Free Help For Those Struggling With Personal Loan Payments

When you’re in a tight spot with money, you can reach out to a financial counselors located throughout the country. They are able to provide numerous services that many don't know about. In addition to access to certain subsidies to help reduce certain bills like utilities.

Personal Debt: Impact on Financial Counselling
When you head to financial counselling, let your financial counselor know about your total debt. You’ll also need proof of that debt. This way they can provide a holistic plan to help you including potential government-approved options. Outside of direct money assistance, counselors can assist in creating a realistic monthly budget that is geared towards a specific plan based on your circumstances.

Here are some free tools you can use to help manage your personal debt.

 
Debt Payoff Assistant
This app helps you pay off debt with a useful formula: the snowball method. You begin by making minimal payments on your personal (and other) loans. Once one loan is paid off, the app will direct you to pay a higher amount on your other debt, helping you reduce that debt as quickly as possible.

People use this in conjunction with interest rates (which you likely don’t have on personal loans), but friends and family do appreciate it when you can repay them sooner. Get the Debt Payoff Assistant here.

Unbury.me
Unbury.me is a site allowing you to calculate your repayment costs using the above-described snowball method, or by the avalanche method, which lets you tackle your high-interest debt first.

Using the avalanche method, you’ll be paying no-interest and low-interests loans off consistently but at the same rate.

CNN’s Debt Calculator
Wanna be debt free? CNN lets you add all of your debts to the list and calculate your payoff time with their debt calculator. You can alter the repayment amount for each loan to adjust the dates in a simple, web-based format. This is an excellent tool for compiling an overview of your debts.

Manage Personal Loan Repayments with Trackable Transfers
You’re likely familiar with sites like PayPal and Payoneer. You can use these tools to send payment reminders to yourself and others (just make sure it’s not a business invoice – otherwise they take fees). These will help you stay on track – plus you can show the payments, data, and receipt of initial funds for repayment to your financial counsellor.

 
Regardless of which method you choose, it always pays to be clear with your family and friends before borrowing money. Make sure you hash out terms such as:

• When you must repay the loan in full
• How much per week or month you must pay
• By which means do you repay (cash, PayPal, bank transfer)
• Whether there is interest, and if so, how much

While financial counselling services may treat personal loan repayments somewhat differently, it’s important to document everything properly and ensure they have the necessary information to direct you to the appropriate resource.