I recently heard a story of a construction company owner who put about $200,000 on his credit card to float the bills associated with a hotel construction project his company was working on. The hotel developers’ other financing fell through, leaving him with $200,000 to pay off at a very high interest rate.

I happen to know that he’ll be fine, but most small business owners in that situation would be hurting badly, and their only recourse to recover from that kind of business credit card debt would be some form of consolidation loan. The question is do those loans even exist?

Yes, they do, and they operate in a similar way to traditional consolidation loans obtained by individuals, with the same goals. Basically anyone going through this process is hoping to have one lender take all their outstanding debts at various interest rates and combine them into a single loan with one lower interest rate.

Obviously that results in one payment, which is small and more palatable compared to the sum of the payments of the loans and credit cards the business owner was dealing with before the consolidation. The whole process is designed to make it possible for business owners to satisfy the requirements of all their outstanding debt, but do so in a way that keeps them from going out of business or worse, filing for bankruptcy.

Credit card debt consolidation for small businesses is not going to be an easy thing for anybody – you’ll have to qualify for the loan, and the lender will have to believe that your cash flow situation isn’t so bad that you won’t be able to make your consolidation loan payments, the same way you’re struggling with your current payments. If you can show a long track record of sales in your business which gives some proof to the lender that things will get back on track for you, the loan will be much easier to qualify for.

One example would be commission-based salespeople. I spent a few years in the world of all commission sales, and I can tell you there were more than a few times where I’d have one or two bad weeks and end up running very short of cash. Fortunately I had credit cards and an overdraft line of credit with my bank that got me through until I had another good run of sales, refilling my accounts with plenty of cash. But what if I’d had bad credit or no credit? Personal lending for people with bad credit would have been my only option.

Another example of a completely normal person who’d need a personal loan to make it by would be a small business owner or a self-employed person. Many independent contractors operate on a 30 or 60 day billing cycle. So their business can be completely thriving, with customers coming out of the woodwork, but they still find themselves cash poor because they haven’t been paid on last month’s invoices. I know a few freelance computer programmers who have had clients take over six months to pay their bills. If that happens with more than one or two clients the contractor ends up short of cash, needing the help of a personal loan lending company.

I think we all understand that it’s in no one’s best interest to make frequent visits to personal lending companies who give loans to people with terrible credit. But we can’t just operate under the assumption that every one who ever borrows money this way is destitute – or stupid. There are perfectly legitimate reasons a person would need to borrow some fast cash for a week or two, and your average payday loan store is just what they need – especially if they’ve got damaged credit.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has come right out and said that it’s actually not possible to get bad credit erased completely. Your best hope is to go through the normal process of cleaning up and repairing your damaged credit. Basically, there’s no quick fix, no matter what the advertisers would have you believe.

You might read that and say “But I thought I could dispute incorrect information on my credit report and get it removed?” Yes, you definitely can. But just the process of disputing a blemish on your credit history won’t make it disappear. The only way to get something completely erased from your credit history is to dispute it, which leads to an investigation, which if successful gets the negative item removed by the various reporting agencies. It’s a relatively long process and requires plenty of follow through and follow up on your part. There is no guaranteed the credit bureaus will do this though. Which takes us back to the advertisers and their promises.

You should be fully aware that no matter what a credit repair company tells you, they can’t force or require the credit tracking agencies to remove anything from your credit report at all. Of course they’re going to make such claims…how else would they get you to pay their fees if you didn’t believe you were guaranteed to get a great result?

The fact is that erasing a bad credit score is really difficult, but it doesn’t have to be expensive to go through the credit-repair process. If you contact the FTC and ask them about non-profit credit clean-up organizations they’ll direct you to those with a proven track record of getting people’s credit in the best possible shape without having to pay really high fees.

Do your homework, and resist the urge to look for a quick fix. The more you look for a quick fix the more likely you are to fall prey to hyped up advertising that will cost you way too much money and not even deliver the improved credit score you need and want.

