The total U.S. consumer debt this year is already at $13.86 trillion. That number includes mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student loans.[*] 

Almost anyone you might know from the US have loans whether it’s a mortgage, for a car, or for their credit card. It’s a normal thing and most of them make sure that they put it as a priority to pay off their debt in time.

But most of the time, it is not as easy as you might think. Especially if you are loaning a large sum of money. You need to have impeccable negotiating skills that can definitely help you while talking with the loan creditor. Your payment terms would depend on how well you can negotiate with them.

Even the amount would depend on it and preventing your account to be sent to collections. 

In this article, I will share 7 tips that you can use to negotiate with loan creditors.

• Get everything into writing
• Know what you can afford
• Deal with creditors, not collectors
• Ask questions

Get everything into writing

When it is about money, especially with large amounts, it is always in your best interest to get everything into writing. When you negotiate with a payment arrangement based on how you can pay them and how much, get it in writing before you pay a single penny.

Failure to do so would be a pain on your end once they change their statements and they have it written on paper.  There are consumers being thrown to collections because they have remaining balances that they thought were paid or resolved in the past years. When they checked their files, it appears that they didn’t record that part of the agreement. 

Know what you can afford

Not all people can afford to get higher loans and the reason why is that not all people have the same threshold when it comes to their monthly or yearly income. It is better that you go over and check your income plus expenses. 

Decide what you can afford for the loan payment and agree with how you can pay it. You can definitely negotiate the best option for you if you can loan a lump sum and if you’re going to be honest about your situation. 

 It’s better to get a smaller loan amount while being true to yourself than getting a large amount of money that you cannot pay in the end.

Deal with creditors, not collectors

Always make sure that you deal with the creditors and don’t let your account or your bill reach the collectors. It would be a lot of pain and suffering for yourself and for your credit score.

A large percentage of American consumers get mortgage, auto loans, credit cards, and even mobile phone plans and when they can’t pay the bill they’re being automatically sent to collectors. And these collectors are not easy to talk to. 

If you have the means and you have the willpower to come up with an agreement with the creditor, please do so. There would be greater damage when your account was sent to collections. Be careful reaching this scenario. 

Ask questions

Ask the right questions and you’ll get better answers. Don’t just nod on everything they are going to say when you are applying for a loan. It is always better to ask questions so you’d know if there are things that they are hiding (which is illegal). Asking questions would also result in better understanding of the situation and what you should expect while you are paying the loan. 

In case that your loan reach the collections office and the collector says that you’ll lose your property or you’ll be sued anytime soon, just ask them these things:

“When are you going to notify me of this lawsuit?”

Or…

“When are you getting the property back?”

It’s not to insult them. It’s to verify if they are telling the truth or they are just harassing you so you’d pay. It’s a case to case basis that will definitely depend on how you negotiate with them. 

In the end, the more information that you have about this, the better.

To learn more about how you can maximize these tips and how you can apply for loans, feel free to check https://cashmart.sg/.