HIMPower Magazine HimPower September 2017 | Page 32

IT’S YOUR MONEY
Is A Debt Reduction
Service Right for You?
by Robert Rhinesmith
M
y article, Determining Your
Risk Tolerance for Credit
Card Debt, in the August issue
detailed a number of steps for
getting your debt under control. When
•
applied with a disciplined approach, debt
management and debt reduction are within
everyone’s reach. However, if you are consid-
ering using a debt reduction service instead
of managing the debt yourself, here are
some things to keep in mind before enlisting
their help.
WHAT’S A DEBT REDUCTION SERVICE?
Basically, a debt reduction service
promises, for a fee, to assist you in cleaning
up your debts by working directly with your
creditors. Typically, those promises come in
one of two forms:
• First, debt settlement companies take the
money you pay them and use it to nego-
tiate with your creditors to reduce or
32  HimPower September 2017
eliminate what you owe. The problem
is, they usually charge a lot more than
you would pay if you just settled the
debts on your own.
Second, debt consolidation companies
combine all your debts into one single
debt—usually at a lower interest rate.
That sounds good on the surface, but
they really don’t eliminate your debts.
They just move them around from one
place to another.
The key point to remember in both
cases, is that you really don’t need to pay
someone else to do what you can do for
yourself!
A BETTER PL AN THAN DEBT
REDUCTION
Simply put, debt reduction services only
delay the inevitable—and they take your
money while they’re at it. But you don’t