to take out more debt to repay old debts. This is generally a bad idea. When you should and should not refinance, consolidate, or take out new loans is discussed in Chapter Four. Yet another chapter describes ways to increase your income or decrease your expenses to help you to make ends meet.

Nevertheless, your main strategy in dealing with too much debt is deciding which debts to pay first, which you can refuse to pay, and which you can put off until later. The most important creditor to pay is not necessarily the creditor that screams the loudest or the most often. Creditors who yell the loudest often do so only because they have no better way to get their money than to pressure you to pay. Of more concern are creditors who not only threaten, but actually can take quick action against your residence, utility service, car, or other important assets.

You should direct your limited resources to what is most necessary for your family--typically food, clothing, shelter and utility service. Unfortunately, there is no universally applicable list of the order in which debts should be paid. Everyone's situation will be different. Instead what follows are sixteen rules about how to set priorities, followed by a more detailed sketch of the consequences of not paying certain types of debts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Natl Consumer Law Center
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1881793400
• ISBN 13: 9781881793403
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 352