Trying to find the right direction for getting rid of your debt? This self-help guide to debt relief offers effective solutions. Empowering you to achieve financial freedom and become debt-free this year.
A Self-Help Guide to Debt Relief
Keep in mind that this self-help guide to debt relief offers solutions you can implement on your own, without the help of a professional debt relief and rehabilitation expert. However, if you find yourself seriously overindebted, it's wise to consult a debt relief and rehabilitation expert who can provide you with the right solution from the get-go.
How can I determine if I have too much debt?
Do you find yourself depending on credit to make it through the month?
Are you struggling to meet your monthly obligations?
Do you count on commission or overtime to make it through the month?
Have any of your creditors begun legal collection processes yet?
But have you ever missed a payment in the past because of an unexpected expense?
Answered YES to any of the questions above?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might already be in some serious financial trouble and not even know it. It might be a good idea to review your finances and have an honest chat with yourself about it. If you’re not facing difficulties just yet, it’s likely that financial problems are just around the corner.
You may be fine today, but if a major emergency hits, you could be devastated and left with a hardship you could have prevented if you'd acted sooner and with more intent about your finances.
There are various debt relief solutions to financial challenges:
When you're dealing with financial issues, it's important to recognise that not every debt relief solution is suitable for all scenarios. Every financial situation is unique since no two people share the same income, monthly expenses, or personal circumstances. Therefore, the key to financial freedom is finding the right solution for your unique set of circumstances.
However, should you seek expert advice before making any decisions, it will result in achieving the best financial solution much quicker than you trying to navigate it yourself.
What is a debt relief and rehabilitation expert?
A debt relief and rehabilitation expert is fluent in all debt relief and rehabilitation solutions available in South African law. A debt relief expert can provide you with a comprehensive overview of all debt relief solutions, including detailed timeframes and cost analyses, and offer assistance throughout the entire process.
You require a debt relief solution that will ensure that you restore your credit reputation and regain your creditworthiness for the least amount of money during the shortest time frame.
Tips to make 2025 your year to become debt-free!
1. Evaluate your finances:
If you’re struggling to service your monthly obligations and trust in credit to get you through the month, you know that you’re a good candidate to read this article. Be honest with yourself. Things are only going to get worse if you keep relying on credit instead of cash flow to get you through the month.
2. Once you’ve evaluated your finances, create a budget.
Why is a budget so important? This will help you to ascertain how much money you’re earning in comparison to how much money you’re paying towards debt monthly. This will further assist you to see if you are truly over-indebted or not.
3. Three possible self-help debt relief solutions:
If you’ve noticed that you’re not yet overwhelmed by debt but are heading in that direction, the following self-help debt relief strategies could be just what you need.
Three self-help solutions to get rid of your debt:
1. Avalanche Effect Debt Relief Solution
2. Snowball Effect Debt Relief Solution
3. Consolidation loan I'm not sure I'd call this a self-help solution exactly, but it could work as a solution in certain situations.
Avalanche effect:
When assessing this strategy, it is important to remember that while focusing on repaying the debt with the highest interest rate, it is equally important to uphold good relations with the creditors of the other accounts that are overlooked in this process. It is essential to keep making payments on those accounts to avoid any possible legal collection actions.
If you are already finding it difficult to manage your debt, you can see that this can quickly become too much. The creditors who used to offer lower interest rates have now become the ones imposing the highest rates, as legal collection fees and disbursements must now be taken into account. Once this occurs, it becomes clear that the self-help debt relief solutions are no longer possible.
So, if you're already relying on credit to get through the month, is this self-help solution really the best option? I don't believe so. This is especially true if you're already relying on credit to get through the month.
Snowball effect:
Start by settling the smallest debt and then progress to the larger ones. This can be effective, provided you’re not already depending on credit to manage your expenses for the month.
If you are dedicating all your earnings to debt repayment and prioritizing settling the smaller accounts first, it is crucial to stay updated on your larger accounts. Thus, this may not be the best option if you rely on credit to support your basic needs to subsist during the month already.
Considering the above, neither of these self-help options serves as a solution if you are already overindebted and finding it difficult to manage without credit through the month.
In addition to that, these self-help debt relief solutions are not sustainable, in particular if you are already over-indebted.
Settling the debts and achieving debt-free status will require a significant amount of time, not to speak of the amount of money necessary to accomplish this. Due to their outstanding balances, interest rates, and penalties, these accounts may require a large amount of money to accomplish this.
Debt Consolidation Loan:
Many of you might think that a debt consolidation loan is the solution. Just to remind you, the debt consolidation loan does not cover overdraft accounts, credit card accounts, or clothing accounts, among other things.
The consolidation loan will only cover loan accounts that can be closed, meaning you won't be able to take on new debt on these accounts. If you keep this in mind, you'll be responsible for the debt consolidation loan repayment along with your credit card, overdraft payments, store credit, etc.
Is this really the answer you’ve been searching for? While you may experience a bit of relief, it’s important to remember that you’ve just extended the payment period for your loans to manage a smaller installment.
How much less is this monthly installment really? And when you're already relying on credit, why would you want to put yourself in a situation where you're borrowing from Peter to pay Paul? Do you truly think that this is the answer?
If you take a moment to reflect, you might realize that it’s not really a solution but rather making an already challenging financial situation worse. It's important to remember that settling debt with more debt won't help you get out of your financial situation.
This isn't a solution but will keep you in debt for at least 72 more months, or around 5 years longer.
If you’d like to keep your debt for the next 5 years, feel free to go ahead and take that consolidation loan!
Answer 7 questions in this self-help debt relief solutions guide and take the first step towards becoming debt-free in 2025.
1. Be honest and take a good look at your financial affairs.
2. Are you overindebted, yes, or no?
3. If so, what kinds of debt relief solutions are available?
4. Is this debt relief solution a self-help debt relief solution, or do you need a debt relief and rehabilitation expert to provide you with professional advice?
5. Which of the debt relief solutions are going to be the most cost-effective and efficient debt relief solutions?
6. Which of these debt relief solutions is going to take the least amount of time to get you back to a healthy financial state?
7. How soon after starting with the debt relief solutions will you experience financial relief?
8. Is the Debt Relief and Rehabilitation Expert an NCR-accredited company?
We hope that what we've shared has given you something to think about, and we believe you'll make the best decision for your finances. If you're not sure whether a self-help debt relief solution is right for you, feel free to reach out to CureDebt, the debt & rehabilitation experts in South Africa. We're here to offer you gratis advice and a gratis evaluation! Now you can easily find a solution without any hassle. Get the help you need right away with the perfect solution, and as a bonus, you'll experience financial relief in no time!