• eliminating all debt over a three to four year period, in spite of being months behind on payments with large balances
• getting the ball rolling by negotiating a 40%+ reduction in principle balances with debtors
• avoiding bankruptcy as well as expensive debt consolidation loans

All of these objectives are possible, but they’ll come at a price. You’ll have both the hard dollar cost of the debt settlement negotiation as well as the resulting damage to your credit score (which may not be much of a concern for anyone who’s in deep enough that they’ve reached this point).

So what do debt negotiation companies actually do for you?

This process is geared toward all of your unsecured debts – everything from credit cards to personal loans to medical bills. Think of it this way – the debt settlement and negotiation process is designed to relieve you of debts that don’t involve a purchase or product that can be repossessed by the lender. A credit card company obviously can’t take back the vacation you bought with your Visa, nor can the hospital repossess the care you received when you had your gall bladder removed. Since there’s nothing to sell to repay your loan, and the lender has nothing they can take back from you, there are only a couple of options left:

• the borrower files for bankruptcy and walks away from most or all of the loan balances
• the borrower and the lender – with the help of an intermediary – settle on a reduced principle balance and interest rate that restructures the debt, allowing the borrower to make payments and complete the loan

Neither case is idea for lender or borrower, but one scenario is better for both. Settling on a reduced loan amount and interest rate allows the lender to recover at least some of its money, while the borrower gets to see a light at the end of the debt tunnel as well as avoid bankruptcy.

Do-it-yourself negotiation of debt reduction?

Absolutely. You don’t have to go through this process with the aid of a company. I have a good acquaintance – a woman whose ex-husband had buried her in debt – who worked with every one of the creditors on an individual basis to get her payments and balances to a level she could pay off in a reasonable period of time. When all was said and done she had gotten an average of 50% of her principle balances reduced, and although she’d still have to pay for a few years, she would eventually be free.

The diy method of reducing debt has two benefits: it saves you the fees a company would charge you, and it gives you the added sense of accomplishment that comes from fighting your way out of a totally unmanageable debt situation. Being extremely deep in debt crushes your self esteem, and negotiating your way out of it can be a real boon to your self image.

However you approach the process, negotiating your way out of seemingly insurmountable debt is absolutely a smart thing to do. This country has far too many people willing to walk away from their obligations. Asking your creditors to take huge losses on your debt isn’t an idea scenario, but it’s better than bailing out on your commitments entirely.

Yes, it’s completely possible. Depending on the dealer you’re working with it could be very easy or very hard to get car financing after you’ve had a car taken by the bank. Ironically, the easiest lending situations won’t always be the most desirable for you. Let me explain:

Certain car dealerships – usually those with the somewhat homemade looking banners hanging on the front of their office that say “everyone is approved!” – should be avoided like the plague. Here’s a quick glimpse into how they operate: first of all, they take used cars of questionable dependability and they price them something like 20% above their bluebook value. Then when you come into look at cars, they tell you you can be financed as long as you can put around 20% down. See what’s happening there? You’re paying cash for the 20%, unjustified markup, which means before you ever make a single payment you’ve already given them a really nice profit on the car.

This is why getting an auto loan after a repo can be so risky. Once you’ve made the ridiculous down payment they’re going to tell you that they’ll finance the remaining amount at something like 23% to 25% interest. So now they have your 20% down payment and you’re on the hook for high payments at a ridiculous interest rate. These dealers aren’t stupid – they know your track record with making payments. They know there’s probably a 50/50 chance you’ll start missing payments, which means they’ll come repossess the car. So they take the car back, keep your down payment plus any additional payments you’ve made, and then wait for you to come into to plead your case.

This is an almost no-lose situation for the shady dealer who’s offering to finance a car after your repossession. One of three things will happen:

1. You’ll come into the office, get current on your payments, take the car, and keep making payments at the 25% rate.
2. You’ll walk away from the car, which lets the dealer keep all your money and then resell the car to some other poor credit borrower.
3. You’ll decide that car was too much for you to handle financially, so you’ll make a new down payment on a different car, and start the ugly cycle over again.

