Federal student loan relief programs are available at StudentLoans.Gov.

The key to getting a low monthly payment and the maximum amount of loan forgiveness is to qualify for an income-driven repayment plan.

The Pay As You Earn plan is a popular federal program that offers a low monthly payment and loan forgiveness.

The lower a person’s income and bigger their family size, the lower their consolidated monthly payment will be.

Students do need to recertify the Pay As You Earn and all of the income-based repayment plans every year, so if a person’s income changes so can their payment.

AFSLR Certified Student Loan Expert, Wesley Hendrickson, stated; “Don’t forget to recertify or you can lose your eligibility for loan forgiveness, and your payment can skyrocket. This is the most common mistake that I see students make. The next thing you know, your wages will be getting garnished, and credit score is shot.”

For credit card relief, government programs don’t exist. Credit card relief options available through third-party companies are available. Make sure the company you choose is IAPDA Certified and highly rated by the Better Business Bureau.

A person can also work directly with their credit card company, but the savings will be minimal compared to what a person can save with a debt relief program. Your credit card company may temporarily reduce your payments and interest, but it will only be temporary.

Most debt relief companies across the nation offer debt settlement services, but this program comes with negative consequences.

A person’s credit score can be negatively impacted and credit card lawsuits can occur while on a debt settlement program. In only about 2% of all cases, credit card companies will sue a person while on a debt settlement program. While this isn’t a large percentage of lawsuits happening, it is something that you need to beware of and ready for.

Before you join a debt settlement program, make sure to understand ALL of the potential negative consequences. Do your research and make sure the company helping you is transparent and has reputable credentials.

How debt validation works

Debt validation can allow a person to legally stop paying a debt and walk away from the debt without paying a dime to the debt collection company and only having to pay the debt relief company’s fees.

Debt relief programs that improve your credit score

No debt relief program will improve your credit score unless you get a debt relief loan to pay off your credit cards.

Since all plans can have an adverse effect on credit scores; debt validation comes with credit repair, aiming to get the debt and it’s associated negative marks completely removed from the clients’ credit reports by the end of the program.

Rick Sorrentino, IAPDA Accredited Counselor, advises consumers; “If you can afford to pay at least minimum monthly payments, try to find another way to resolve your debt besides using debt settlement or debt validation. These programs should only be used as a last resort, to save a person from having to file for bankruptcy.”

The traditional debt relief options include bankruptcy, credit counseling, debt consolidation, and debt settlement. If you haven’t yet started researching the subject of debt relief services, than you probably have no clue which one of these types of relief might be best for your specific financial situation. An easy way to get a general idea of which ones might be the best for you is by assessing your debt and your ability to pay it off based on the projection of future income.

To get started, get a rough idea of how much debt you have. Next, you’re going to categorize this debt by type. For the purpose of this exercise, your debt will either be categorized as “secured debt” or “unsecured debt.” A secured debt is debt in which your creditors hold collateral. Examples of secured debts include mortgages and car payments. Unsecured debt, on the other hand, is debt in which your creditors do not hold collateral. This means if you don’t pay the debt, your creditors don’t have a legal right to repossess any of your belongings. Unsecured debts typically include credit card bills and medical bills.

Once you’ve determined how much debt you have and have categorized it into one of two categories, you can then move to the next step of the assessment. In this step, you need to examine the interest rates on your debt, the projected pay off, and your projected future income. When looking at these numbers, you need to ask yourself “is it possible to pay this debt off by making only minimum, monthly payments?” If the answer is yes, then you the debt relief service for you may be credit counseling or debt consolidation. Under these two programs, you can usually get that little help you need in the form of decreased interest rates or reduced monthly payments; but for those worse off, this little bit of help may not be enough. In that case, you’re going to have to consider the possibility of debt settlement or bankruptcy.

You’re now probably wondering why you had to categorize your debt as either secured or unsecured. Well, that becomes important now as it can mean the difference in negotiating your debt or discharging it via bankruptcy. If the majority of your debt is unsecured, you can most likely avoid the cruel fate of bankruptcy. This is because your creditors will be willing to negotiate a settlement for your debt since they possess no collateral on it. On the other hand, if most of your debt is secured, your creditors can simply take what is theirs; meaning, there is no need for negotiation. If this is the case, unfortunately, all debt relief services may be unavailable to you, except for one: bankruptcy.

Now you should have a pretty good idea of where you stand in terms of options for debt relief services. But don’t celebrate (or queue the funeral music) just yet — you can’t be certain which debt relief option is the best for you without further research. Make sure you consult with the proper authorities and it wouldn’t hurt to discuss your options with a bankruptcy lawyer. In the end, no matter which debt relief option turns out to be the best for you, you will still be on the path to building a brighter financial future.