If you need financial help in Red Deer, you need to know both where to turn for help and what kind of help is available. While there are several debt solutions you can try on your own – like debt consolidation loans and debt reduction through personal budgeting – there really is no substitute for sitting down with a professional debt consultant. Bankruptcy Trustees like us offer alternatives to bankruptcy called Consumer Proposals and non-profit Credit Counseling Agencies offer Debt Management Plans and Orderly Payment of Debts.
There is another source of help available from for-profit debt settlement companies. You have certainly seen their ads on television, promising to cut your debt in half or more while staying out of bankruptcy. There are a couple things you need to know about these providers and their solution plans.
First, the government does not regulate them. Licensed trustees go through an extensive educational program and even an RCMP background check. We have to pass several certification exams before the government grants us a license. For-profit debt solution providers have no qualification standards. What’s more, the government does not regulate the fees they charge and they can vary considerably.
But the most important thing you need to know is a Consumer Proposal comes with full legal protection. If you have been getting harassing phone calls and letters or even had your wages garnished, all that will stop if your consumer proposal is accepted by your creditors. What’s more, your creditors are prohibited by law from attempting to contact you in any way at all, as long as you are making the payments set out in your proposal.
At the risk of being very self-serving, we see no reason for you to consider one of these plans when they are essentially identical to what happens with a Consumer Proposal; Debt settlement plans cost more and do not protect you from legal action.
The process of filing a Consumer Proposal begins by meeting with a trustee where we assess your situation to first determine whether a consumer proposal is right for you. If other kinds of financial help in Red Deer would better fit your situation, we will so advise you. If a proposal is your best option, we work up a monthly payment you can afford to make and then present a proposal to your creditors specifying a reduced amount you can repay over no more than five years. Creditors are very willing to accept proposals when they realize they will be repaid more than they will get if you are forced into bankruptcy.
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