Credit Cave

Many people are sometimes able to avoid bankruptcy by negotiating a settlement with their credit card companies. On occasion when your finances are in tough shape you may find yourself negotiating a lump sump debt settlement on your credit card. To achieve such a settlement, a lawyer or credit counseling agency may also assist. However, I would highly advise you try a debt repayment plan first, as this will affect your credit score.

These settlements can save you thousands of dollars in interest and possibly in principle as well.

A simple argument that is weighed by the credit card company plays out as follows:

1. So they might agree to a settlement with you. Suddenly, your mountain of debt has been greatly reduced! Congratulations, but be warned life is not entirely green on this side of the fence
2. Your credit card company has to write off a portion of your debt and they have to account for this in their financials.
3. They also have reporting agreements in place with credit monitoring agencies. When they write off that remaining balance, that write off will go on your credit history as bad debt.
4. That Bad Debt note will stay on your credit history for seven years.
5. You can add an explanatory note to your credit report, but it will not change the fact that you have cost a company a bad debt.

When possible you are usually better off trying to negotiate a payment plan that includes a reduction in interest rates. This has the benefit of allowing the credit card company to recover their principle without reporting a lump sum payment bad debt write off.

Under these plans you can typically pay the balance down faster if you have the money, further reducing your actual interest costs.

Regardless of the credit rating implications a lump sum settlement can be the right course of action to take. If you do not have the money, you do not have the money and not too much can change that. Odds are that if you are at this stage you already have some credit issues to concern yourself with and so the blight on your credit may not be insurmountable, but you should understand that it is similar in principle to a foreclosure, repossession or even a bankruptcy and that will take effort to overcome.

Mobile payment has been a buzz term in the financial industry for quite a while, and it actually seems to be happening over in the Far East where mobile phones are where convergence is happening.

McPay have continued the trend with the introduction of the MC-30, a portable credit and debit card payment system that connects via a mobile phone. This device allows payment at any location using only your own mobile phone and the MC-30. And there is one major benefit in the MC-30, printing of your receipts is included.

The MC-30 is available now for SKW250,000 / ~ $270, but McPay will be rolling out new portable payment solutions supporting smart cards, IrDA and Bluetooth in December.

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