Credit Card Debt Laws That You Need to Know
With the struggling economy, many people are finding themselves deep in credit card debt. Therefore, consumers are forced to turn to debt consolidation in order to get control of their finances. However, before a person decides to consolidate their credit card debt, they need to be aware of the credit...
Paying Off Debt With Debt Consolidation
Living with debt is by no means easy. There’s the constant concern of living paycheck to paycheck and the never ending issue of covering monthly bills and living expenses. While most of us pride ourselves on being self-sufficient, it’s hard to ignore that we all sometimes live well beyond our means....


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Oregon
With rising costs and easy credit, many Oregon residents have found themselves buried in a pile of credit card debt. Needless to say the importance of having reputable and effective consumer credit counseling companies and credit card debt consolidation help is self-evident. Unfortunately, not only are there companies who do not deliver upon their promises, but not every consumer understands how debt programs work. The purpose of PayingPaul.Com is to educate Oregon consumers about debt management plans and the companies who provide those services.

First, one must understand what types of debt relief are being offered. The most popular are credit card settlement and credit counseling. Debt settlement, also known as debt negotiation or debt reduction, is a relatively new and innovative way to get out of debt. Through negotiations with creditors, one can achieve debt reductions of between 40 and 60 percent generally and be totally debt free within one to three years. In order to do this, however, one must fall behind on their payments, which can lead to a number of problems, including collections harassment, negative effects on your credit, and in some cases, legal action being taken by a creditor.

Credit counseling is usually offered by non profit associations who work directly with credit card companies to provide interest rate relief. Although these programs do not necessarily offer the same dramatic savings as debt settlement, credit counseling repayment plans do less damage to one’s credit score and tend to be a much more pleasant experience because they can do more to eliminate creditor harassment. Although debt management plans are usually offered by non-profits, they do charge fees and these programs can be quite expensive. Before choosing this debt solution, do research on the company you are considering.

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Oregon Debt Management Laws

Oregon has strict laws in place that effectively regulate the debt management industry.

Definition

Under the laws, a debt consolidation company is defined as, “Anyone who directly or indirectly solicits, offers to take, or takes anything of value from debtors to assist them in taking care of their debts must be registered as a debt consolidating agency.”

Fees

Businesses that fit under that definition are required to abide by the following fee limits:

-$25 or less as a set up fee
-a total fee of no more than 15% of the amount actually received by the consolidation company for payment to the client’s creditors
-no fees can be charged for a consultation that may determine whether or not a consumer uses the debt management services

Exemptions

The following entities are exempt from falling under Oregon rule as a “debt consolidating agency”:

-Attorneys-at-law rendering services in the performance of duties as attorneys
-Financial institutions and trust companies
-Savings and loan associations, credit unions and mutual savings banks
-Licensed consumer finance companies
-Esgrow agents
-Anyone acting in accordance to a court order

For more information about consumer credit counseling, feel free to visit this link: http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/697.html

Other Resources

Filing Bankruptcy in Oregon

Bankruptcy Laws in Oregon

Debt Collection in Oregon
 

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