American Debt Girl

Debt Defined

Through her own experiences with debt, debt consolidation and credit counseling programs, American Debt Girl has learned a lot. To spread the word about credit card debt and how to get rid of it, American Debt Girl decided to create this site (with the help of a friend who's a web site designer).

Debt Definitions

Plenty of pages on this site focus on American Debt Girl's own story about debt , and with her sister's permission, her sister's debt story. There are even a couple of pages with some enlightening statistics about credit and debt. But this page will focus on the definition of some of the debt management programs available that offer debt help. Let's get started:

Debt Consolidation - A popular debt elimination program that focuses on getting the balances and interest rates of your unsecured debts reduced. Your new, lower balances are then combined into one, and you make one monthly payment to the debt consolidation company instead of several monthly payments to your creditors. This program can have you out of debt in about five years.
Debt Consolidation Loans - Under this type of debt reduction and credit counseling program, a loan is given to you to pay off your unsecured debts. You pay the loan back at a much, much lower interest rate, and you can have it paid off in about five years.
Student Loan Debt Consolidation - Combines all of your student loan payments into one. Gets you a much lower, fixed interest rate and slashes your monthly payment amount by nearly 50%.
Debt Consolidation Mortgage - You pay off your unsecured debts by borrowing from the equity in your house. Your payment is combined with your mortgage payment, so your interest rate is much lower. In some cases, the interest is tax deductible as well. (Check with a tax advisor about this.) But be careful--since your house is your collateral, if you miss payments, you could lose your home.
Debt Settlement - Allows you to pay off your unsecured debts at 30-50 cents on the dollar. However, you have to come up with the new, lower amount all at once. Some companies will allow you to pay off the amount over a year, and some will go as long as three years, but most require it to be paid all at once, so if you can't access that much cash at one time, this isn't for you.

Hopefully, this gives you an idea of the types of programs that are out there to help you get rid of your debt. Contact a debt management company to find out which one is right for you. If you need more information or have additional questions about credit and debt counseling, feel free to click on any of the resource links we have or speak to your local financial consultant for professional advice.