There is an old saying among actors: “Dying is easy, comedy’s the hard part.” In a similar vein, for many people – whether it’s here in New Jersey or anyplace else – obtaining a credit card and running up a balance can be easy to do, and finding yourself with a balance so large that it has you struggling just to make your minimum monthly payment is not difficult to accomplish, either.
Paying that card off can be, for many people just like you, the “hard part.”
While it is illegal for any credit card issuer to use false or misleading information when making you a credit card offer or collecting on a credit card debt, misunderstandings and complaints about credit cards and credit card companies are, nonetheless, a common enough phenomenon. The federal government has taken an active interest in monitoring and, in some cases, intervening in misunderstandings and disputes between cardholders and their issuers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in particular has extensive online information about the types of problems and complaints that ordinary people have reported about credit cards, including disputes about amounts owed, improper communication tactics and incorrect information on credit reports.
Understanding how you can get into trouble with one or more credit cards is one thing. Learning ways to get out of that trouble can require a more activist approach. There are several ways that we have covered in earlier posts to avoid finding yourself overwhelmed by credit card balances and resources that you can use to help get control of your credit.
The government can tell you the “what” about credit card problems, but if you want to solve a problem, you may need information concerning “how.” Contacting a law office that is experienced with helping consumers to exercise their legal debt relief options, up to and including personal bankruptcy, can be a good first step to take if you find yourself in trouble with credit cards or other forms of debt.
