You do not need to explain to anyone of you decide on hiring a professional to help you get out of debt. In a way, you are now passing that responsibility to a someone else so that you can blame others when you fail again. if you think about it, a pro is no magician. He cannot snap his fingers and exterminate your debt. You will still need to repay it yourself. And the expert advice you are going to get will most certainly be common sense which your mother will be able to tell you. They can’t cut off your credit card, they can’t write off what you own, and they are certainly not going to give you money.
The best way that they can help you is by being an accountability partner. Someone who nags at you and hold you accountable for sorting out this aspect of your life. The good thing is that if you have voluntarily seek help from a professional, you are probably hell bent on taking action to get rid of a debt problem. This is a huge factor that can help you follow through with taking the required action.
The problem is that there are many people out there scamming people out of their hard earned money. They charge their fees and offer the type of advice that you can find anywhere. The truth is that when people are desperate with money, they are very good preys for con-artists to work their magic. A common type of scam is to obtain the credit card information and PIN from those in debt promising to write off the balances with someone who works on the “inside”. Before you know it, the scammer used your card to buy even more stuff or draw out money from the ATM. Putting you deeper into debt. So be wary of the dangers when seeking out professionals to hire.
When you have finally decided to get one, here are some tips to keep in mind.
Budgeting
It is all about budgeting. This could mean less fine dining, watching movies on DVD rental rather than the cinemas, downgrading your mobile data plans, etc. You must be ready to make sacrifices on your quality of life. A pro should be able to draw out a plan for you where following through is less painful that you first thought.
Charges
Professionals often charge in 2 way. It’s either an hourly fee or a flat fee. A flat fee could be an upfront payment or a payment due to results. You might be tempted to go for one that is pegged to results. But that could be dangerous as you could be pushed into schemes that provide short term relief so that the professional can get his payment. Little did you know that the long term prospects of these scheme are detrimental to your financial health. Going for hourly rates can also be a tricky affair as well. So you have to make your own judgement on how to pay for help.
Consider getting a real qualified person
If you have gone this far, you might as well go for the most qualified. CPAs or CFPs have extensive experience and very well qualified to review your situation. They would at least bring a certain amount of guaranteed expertise to the table.
Talk to your employer
Many organizations have internal programs to help their employees with their financial problems. Your solution might just be sitting under your nose all the time. There might already be an expert for free who can help you with the sole motivation to do his job well. Your employer might even have cheap loan programs for you. If so, just don’t fall for the debt trap again.