Make a deal with your creditors

Fredric Johnson Are you unable to pay your bills? Pick up your phone and call your creditors; you will be surprised at the goodwill most creditors and collectors give the persons who bothers to pick up the phone and make an agreement.

You should not loose your night sleep or turn into a nervous wreck because of your inability to pay some bills. In most cases you do not even need help from others to solve the problems, a phone call to the bill collectors is usually enough. Yes, you will feel embarrassed when you call some stranger and tell them that you are unable to pay your debt and you will most likely feel like a beggar. The short moment of embarrassment is however, a low price to get your financial issues straightened.

Here it was you should do. Find your invoice that you are unable to pay, if you have more than one invoice and are unable to pay all of them, choose the invoice with the lowest amount. Find the phone number to the invoice issuer, you will most likely find the phone number at the invoice, and call it. One important notice: you will most likely be transferred between two or more people before you reach someone who can help you. Be prepared to explain your situation more than one time and be prepared to be waiting on hold for a long time. Surprisingly many people give up because of these small, maybe irritating, details. Do not give up; explain, wait, repeat, wait, etc. Accept that this is how it works and don not get frustrated, your mission is too important.

When you finally reach someone who has the authorities to help you, be humble. Explain the person that you have some economical difficulties this month and that you are unable to pay your debt. Note that you will have a much stronger case if you are able to pay some of your invoiced amount immediate. Here are some of the possible outcomes of your conversation:

1. You will not reach any agreement. You most probably fear this outcome. You should not; nothing has changed. Your situation has not been worsening, but you have eliminated one solution.

2. You will make an agreement to pay your invoice later. Most probably, you will have to pay a fee due to the delay.

3. You will make be able to split the invoices into several smaller invoices.

You should know what kind of deal you want before you make your call. However, be prepared to accept a deal that is poorer than your suggestion. Most important do not accept a deal that you are unable to fulfill.

Why does this usually work? There are many reasons, but I will give you three:

1. Your creditors want the money, and they see that they will get the money faster if they cooperate with you.
2. The creditors are humans too, and they have no intentions to make your living hard. Most people do not realize this…

3. You are practicing engagement. You are telling your creditors “I have difficulties now, but I do not ignore you”. Nobody want to be ignored, especially not when it comes to money.

There are still a lot of possible solutions if you do not succeed to make an agreement, but you should always try the simple solutions first. I wish you good luck.

About the Author

Fredric Johnson is a contribution writer for Pluto Loans, an information site on loans and credits.