Help For Credit Card Debt

February 10, 2011

Interview with Kelly Shelton VP of Family financial Education Foundation

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Mike Carruthers:
As the economy recovers credit card use has actually dropped but there are still plenty of people with serious credit card debt.

Kelly Shelton:
Credit card companies now, by law, have to disclose to you how long it will take you to pay off a credit card. And for many people that is 20 years and thousands and thousands of dollars in interest.
 

Kelly Shelton, Consumer Education Manager for the non-profit Family Financial Education Foundation, says if you are able to make regular payments and your credit card interest rate is more than 10% it’s worth a try to negotiate a lower rate.

You want to talk to a supervisor and in most cases you want to let them know that you’re looking at other offers and opportunities - that if they don’t lower your rate there’s a chance they could lose you as a customer.

If you don’t get the relief you want you can go through a non-profit credit counseling agency like Kelly’s and they will negotiate for you.

Credit companies realize that Americans have gone through a very difficult recession and so they have a special hardship program, that in some cases the interest rate is completely eliminated so you can lower your payment even further. And through authorized credit counseling companies they’re allowing consumers to get even better concessions.

If credit card debt is a problem for you there is help.

So if you’ve got a credit card that you’re going to pay off for 20 years if you don’t make any changes we can get that paid off in 2-5 years – that’s the typical average.

For more information about this non-profit program call 877-789-4173.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here