Do you see how it would be best for you to avoid this whole situation in the first place? It’s going to be much safer and smarter to work with a dealer that actually cares about its reputation. The terms of the auto financing after a repo may not be much better, but they’ll have less desire to treat you poorly.

So let’s talk about what you’ll have to go through as part of applying for a bad credit mobile home equity loan. First the lender will want to know what year your home was manufactured in. That’s logical enough, given the fact that mobile homes are going to deteriorate more over time than a single family home would. The older your home, the lower its value is likely to be, which means there won’t be as much equity for you to cash out.

The bank will also want to know exactly how bad your credit is. There’s a difference between having missed a few credit card payments and something more major like having gone through a home foreclosure at some point in your life. If you’ve ever had a foreclosure, I’m afraid you’ll find it tough to borrow any of the equity from your mobile home. It just makes you too much of a credit risk. Now, that doesn’t mean that you could never get the loan after going through a foreclosure – you just might have to have a co-signer whose credit is much cleaner than yours.

Another key part of the application process will be how much of a balance – if any – you have on your home loan now. This is where loans on mobile homes are similar to normal mortgages; if you owe too much the bank isn’t going to want to let you increase the total indebtedness on the home by cashing out some of the equity. Hopefully your home is free and clear, and relatively new, so your chances of borrowing a decent amount are increased.

Finally, before anyone will give you a home equity loan for a mobile home with bad credit, they’ll want to know what type of property your home sits on. Is it in a mobile home park? On family property? Other rented land? If your home sits on property you actually own it’s going to be much easier to get the loan you’re looking for.

Be persistent. It’s likely that lending will be tighter from now on, with banks looking more carefully than ever at your income and credit history before giving you any kind of loan. You might have to spend a few months or even a year making yourself look good enough on paper for them to lend you the money.

Personal Loans with No Credit Check

The ‘tongue in cheek’ variety of these kinds of loans – you know, the ones where they don’t check your credit before they give you the money, are those issued by your brother, mother, co-worker, bowling buddy, etc. You get the point. These are lenders who might give you that ‘personal’ loan and not check your credit. I say that half-joking, but the reality is friends and family might be the best option for you to borrow some fast, relatively low interest cash from.

If you can’t borrow funds from those closest to you, you’ll be able to check a variety of offline and online sources, including websites, and corner cash stores who will be wiling to lend you the money whether your credit score is good or terrible. All they’ll want to see is proof of a bank account and some check stubs to show you have some income that will let you repay the debt.

Payday Loans with No Credit Check

Payday loans might be the most famous – or notorious – loans that exist in the world today. They’re fast and easy to get, but slow and difficult to repay. And it’s true – they’re most likely won’t bother looking at your credit history before they give you the loan. The amounts they’re going to lend will be smaller; you’re not likely to ever see a no credit check payday loan that gives you more than $1,000. But that may be all you’re looking to borrow.

Cash Loans with No Credit Check

If you want to walk in with nothing but your ID and walk back out with cash in hand, you’re going to need to use one of your local check cashing or payday loan store type operations. Cash loans are very possible and very common, but for obvious reasons you can’t really get them online. The only thing an online lender can do is deposit the money in your checking account, but that might not serve your purposes, especially if you don’t have a checking account but you still need to borrow some money.

Whatever type of short-term financing you need, you don’t want to use it very often. The best types of loans do require verification of a decent credit score, and as a reward for showing them your credit score you’ll be able to get much more reasonable terms and interest rates. Work every day to improve your financial situation and get interest working for  you instead of against you.

The fact is you can still get financing if your personal credit score is pretty low, but you can forget about traditional banks. If they see that your FICO score is below 650 or so, there’s just not much chance they’ll want anything to do with you. To combat your own bad credit, the best place to start is to try to build up some kind of corporate credit. You need to set up an official entity, such as an LLC or other corporation, and immediately apply for some small lines of credit through that entity.

