North Dakota Debt Consolidation
Debt Help in North Dakota
As consumer debt continues to rise, more and more North Dakota residents find themselves struggling with insurmountable debt. If you have come to the point where you cannot see your way out of debt, it may be time to seek help.
North Dakota Credit Counseling and Debt Consolidation
One of the best ways to get a start on repaying your debt is to work with a credit counseling firm. North Dakota laws dictate how these companies can work with consumers. You can read about these laws at http://www.ag.state.nd.us.
While the services offered by one credit counseling firm versus another will vary from situation to situation, most credit counselors focus primarily on offering advice and support to debtors, teaching them about managing their money and repaying their debt. As with all such services, you will pay for credit counseling. To ensure that you are getting quality support for the money you invest, choose a company approved to work with federal bankruptcy cases. You can find a list of these companies at http://www.justice.gov.
For some, debt consolidation offers a workable solution to overwhelming debt. North Dakota debt consolidation programs offer those who have high interest rates on their debts the opportunity to consolidate them into one debt option with a more favorable interest rate. These programs save money and time, but only if the debtor is able to be disciplined enough to stay out of debt after consolidating. Often, debt consolidation works well in conjunction with a North Dakota credit counseling program.
North Dakota Debt Relief Programs
North Dakota debt relief programs work much like credit counseling, but they often provide additional support in the way of negotiation services. A debt relief company might communicate with your creditors to try to get you a reduced interest rate. If your situation is particularly dire, they might even work with you to get a debt settlement, which allows you to pay off your debts for a fraction of what you owe in return for paying in one lump sum.
North Dakota Debt Collection Laws
If you have a debt collector come to your door claiming that you will be thrown in jail if you do not pay your bill in full by a certain date, your rights are being violated. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors have certain guidelines they must abide by as they try to collect money for their customers.
Under the FDCPA, debt collectors have the right to contact you in an attempt to collect the debt. They may also contact third parties to try to find out where you live or how to contact you, but they may only contact a third party individual once, and they may not, in most cases, state that you owe a debt. In addition, debt collectors may not:
- Threaten violence or harm.
- Threaten to arrest you.
- Use offensive language.
- Harass you over the telephone by calling repeatedly or at inconvenient times.
- Make collect calls.
- Contact you via postcard.
- Publish your debt information publicly.
- Intentionally make misleading statements, such as implying you have committed a crime.
- Threaten to take your property, unless this is allowed by the law.
If you feel you do not owe the money, you must send a written notice within 30 days of the initial contact. Then, if the collection agency wishes to contact you again, they msut provide proof that the debt is yours. If you do owe the debt and wish to stop the calls, you can request the calls to stop in writing. However, you are still responsible to pay the debt.
If you feel a debt collector is violating these laws, contact the Department of Financial Institutions at 701-328-9933 or at http://www.state.nd.us/dfi/.
Under North Dakota debt collection laws, the maximum a debt collection agency can charge for their services is six percent. Also, the state’s wage protection laws protect 75 percent of your disposable weekly earnings or 40 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater.
North Dakota operates under a statute of limitations. This law limits the time frame in which your creditors can choose to file legal proceedings against you for a past due debt. The statute of limitations in all types of debt for North Dakota is six years.
North Dakota Mortgage Assistance
The North Dakota Housing Finance Agency offers a variety of homebuyer and homeowner programs. Find out more about these programs at http://www.ndhfa.org. if you are interested in buying a home for the first time, start with the HomeStart homebuyer education program. This will teach you about the home buying process and the various mortgage options you have at your disposal.
For many first-time buyers, the FirstHome Program is ideal. This below market rate mortgage is offered to low to moderate-income earners. Those with particularly low incomes can qualify for the HomeKey Program, which further reduces the rate on a FirstHome loan. The NDHFA also offers a variety of down payment and closing cost assistance programs.
If your income level is too high for these programs or your credit rating is too low, consider looking for a loan through the North Dakota Roots program or the Targeted Area Loan Program. The North Dakota Roots program looks for those moving to North Dakota from another state. The Targeted Loan Program offers special loans to those moving to one of the state’s targeted areas.
Homeowners who are struggling with overwhelming debt often find themselves falling behind in paying their mortgage bills. When this happens, contact a Department of Housing and Urban Development approved housing counseling agency. You can find a list of these at http://www.hud.gov. These organizations will help you understand your rights in the foreclosure practice, as well as steps you can take to avoid the process altogether if possible.
North Dakota Debt Assistance Programs
Several state aid programs in North Dakota, like the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, offer financial assistance that can free up money to use to pay debt. Other than these options, the state does not offer any other debt-specific assistance.