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Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

SoloSuit is on its way to rescue you from debt

Summary: If you're struggling with debt in West Virginia, SoloSuit can help you find the relief you need.

Many West Virginians have turned to credit card transfers in an attempt to to reduce the interest and the size of the payments on their debts. Zero-interest credit card transfers have become the most popular type of credit in the state. Transferring debt from one card to another isn't always a bad idea, but many consumers continue to use debt to get by, and as the debt grows their financial situation worsens.

Last year, the Build Back Better Act - Child Tax Credit (CTC) helped many needy families supplement their income. That changed in January 2022 when senator Joe Manchin withdrew his support for the Act. The over 50,000 children who relied on this fund risk sinking deeper into poverty. Their parents have to work multiple part-time jobs. And dependence on credit is once again rising.

If you're one of those struggling with too much debt and traditional ways of getting out of debt are not working, try one of these:

Contact a government-approved credit counselor.
Negotiate a settlement with creditors.
File for bankruptcy.

With determination, you can get out of debt sooner than you think.

Contact a government-approved credit counselor

Many entities claim to help with debt relief, but you should be careful who you work with. To protect you, the government keeps an updated list of banned credit relief providers and those that are approved in West Virginia.

When you choose to work with a credit counseling agency, be honest with them about your finances. After understanding your situation, they can help you:

Come up with a debt management program
Negotiate debt forgiveness

Let's break these two methods down a little further.

Debt management plans

It can be challenging for an average consumer like you to create a workable plan. Someone who has worked in finance can help. It's okay to accept their help if you need it. Debt counselors are qualified to look into your income, debt, recurring expenses, and more to create a workable budget. The goal of the budget is to get you out of debt.

Depending on how deep you are in debt, the counselor may suggest a tighter spending budget, "freezing" your credit cards, and not using other forms of credit for some time. If you stick with the suggestions, you will be out of debt within five years or less.

Your counselor speaks with your creditors to let them know they will be acting on your behalf. They negotiate lower monthly rates to lower the risk of default. Once the plan is in place, you need to make a monthly payment to the counseling organization. The counselor then discreetly divides that money among your accounts.

Your job is to keep up with the monthly payments while not taking on more credit. While you can arguably work out a debt repayment for yourself, working with a partner makes you accountable. Also, debt counselors are professionals; they are best placed to give financial advice and handle creditors.

Negotiate credit card debt forgiveness

It's not common for credit card providers to forgive whole debts. But they can consider forgiving part of the debt if your debt counselor pleads your case.

Many federally-approved debt counselors have agreements with lenders to help struggling consumers. So, if they feel that you qualify for debt forgiveness, they will ask on your behalf.

If they are successful, the creditor reduces the debt by a percentage, instantly reducing your debt. From then on, every payment you make reduces the amount.

Here's a comparison between debt management plans and forgiveness:

Debt Management vs. Forgiveness
Debt management plans	Debt forgiveness
Reduces monthly payments	Instantly reduces the debt
Not using credit reduces the risk of more debt	You can get into more debt if you continue to use credit
Single monthly payments	You may still have several accounts
Typically takes 3-5 years	You may pay taxes on forgiven amount

Negotiate with creditors and debt collectors

When the situation is dire, creditors will understand. Banks, especially, know that the economy has taken a hit. They have benefited from government aid and may be more willing to discuss your options than you imagine.

You can request them to adjust your monthly payments to help you keep up. Making smaller minimum monthly payments will keep you in debt for longer. But it will take away the late fees, the risk of delinquency, and adverse reports on your credit.

Alternatively, you can offer a lump-sum settlement of a lower amount. You offer to pay off the account if the lender settles for less than the original amount. You may be able to negotiate a 40% or 50% settlement.

Just be aware that, if a lender forgives more than $600, the amount may be taxable. Settled accounts are also reported to the credit bureaus and will affect your credit score.

If the creditor sells the debt to a collector, you can negotiate an even lower settlement. By the time the creditor charges off your account, they have written it off as a loss and sold it for pennies on the dollar. The room to negotiate is wide. Most often than not, debt collectors accept less than the total amount.

Did you know you can settle a debt even after it goes to court? To learn more about how debt settlement works, check out this video:

File for bankruptcy

More like filing for a divorce, bankruptcy has its pain, but it has its benefits too. Starting over may not be what you want to hear when seeking debt relief. So why would you even consider bankruptcy?

Most of your debts will disappear.
Any current judgments and wage garnishment stops.
Creditors cannot sue you when you are bankrupt.
You can start acquiring new property afterward.

On the other hand, here's why consumers fear filing bankruptcy:

Credit scores plummet and it takes a long time to rebuild.
You may lose non-exempt property to pay as many debts as possible.
You need to pay your bankruptcy trustees fees.
Bankruptcies go to public records.

If you have tried other options and nothing is working, filing for bankruptcy can be your lifeline. Be sure to consider which chapter bankruptcy works best for you, whether a chapter 7 or a chapter 13.

Explore these West Virginia debt relief programs

WV Works: Provides monthly cash assistance to eligible families.
West Virginia Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Provides monthly benefits to help eligible households buy food.
Medicaid, CHIP, and QHP: Offers low-cost or no-cost health insurance.
Mountaineer Rental Assistance Program: Helps cover the costs of rent, future rental payments, electricity, gas, water, sewer, trash removal, and bulk energy.
Emergency Assistance: Used to assist individuals and families in meeting financial crises when they are without available resources.
Burial Assistance: Assists with payment up to $1000 toward the cost of funeral expenses for an indigent adult or child.
Private Student Loan Relief: Provides a network of financial counselors who link troubled families with trustworthy agencies for financial assistance with private student loans.

SoloSuit can help

Debt is stressful. However, if you can get into debt, you can get out of it. To succeed, think seriously about the direction you want your life to take. Ask for professional help from debt counselors, and never give up hope.

You can find more debt management resources on SoloSuit's blog.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate