Negotiation Skills for Business, Salary and Debt

Debt Consolidation – Can You Negotiate with Your Credit Card Company?

The average American household has nearly $10,000 in credit card debt, and many people are only able to make the minimum payment of 2% of the balance. Even 2% is $200, and by paying the minimum payment, you could be paying on the balance for decades before you finally pay it off. Since new legislation will make it more difficult to file for bankruptcy, it may occur to savvy debtors to try to negotiate a better deal with their credit card company in order to make it easier to pay off the balance. Is this possible?

It might be possible, depending on your credit history, interest rate, and current balance. Your best bet, especially if you have a history of paying on time, is to simply call your credit card company and ask if they will lower your interest rate. They might, especially if you tell them that you got a better offer from another bank. If you have a history of paying late, however, they probably will not be willing to lower your interest rate. That's unfortunate, since paying late has probably prompted the credit card company to raise your interest rate in the first place. Still, it's worth a phone call; you may get lucky.

If you've been paying your bills on time, asking for a lower interest rate may be the only option available to you. The credit card companies aren't going to be too sympathetic to your financial woes if they're receiving payment on time. On the other hand, if you're late on your payments, especially if you're more than three months behind, you may have some negotiating leverage. That leverage comes with a few strings attached, however. You may be able to negotiate a lump-sum settlement for your outstanding balance, where the credit card company accepts a portion of your debt and writes off the rest. They're often willing to do this instead of turning your debt over to a collection agency, as it's cheaper just to settle. The settlement amount will vary, depending on your interest rate, your balance and your payment history. This type of settlement comes with a couple of problems of its own, though. What if you don't have the money to settle all at once? If you can't pay your bills on time, you probably don't have the cash to settle at once. Additionally, the amount of your debt that gets written off will show up on your credit report as bad debt, and that will stay there for seven years.

Your credit card company may or may not be willing to work out a payment plan, but it costs you nothing to ask them, and negotiating a settlement with them may be cheaper for you than if you consult with a debt consolidation firm. If your credit card debt is substantial and you just can't make the payments, it's worth a try.

©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to debt consolidation and credit counseling, and StructuredSettlementHelp.com, a site devoted to information regarding structured settlements.

MORE ARTICLES:

Assertion Skills For Women: Using DBT Skills For Better Health
**Please remember that no part of this article is intended to take the place of professional or medical advice This article provides limited information and does not attempt to diagnosis or treat any illnesses or disorder

Salary Negotiation Tips ? How to Negotiate Your Way to a Higher Salary
?Who needs to know salary negotiation tips?? you might ask. Every deserving employee does! If there comes a point in your career when you feel deprived of the greater opportunities your job has to offer, then you need to know and apply effective salary negotiation tips to stay ahead. When you invest a lot of time, energy and skills into something, it is only fair that you are rewarded the full benefits of your labor.

Negotiations Within Negotiation
If only two persons attend a mediation and they are both have authority to settle, then only three negotiations take place. They are between (1) person 1 and person 2, (2) person 1 and mediator, (3) person 2 and mediator.

Negotiating Tactics: Don't Let 'Good Guy – Bad Guy' Control the Sales Negotiation
Counter one of the classic negotiating gambits by addressing it directly.You've assembled a brilliant sales proposal for a new client and when you arrive to the meeting to hammer out the final details, you suddenly find yourself sitting across the table negotiating with two people.

Negotiating Skills: Ask For More Than You Expect To Get
It creates some negotiating room, and you might just get what you're asking for.Whether playing the role of buyer or seller in a sales transaction, asking for more than you expect to get is a classic opening position in negotiations.

Real Estate Investing: Sales and Negotiation Skills are Critical
Do you want to build wealth through real estate? You need expertise in two critical areas: specific investment strategies and sales and negotiation skills. But if knowing how to identify good deals is what's really important about investing in real estate, why do investors need to worry about their sales and negotiation skills?"Knowing how to identify good deals is certainly a critical part of real estate investing, but it's not the only part," says Russ Whitney, internationally recognized real estate expert and bestselling author of Millionaire Real Estate Mentor (Dearborn Trade Publishing).

Negotiation Skills Training: The Sales Multiplier Close
Negotiation skills training:

Credit Card Debt Negotiation: The Need to Negotiate
Credit Card Debt Negotiation: The Need to Negotiate Credit card debt negotiation is one of the various strategies incorporated in credit card payment programs Like credit card debt relief and credit card debt settlement, this term is used to denote our desire to be freed from debt

Get What You Want - Negotiating Skills for the Timid!
OK, I know this title sounds self-serving and hard nosed, but the article isn't! Whether it's buying a car, asking for a pay rise, saying 'no' to a friend or renting an apartment - at some stage in our lives we all are going to need to know how to negotiate. Yet, so few of us know the basic skills before embarking on life changing purchases or decisions!This article is written for those TIMID folk who want to feel more confident in the basic skills of negotiating.

Negotiating and Sales Skills Are Critical
When I first started getting active in creative real estate, my skill set at negotiating was very weak. I had done the telemarketing thing for American Express as a financial planner and had studied and learned a few techniques.

Negotiation Techniques - How to Win by Not Negotiating Against Yourself
Negotiation and Negotiating Skills are some of the most sought after sales training courses People seek out negotiation tips, negotiating strategies and scour the web for processes to win against the 'other' person in a negotiation

Essentials of Negotiation - Be A Negotiation Specialist!
Some people make it look really easy - closing deals and winning great transactions without breaking sweat. But do you know that there are ways to become an expert on the essentials of negotiation and getting things done your way? The benefits of knowing the essentials of negotiation are endless!

Negotiating Skills Will Get You Ahead
Negotiating skills can help you manage lots of different kinds of life situations, both at work and in your personal relationships. Here are a few examples of where these skills can help you build an even better life for yourself:1.

Negotiation Newsletter Teaches the ABCs of Effectively Negotiating With Children of All Ages
Is it wrong to negotiate with your children? Not according to a feature article: "Negotiate Better Relationships with Your Children" in the February issue of Negotiation.