Day 19: DMP's

About 9 months ago I finally realized that I was in a financial downward spiral. I needed help! I turned to the person I hold in the highest regard of all the world for some advice... my older brother. I wasn't asking for money, I was looking for help. See, I had done everything my brother had told me to do leading up to this point since I first reached out to him three years ago. In all reality I should have been flying high, but the drop off of the economy had left me grounded. I was promised an opportunity that was going to change my financial standing for life. The only thing that had changed in the first year and a half was the amount of credit cards I had.

My brother knew that I was doing everything in my power and so he recommended I talk to someone about my debt. At first I was scared. I didn't want to "settle my debt for a fraction of what I owed" because I knew that it would have ill effects on my credit. My brother continued to tell me that there are different types of services. He sent me a website to check out:

http://www.clearpointfinancialsolutions.org/

I went to the website and filled out the information inquiry. Not long after that I received a phone call from a counselor that took me through the steps of what the counseling service does. He explained that they set up what is called a DMP (Debt Management Plan) to help people get their lives back the right way!

Ultimately I found out that they are there to help! My counselor, Brandon, was really awesome in assisting me to gather all of my debt data. They spoke to my credit card/loan companies and created a plan. What most people don't understand is that the credit card companies have programs to help you to pay them back. Most of these programs won't even effect your credit.

When it was all said and done Brandon had created a payment plan that dropped and consolidated my monthly payments into a manageable single bill that I see results from! The average APR drop was over 10%! 10%!!!!!

I just passed 6 months of being on my Debt Management Plan and have seen my total debt shrink by 25%! That is a massive drop. If I go along at this pace I will be debt free in another year and a half!

The whole point is that there are options! You have ways to get out of your holes! You just have to look for the information. I am supposed to check in with Brandon soon to re-evaluate my situation. I will keep you posted on how things progress as we move along.