How to Get Back On Track After Falling Behind on Payments

Credit cards can be highly beneficial to your finances because they allow you to have a cushion for emergencies, earn cash back, and build a solid credit history. However, if you get behind on your payments, recovery can be very challenging. Missing one or two payments may not seem like a big deal, but it is. The late fees are expensive and it immediately impacts your credit score. 

How to get back on track after falling behind on payments

If you are behind on credit card or unsecured debt payments, you should be proactive about creating a solution. There are programs designed to help customers get back on track and recover their finances after falling behind on their payments. It would be wise to do some diligent research on debt relief agencies.

Once you have selected a debt relief agency, the next step is to see how they can help you. Check to see if they can waive late or over-limit fees to help recover some of the added and unnecessary costs. A reputable debt agency will already have an established relationship with creditors, and they should be able to request fee reversals on your behalf.

Next, it’s time to work on lowering your payments. The key to getting back on track with your credit card is being able to afford the payments in the first place. There are a variety of factors to take into consideration when determining your monthly debt payments. It may require adding or removing debt accounts to negotiate a payment plan that works better for your budget. The goal is to avoid missing payments in the future.

Once you’re moving forward in the program, it is very important that you contact your debt agency as soon as possible, if you’re not sure that you’ll be able to make an upcoming payment. They can work with you to make a partial payment or call your credit card company to negotiate with them.

Finally, sometimes the issue is not with how you manage your money but how much money you have to manage. If you are working on a very tight budget, consider your options for generating additional income.  If you can do this, you will not only earn more money, you will be protecting your other hard earned source of income from wasteful financing charges and unnecessary fees. 

Even people with the best of intentions and great work ethic can get behind on credit card payments. When this happens, it’s important to ask for help as soon as possible rather than wait for the situation to get worse. To jumpstart your debt relief journey, consider a free debt analysis. During this quick consultation, we will be able to advise you on what it will take to get back on track with your payments (and how we could help you!)


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