You want someone you can trust who will give you impartial advice with your best interests at heart. There's the challenge- the banks want your money so they will advise you to borrow more money to pay back over a longer period with more interest for them. The third party loan companies want the same only they'll charge a higher rate of interest and get nastier if you fail to make any repayments.



Debt management firms who offer to ‘wipe out' large percentages of your debt and take over all contact between you and your creditors will make life a lot easier for you in the short term but the effect on your credit score in the longer term will be devastating.

Then there are the third party ‘bad credit' loan people who say things like “bad credit? Been refused elsewhere? - No problem!” These are the worst of the worst. These people target the most desperate consumers already way in over their heads who really shouldn't be thinking about borrowing any more money. I was one of them once and it was an incredibly nerve racking and unpleasant experience.

After filling out what seemed like a whole newspaper's worth of forms I was then told that for the loan to proceed I had to give contact details of my partner, several members of my family and at least two of my work colleagues. I never let it get as far as missing a payment so I didn't find out first hand what recovery tactics they'd employ and I'm very glad I didn't.

The APR on that loan turned out to be 47% (I was quoted 15% on the phone), this little twist didn't make itself apparent until I'd filled out the forms, given the details of friends, family and colleagues and gone through several hours of sitting and waiting while the employee took the forms and discussed them with his superior leaving me in suspense. When it had all gone through I was so desperate to get out of there with what I had come for I just took the cheque and ran.

For several months I made the payments along with my other payments which in total accounted for almost a third of my pay check. After rent and bills I had absolutely nothing. After 4 months during the build up to Christmas I was forced to think about how I was going to afford to buy presents and faced with the prospect of explaining to my family that a man in his early 30's with a good job and salary could not afford to get any presents this year.

I phoned my bank for advice and they offered me a top up consolidation loan which I took. I paid off the 47% APR bad credit loan by borrowing that amount plus the interest and early settlement fee, incurred more interest from the bank and extended my consumer debt by a couple of years- were I to follow the traditional route of just paying it off as I can afford it on my salary.

So there's a story illustrating how not to beat bad debt. That painful lesson cost me a few thousand that I could now have invested and working for me. So what have I learnt from all of that?

The best debt management scheme you can go on is to educate yourself on the credit industry. By all means have a look around at what people are offering but please don't be sold on some ‘make it all better' scheme that will end up costing you dearly and making someone else a lot of your money that you cannot afford to spend.

There are sharks out there and they want your money, here are a few things to look out for:

Will they charge you money to ‘get you out of debt' – if so how much and how are you meant to pay it (is it a monthly payment)?

Are they selling a ‘get out of debt-become rich' ebook with millionaire lifestyle pictures of houses, cars, boats etc. on the sales letter page? (A get rich quick scam)

How much information are they prepared to give you for free?

Is it something you would feel comfortable with or does it ring alarm bells inside your head?

What these questions boil down to is that the credit and debt industry is hugely lucrative. The banks and third party lenders aggressively market their products with specific types of consumers in mind. The customers they are looking for are those who will spend the most amount of money over the longest period of time. They do not care about you or your financial wellbeing they want you to stay in debt to them for as long as possible.

So in conclusion, I'd say the main thing to do when choosing a debt solution provider is to weigh up how much they will charge you and how much money they stand to make from you. You can easily tell who's best interests they serve by making that assessment.

The only way to really do it with your interests at heart is to educate yourself and make your own plan. For more free information on how to do that check out my homepage at www.beat-debt.net.