Why Some People Will Always Owe Money...Debt Negotiation and Debt Education

Debt negotiation is something that people are needing right at this moment. There are people who are in terrible financial distress and who cannot do without debt negotiation. But look, without proper training in how to manage money etc, whats the point in debt negotiation except for short term relief of the debt, until the person decides to spend more money than they have again. This is in effect what is happening...hand someone a credit card and watch them spend like theres no tomorrow...well there is a tomorrow, and its just arrived! There should be a prerequisite course on debt education before debt negotiation is allowed to begin.

The world economy has taken a downturn over the last few years and we're facing into bad economic times ahead. The problem for the ordinary man is how he's going to keep his job, and if he doesn't keep his job, how is he going to pay his bills.

Debt Negotiation

Now, we have been bombarded with credit for a long time now and many of us owe small fortunes out in one loan or another. The most worrying bill of all is credit card debt because if we start falling behind on payments here the interest will add on, and continue adding on, with the bill getting bigger and bigger.

The big problem with credit cards is that people use them instead of cash. They use them as an all-round payment method. You know, you go down to the local shop to buy a few bits and pieces you take out the credit card. The same goes for Internet shopping, again you going to take out the credit card. You haven't been paid yet when you see a great pair of shoes that would go really well with those pants and you take out the credit card.

This mentality of I want it now and I will pay for it later has got us all into a pot of trouble, and that's going to be very difficult to climb out of.

I know this hub is supposed to be about debt negotiation, but in reality it should be about debt education because most of us don't know how to handle money. We think we can, but if you asked all your friends and relatives if they knew how to handle money, how many of them do you think would say no? Not very many. It would almost be taken as an insult on their intelligence.

But the truth is that when we have plenty of money there is no real need to budget or to be careful about what you are spending. You don't have to say no to the luxuries in life. There's a old cliche that goes, the more you have the more you spend. The only problem is that we have spent more than we have, we have taken the golden egg and then spent it; and we borrowed money on the basis of getting more golden egg is in the future. Well the golden goose just ran dry, tough!

So here's the thing about debt negotiation. First of all you need to get your own house in order. That means you have to get control of your spending. You can't even attempt to begin with debt negotiations while you're still trying to live a lavish lifestyle. This is where you have to get real. So first take a piece of paper and at the top right down the heading - income. Then you have two make a list of all the money that you have coming into the house. Unfortunately, to a lot of people that might mean only one salary, maybe two. But that has to be starting point.

The second thing  you need to for debt negotiation is to write underneath your income  - the heading - expenses. Here you need to write down everything that is going out of the house. What does your mortgage costs? How much are you paying out on average for your utilities? What is your food bill for the week or month? How much you spend on clothing in a month? How much do you spend on entertainment? Whatever you spend money on has to go in this list. There is no point in leaving anything out because if you do, that list isn't going to be worth the paper it's written on, you might as well screw it up and throw in the bin in.

Okay, underneath that you need to write down the heading - debts. Here you are going to list every single person you owe money to, and the amount that you owe, and the monthly repayments or weekly payments that you are supposed to give them. Again, don't skip on this list anywhere. Everyone has to go down as on this list if you own money to them.

Now you need to go through all your expenses and see what you can cut out, what you can do without. And when it comes down to it there is plenty to do without. Once you have done that you are left with your income, take away your necessary expenses and you will be left with one figure per month that you can divide up amongst your debtors. This is the beginning of your debt negotiation.

This is an important piece of information. It is the most important piece of information, because when you approach your debtors in order to start debt negotiation, this is the figure that you will be able to point to and say that this is what you can afford to pay between everyone. And this is the amount that you can pay to each debtor in turn. That is a good starting point to be in, for you and for your debtors.  I hope you have found something of value in this hub about debt negotiation.

You could seek out a company that specializes in debt negotiation services. They may be able to offer you some help in credit card debt negotiation.

If you are looking for a loan that will cover all your smaller loans you may want to look into debt and bill consolidation. This is a service that allows you to take out a loan, which is usually secured on your property, for the express purpose of paying off your debts and bills.

If you are having trouble and you run a business you could see the services for business debt negotiation.