What To Do When Credit Problems Strike

No matter how much we try to plan ahead there is always the possibility that life will come along and throw a spanner into our lives. And of course when it does it usually causes us problems with our financial affairs and that can have a serious impact on our credit rating.

So what do you do when credit problems strike?

Well the first thing is not to panic and bury your head in the sand. One of the biggest mistakes that most people with credit problems do is to avoid their banks and other lenders.

They go for what seems to be the easy option of pretending it isn’t happening and feeling slightly more comfortable in the moment by putting things off. The sad thing is, is that it’s just about the exact opposite of what they need to be doing.

I know it can seem scary and not to mention embarrassing but actually picking up the phone and calling the company really is the best thing you can do every time.

You are not the first customer to be in a financial fix and you certainly won’t be the last either. The banks and finance companies are not stupid they know that life happens and they know that when it does people cannot always meet their commitments.

They even have specially trained teams of people sat just waiting to help customers in that situation. But here is the problem, if they don’t know the situation they simply can’t help.

If you begin to miss payments then just stop paying them and don’t answer their letters they naturally assume you don’t want to pay rather than can’t pay.

Here is what you need to do if you have found yourself in a financial fix for whatever reason.

1. Sit down and write out on paper every last penny that you owe to everyone. Leave nothing and no one out.

2. Write out all the income that you have or expect to have in the next 30 to 60 days.

3. Put down in writing the exact reason you can’t meet your commitments. It doesn’t matter what that reason is just write it down in full.

4. Sit and compose yourself. Please understand they really do want to get this sorted out as quickly, easily and painlessly as you do. They are not in the business of suing people it’s too expensive, time consuming and counter-productive.

5. Pick up the phone and call them. Ask to speak to customer support or if you’re calling a branch, the branch manager.

6. Just tell them what you wrote down in number 3 above and answer their questions.

By preparing yourself you will find it much, much easier to do all this because you will have everything in front of you so you don’t have to remember anything if you feel tense. If you’ve got credit problems go and do number 1 above right now and you will soon be on your way to fixing them.