Krista Scruggs

Walking Away from Debt - Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

Your mom might have told you to leave a wound alone and not make it worse by peeling off a scab, but employing this same philosophy to your indebtedness may have serious ramifications. When it comes to debt, ignoring the problem and the mounting bills is not a good idea. Sure, it might buy you a bit of time in ignorance, but in this case ignorance is not actually bliss. Instead, ignoring your financial problems is a surefire way of borrowing trouble that gets harder to counteract the longer it is permitted to fester.

Consumers usually recognize that it is time to pay attention when their creditors begin calling them regarding outstanding balances. In some cases it is a letter that advised them about a past due payment that should be made sooner rather than later, but which might be ignored if the payments has already been sent in. Heeding these warnings is crucial to avoiding problems down the road. Consumers who fail to follow up on these warnings soon find themselves with a spotted credit report, where payments that have only been late 30 days are actually reported and leave ugly marks.

In the meantime, the letters and also the telephone calls will continue, and most likely will pick up in frequency and also urgency. If consumers let things continue too long without taking note of their indebtedness, collection agencies become involved and also join in the virtually daily barrage of letters and phone calls. Before long, consumers hesitate to answer the phone and even feel a fair amount of trepidation about opening their mail. Since at this point the credit profiles have serious and copious adverse notations, getting more credit is next to impossible.

While this may not seem problematic at the onset, if the car dies and needs to be replaced, an inability to get financing leads to having to purchase a cheap used car that may have its fair share of problems and siphon off even more money from the household income. Remember that adverse credit notations are kept on the credit profile for seven years; this is a long time to live without adequate creditworthiness.

Finally, creditors have the option of taking consumers to court for the unpaid balances the latter owe. Consumers are sometimes shocked to find an official court summons in their mailbox. Failure to appear in court results in a judgment against the consumer and may even lead to a bench warrant. Even with a court appearance, a judgment is almost always entered in favor of the creditor. This judgment usually includes the initial outstanding balance due, any late fees, attorneys’ fees, court costs, and whatever other fees may have been accrued.

It is obvious that ignoring the debt problem is the wrong road to choose. Bankruptcy is one option that many consumers almost immediately think of, but there are other solutions that have far less adverse effects on their credit rating. Debt settlement agencies staffed with highly trained debt negotiators are oftentimes the most sensible way of getting rid of credit card indebtedness within a short few years.

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