Free money to pay off debt. It almost sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? And in fact it is. Think about it - if the government offered free money to get rid of debt problems, everyone would want it. There would be no incentive to control our finances at all and it would cost the government (and therefore us) immense amounts of money. It is a myth perpetuated by companies trying to make money from your debt problems.
Given that there is no free money to pay off our debts, there are a surprising amount of adverts around which seem to suggest that there are mountains of money there just waiting for us to ask for it. These adverts and websites tend to be ways of getting the attention of people with debt problems in order to sell them whatever it is that they offer - usually bankruptcy services, debt management plans or lists of available grants. There are lots of government grants available, particularly in the US, but you will not qualify for any of these just by being in debt.
Such grants tend to be for things like getting new businesses off the ground and kick-starting new initiatives that the government or state think are beneficial to the economy. The adverts that say you can get free money to pay off debt will probably be worded in an ambiguous way, and when you get into the detail you find that the free money is actually to start a new business which will make you money. If you make money from a new business, you can then pay off your debts, and that is the only connection between debt and these grants.
Free money will always be a tempting idea, but it does not exist. If you have serious debt problems, the bad news is that there are no magical ways of getting rid of them. But the good news is that there is almost no debt problem that cannot be solved without borrowing more money or paying someone to help you.
If you find yourself in debt and start looking around for ways to get out of the situation, the first things you will come across are the commercial solutions being advertised by companies keen to make money by helping you out. These include debt consolidation loans and debt management plans. What no-one is paying to advertise is the solution that no-one stands to gain by except you. The best solution to debt problems is to negotiate new repayment terms with your creditors. While there are debt settlement companies more than happy to take a slice of your money to do this for you, there is no reason why you can’t do it yourself.
This system involves communicating with your creditors and going through a process aimed at proving to them why you can't just pay back what you owe, then making a fair offer of new repayment terms. This will normally include writing off a part of the loan. If you can make a lump sum payment that can help to get you a better deal.
Read recommendations for reputable Debt Management companies in the UK and US.
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