12-Minute Financial Makeover Step 6 - Ease Your Mind with Debt Freedom Plan

This is the 6^th installment of our Financial Makeover Series featuring carefully selected personal finance subjects. We hope talking about these basic principles can allow you to figure out what can help the most in your own unique situation.

We talked about avoiding fees in Part 1 and how using a no-fee online checking account could help you so.

Part 2 featured spending more on things you truly love using a fun budget approach.

We continued in Part 3 with the amazing freedom of budget choices that can allow you to realize more of your projects and dreams.

Part 4 talked about emergency savings and having a personalized contingency plan.

Part 5 suggested to hammer down boring big recurring expenses.

After these, we now feel ready to abort an even more challenging subject. So, let’s put on our armor, sharpen our sword and face on the dreaded debt beast.

 

The Right Mindset

Having too much debt is probably today’s biggest financial problem of too many families. We did not start our Financial Makeover Series here because we believe it’s better to have developed some tools before tackling on dreaded debt.

 

With some confidence in your abilities, getting out of debt can be quite straightforward. You just have to allocate money in the right way to achieve it.

 

We know getting out of debt may seen difficult or even impossible for some. Many are even addicted to debt. They know extensive use of it is bad for them yet became comfortable bathing in it. Sadly, they are so afraid about getting into that battle.

 

But after you get over that steep psychological hurdle, getting rid of debt becomes basic math. You have to believe and decide you can get out of debt. No one can do it for you. You have to commit and do it for yourself and your family. The good news is that you have that power in you.

Avoid Wasting Money on Costly Mortgage Insurance

A few weeks ago, two people asked me questions regarding the same subject, their mortgage insurance; they were concerned and had some doubts about it.

My initial intentions on the matter were to quickly write about them while adding brief comments. I started my draft. But ideas kept coming the more I thought about it.

After a while, I finally decided to let my mind go on and freed up my pen (it’s more like my keyboard but you know what I mean); a «quick beef» post transformed into a much more elaborate article.

So here’s what came out of it. Hope you like it! 

The conversation I had with those folks reminded me of an Article I wrote back in 2010. Looks like the financial institutions are still singing the same old tune.

It was kind of late for them because it seemed like they already wasted a lot of money on these products, but as they say, better late than never.

With their permission, I will abort the outline of their respective situations. Afterwards, exposing my point of view, I’ll share with you 12 Helpful Tips about Mortgage Insurance.

Note that to protect their privacy, some figures have been altered and rounded up, irrelevant details may also have been omitted but the spirit of each situation was respected.

The Average Person Pays Too Much

First off, my neighbor (we will call him Joe) is renewing is mortgage soon and did not really know how much his mortgage insurance cost him so far.

Almost Always Waive Life and Disability Insurance Clauses on Loans

When you borrow from financial institutions, they systematically offer you life and disability insurance to «protect» your mortgage or loan.

It might be wiser to waive these insurance clauses and thereby avoid paying «small» supplements.

Indeed, most of the time, loan insurance clauses are simply not beneficial to you.

Less Expensive Possibilities

You need to check and compare it with other options available to you. But in most cases, it’s possible to obtain similar protections cheaply.

Thus, Group Insurance available through your job is often interesting and can fully cover your insurance needs at a low price. There’s absolutely no point to have double or triple coverage; you’ll probably only get paid once anyway.

In addition, it is always advisable to combine coverage on a single contract to avoid undue administrative costs.

Paying Some Loans Early May Not Always Be A Good Idea

Some Contracts Won’t Allow You to Save Interest

As a basic rule, getting rid of debts is a pretty good thing. But be careful, it’s not always true.

In fact, some type of loans won’t allow you to save on interests even if you pay up early. It’s often the case with car loans or leases. 

For these loans, interest charges are calculated as part of the original contract and cannot be altered.

Verify The Contract

The only way to actually know is to read the fine prints of the contract. So check your contract before getting rid of this type of debts.

Shop Around and Negotiate Your Credit Conditions

Always Worthwhile to Negotiate

It may be interesting for you to shop and negotiate loan or credit line conditions with a few different financial institutions.

On your mortgage, for example, a difference of only 1% will save you tens of thousands of dollars in interest before you finish paying your home.

Consult Several Institutions

Avoid being lazy and get information elsewhere. At worst, negotiate with your regular institution to obtain the best possible terms afterwards.

Manage Your Credit Situation With Debt Consolidation

Only One Outstanding Loan

Roughly, debt consolidation consists of regrouping multiple debts and taking out a new loan that will allow you to settle all debts at once.

This will leave you with 1 single loan and 1 single payment to handle. It also can enable you to sometimes get a better rate of interest than some of your previous loans.

Be Sure to Carefully Check the Conditions

However, debt consolidation is not a miracle solution and you should be wary of conditions that are not always beneficial to you.

Some credit companies will offer loans under doubtful conditions that will reduce each payment but will only defer the problem.

Doubtful conditions such as: