Sometimes debt can seem overwhelming. In those instances, or even before things get that far out of hand, get back to basics and try some of these debt-handling solutions.<\/p>\n
BASICS \u2013 Lower insurance deductibles for your homeowners, renters and vehicles policies where appropriate and save money.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t take chances on bouncing checks; instead, get covered with overdraft protection and pay about the same as what it would cost for one bounced check to cover our account for an entire year.<\/p>\n
Ask your banker about packaged account services. Many offer free savings and checking accounts with free overdraft protection and checks, free online bill paying and more.<\/p>\n
When you shop, check your receipts, even for groceries. Many times items ring up at incorrect prices.<\/p>\n
Sometimes store policy allows for no errors, meaning you get the items free if it rings up wrong. So carry along a handheld calculator or pencil with a small notepad to tally up your charges.<\/p>\n
REACH OUT- If you have medical debt, the first thing healthcare offices try to do is get you to charge the bills or refinance your home, etc.<\/p>\n
STOP. Before you take such a drastic step, check with legal counsel. There are often other steps to take first. For example, notify the billing parties and tell them you need to apply for financial aid.<\/p>\n
Many have forms to complete, and although they may be lengthy, remember they\u2019re for free money to pay your bills. Reach out, take forms and fill them out.<\/p>\n
Then set up minimum payment arrangements for the remaining balances, even if it\u2019s just $10 a month for 30 years.<\/p>\n
Healthcare bills are not like credit card debt and do not need to be reported to the credit bureau in the same manner.<\/p>\n
Also, reach out with merchandise and return any recently purchased items that you can for a refund. Credit cards and mail order companies generally allow you 30 days to inspect your purchase.<\/p>\n
Return any you can for refunds. If purchases are beyond the 30 days and for various reasons don\u2019t hold up to their end of the \u201cbargain;\u201d i.e. they broke already or never worked right to begin with, get on a letter-writing campaign pronto.<\/p>\n
Write the place of purchase and copy the manufacturer, the distributor, the Better Business Bureau and your state Attorney General\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
State the reasons our product is faulty and that you want a refund. It\u2019s often rewarding to get help with other entities like these. No need to go it alone!<\/p>\n
So before your debt gets out of hand, take charge and get back to basics. Put some of these debt-handling solutions into practice and make the most out of what you have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes debt can seem overwhelming. In those instances, or even before things get that far out of hand, get back to basics and try some of these debt-handling solutions. BASICS \u2013 Lower insurance deductibles for your homeowners, renters and vehicles policies where appropriate and save money. Don\u2019t take chances on bouncing checks; instead, get covered\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[1061,541,206,215,170,1062],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-debt","tag-bills","tag-check","tag-credit","tag-debt","tag-free","tag-items"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w1.affwebsites.com\/articledir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}