Many credit card providers will have some kind of bad credit credit card for startup businesses. Be prepared for high fees and APR’s, but if you can handle those hurdles you’re going to be able to get at least some kind of credit lines as a business. Even if you get a $300 credit card and start using it for normal purchases, you’ll be on your way to establishing some corporate credit. Down the road you’ll find that local banks, credit unions, equipment manufacturers and other lenders will consider you much less of a risk if you’ve shown some improvement in your personal credit in combination with some corporate credit history.

Here are a few things business financiers will be looking for when deciding whether to give you the startup small business loan you need to get things going:

• you’ll have to be compliant with a list of 20 different criteria (for example: whether you have a business name, whether you have a business phone number, whether you’re listed with any of the major business review companies, etc)
• you’ll need three national credit reports – each of them reflecting your credit worthiness
• up to five credit lines directly from vendors that report to the major credit agencies

Of course there are other criteria, but these are the things to be most concerned about as you try to get small startup business loans. The main thing will be perseverance, as this is the stage where many would-be entrepreneurs get frustrated and quit. All I can promise you is that it will be worth any effort to get your own business off the ground.

First we should talk about the traditional methods for getting rid of debt. One of the most popular in the world is called the snowball method, and it boils down to attacking one piece of debt at a time until you’ve eliminated all of it. For example, let’s say you’ve got two credit cards, a car payment, and your mortgage payment. One credit card has a balance of $10,000 and the other has a balance of $5,000. You owe $12,000 on the car and you have a remaining balance of $250,000 on your home. If you approach this process the right way you can end up paying it all off within 7 years or so, and live debt free for the rest of your life.

You’ll start with the smallest debt – the $5,000 credit card balance. Dig into your financial situation and find an extra $100 or so per month. Apply that $100 per month to your credit card balance, and combine with your monthly minimum payment. Your total payment will probably be in the neighborhood of $200 or $250. It will take nearly two years, but you’ll be rid of that credit card balance. When you’re finished, take the entire payment you’ve been making to that credit card, combine it with the monthly minimum payment you owe on the next credit card, and you’ll pay it off a lot more quickly. Continue with this process on the car and your house, and the next thing you know (a few years later), you’ll be debt free and loving life.

The snowball method is one of the most famous and popular solutions for people saying “I want to know how to reduce my credit card debt.” If you discipline yourself to find the extra money in your monthly budget, apply it aggressively to one debt at a time, and stick with the plan for a few short years, you’ll enjoy total debt freedom for the very first time. I promise you nothing could ever feel better than knowing that you owe nothing to no one. Good luck, and hang in there.

It’s a bit of a misconception that there’s some form you can fill out, some government program, that will let you get rid of your credit card debt without any negative repercussions for you. That wouldn’t be fair to the credit card companies. So, if you want to legally eliminate credit card debt it’s going to come down to a negotiation between you and the credit provider. You’ll be negotiating two things: 1) the interest rate they’re charging you on your unpaid balances, and 2) the manual reduction of those balances.

It’s not a pretty situation, but you’re basically saying to the credit card company “look, we can either come to an agreement on how much I’m going to pay you on these balances, and at what interest rate, or I’m going to have to file bankruptcy.” And you’re not bluffing, so the credit provider will have to weigh out whether they want to reduce your balance and get some of their money (maybe 30 cents to 40 cents on the dollar), or whether they’re willing to walk away from their money entirely. It’s common sense that they’d rather get something than nothing, so they’re probably going to work with you.

There will be consequences for you though. For starters, your credit cards will all be canceled (which may not matter if they’re already maxed out anyway). Even worse, your credit score will be destroyed. And that may not be much of a concern because at this point you probably have several late or missed payments and your fico score is in the dumps anyway.

I would ask you this: do you have to go through this process? Have you exhausted all other options? Could you borrow some money from family or friends, use it to get caught up on some payments, and then take on a second job to make it possible to keep up with your debt? I understand you might not be able to do this, but I think as a matter of integrity you should at least try.