Debt reduction eases financial stress, workers’ top stressor overall, and sets them on a path to financial security, boosting profits, impact, and wellness. Borrowing costs are expected to drop on credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages, following the Federal Reserve’s rate cut. Do your people have a plan?
Debt reduction eases financial stress, workers’ top stressor overall.
It sets them on a path to financial security.
Borrowing costs are expected to drop on credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages, following the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.
Do your people have a plan, to take advantage of the shifting interest-rate landscape, and a go-to expert to talk to?
Financial stress, including from debt (medical, student, credit card, auto), weighs on bottom lines and people’s health and well-being.
What to do about it is the question.
Do I want to throw (more) resources at financial wellness?
No, I want to spend smarter, with data on what works:
1×1 coaching on an ongoing basis, relationships, which navigate together the diverse financial challenges of life.
TrustPlus personal financial coaching: 1×1, ongoing
Each TrustPlus personal financial coaching client is unique.
So, TrustPlus is tailored to the individual for the long term on an ongoing basis.
Take James, for example, a Fullbright Scholar, who created a plan to pay off his debts and qualify for a mortgage, enrolling in a nonprofit debt management plan.
TrustPlus Senior Financial Coach Elise Nussbaum helped James vet it:
“Thanks to my work with Elise, I am making strides towards debt management. After exploring various options and evaluating their impact on my daily life, I have found the most appropriate path forward. With this newfound clarity, I feel much more confident that I will achieve my goals much sooner than I anticipated.”
James is “determined to become the first in my nuclear family to own property and establish a legacy that I can pass onto future generations.”
For James, part of the solution is a debt management plan.
TrustPlus Auto and debt consolidation loans
For other TrustPlus clients, it’s a debt consolidation loan, refinancing an auto loan, or simply switching to better financial products and services.
Financial products and services like TrustPlus Auto and debt consolidation loans from TrustPlus, in partnership with community credit unions, which enable borrowers to save money on credit card and auto debt.
Financial products and services that, you know, don’t trap borrowers in deepening cycles of debt or disappear with their money, inciting demand for debt reduction strategies like debt management plans.
Here’s what workers should know about debt management plans and debt settlement.
What’s a debt management plan?
When you enroll in a debt management plan, you work with a nonprofit credit counseling agency to lower your interest rates, waive fees, and adjust your payment terms.
It’s like getting a discount on your debt.
You make one monthly payment to the credit counseling agency who disburses the money to your creditors on a set schedule.
Debt management plans require consistent monthly payments, typically over three to five years.
You agree not to take on any additional credit lines during the payment term.
Usually, you must close the credit cards that are part of the plan.
At the end of your debt management plan, your accounts are paid off and you’re debt free.
But what if I can’t afford to make debt management plan payments?
Debt settlement companies should be a last resort.
Debt settlement could be an option if 1) a debt consolidation loan is off the table; 2) paying your debt off via a debt management plan isn’t viable for you.
But debt settlement should be a last resort.
And avoiding debt settlement companies should be a top priority.
Sometimes called “debt relief” or “debt adjusting” companies, debt settlement companies often claim they can negotiate with creditors to reduce the amount you owe.
But they tend to charge expensive fees and have a negative impact on your credit score and your ability to get credit in the future.
So, first consider all of your options, including debt management plans and negotiating directly with the creditor or debt collector yourself.
If you feel that negotiating directly is your best option, and it often is, then check out this comprehensive resource from TrustPlus Senior Personal Financial Coach Dametria Douglas and Financial Coach Shanick Yermenos.
They share 11 debt settlement tips and roleplay how to negotiate with a debt collector.
