How To Face Up To Your Debt Problems
Posted on August 5th, 2010 in Debt Assistance | No Comments »
photo credit: me and the sysop
Debt has a nasty habit of affecting our personalities. Serious debt problems particularly those which are overdue or which you are struggling to pay have an unfortunate way of causing us to lose sleep, to feel tired or overly sensitive all the time. It can make the postman arriving or the phone ringing a stressful situation.
As humans we naturally try to avoid stressful, confrontational situations and so the most common action when you are in a situation like this is quite simply to stick your head in the hand. Ignore the phone. Throw those brown envelopes in the bin. Try to get on with life though always with that feeling of dread in the back of your mind.
Contrast this with the feeling of paying off a debt once and for all. The feeling of freedom, of control and of feeling like you’ve really achieved something. No longer do your creditors hound you. No longer do they take money from your pay each month. You’re free. You feel a few inches taller and life seems to have more color.
Clearly the smart thing to do, no matter how unpleasant it may be, is to face up to your debt problems. Facing up to them enables you to start taking control of the situation which will make you feel better right away and starts you down the path to financial freedom.
And yet taking that first step to face up to your debts and take control of the situation is a very difficult thing to do; in my opinion one of the hardest of all. Your adrenaline will likely be running. You’ll be red and feel hot and maybe even sick at the thought of opening those letters, facing up to the facts and then trying to work out a solution.
But the sooner you do it, the better you will feel and the better the outcome will be. Ignored debts only get worse and ignored creditors only get more persistent.
Having been in this situation a few times myself over the years I thought it might to be useful to not only tell you that you’re not alone if you feel like this, and to highlight that facing up to your debts is the best (only?) long-term solution, but also to offer a little guidance on taking that first step.
Personally in a really stressful debt situation I like to gather together everything I might need to deal with the situation. I check my bank balance so I know what payments I can afford. I grab the letters from my creditors. I grab my cell phone so I can call them, together with a notepad and pen to make notes. I grab my checkbook and some envelopes. Lastly I grab a drink, throw all of it into a bag and go out into the countryside – somewhere quiet where I won’t be interrupted.
Once you’ve settled yourself down your sole focus should be on dealing with the financial situation and it’s important to make yourself a promise that you won’t go home until it is resolved. It might take you half an hour or it might take you the best part of the day but you need to make yourself this promise if you are to be successful. Today is the day and no excuse is going to change that.
When you feel ready it’s time to commence. There are a number of steps and if you’re really stressed about the situation then simply take it a step at a time and congratulate yourself after each step.
Step one is opening up the envelopes from your creditors. Put the envelopes into your bag and then concentrate on step two which is actually reading the letters to figure out what you owe, to whom, and what they are hoping you will pay.
The final stage is to try to resolve these debts. There are two ways to do this. Either write out a check (if you can afford it), address it and pop a stamp on so it is ready to post off as soon as you find a post box. The other option if you can’t afford to pay what they want is to ring them up and negotiate and we have covered these negotiation tactics elsewhere on the site.
Keep a note of everything you have agreed and then basically get on with your life. Depending on how stressed you may be about the situation this whole process of facing up to your problem and dealing with it may take you quite some time so try not to put yourself under any pressure. Carry out this process on your day off when you have no other responsibilities.
And lastly enjoy the walk home. By now you should have resolved all your issues and will be feeling far more confident about life. It will feel as though a weight has been lifted and you’ll find it easier to relax, to enjoy life and to laugh.
May I take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck and reiterate how the sooner you resolve these issues the better it will be for you and the happier you will feel with life.
