What if I need to purchase a home or a car while I am on the debt management program?

Please call us. We can provide assistance to your loan officer with your permission on sending a letter of recommendation.

Here at Community Credit Counseling we will be happy to assist you and also to let you know the difference between good debt and bad debt. As a general example, bad debt is consumer debt, such as credit cards, revolving debt (store debt, such as a furniture purchase), or in some cases your car loan. These debts have no tax benefits.

Consumer debt can often be at the root of your financial woes. Understanding that this is where you can really trip up can really help. A night on the town is so much easier to heal up from than buying a car that you can’t afford, for example. The payments can wreck monthly cash flow causing you to turn to credit cards to buy food, clothing, or other necessities.

This is where the vicious cycle begins. This is where an overall strategy is needed that says you will make decisions like what car to buy very consciously. We will be happy to give you specific advice in this area.
Good Debt is debt that uses positive leverage and has a component of longevity. Good debt is borrowing to pay for a college education, or to buy a home.

There are tax benefits to the student loan interest, as and future advantages to a good education, and will outlast the debt.  The same is true for buying a home. Of course, you don’t want to go crazy piling up student debt and you don’t want to purchase a house you can’t afford.
Simply understanding the difference between good and bad debt will allow you to make an overall plan that looks to the future is a good start. Have a strategy to give you a supportive framework.

Don’t beat yourself up because you think you have no discipline. Get yourself some strategy instead. All in all, this kind of information is what credit counseling or a good debt management program is all about.