Once you get into debt, it can be hard to pay it all off. Yet what many people never realize is that asking creditors for help in paying down your debt can actually work in some cases.
In the following video, Motley Fool investment planning editor Lauren Kuczala talks with longtime Fool contributor and financial planner Dan Caplinger about negotiating with creditors for debt relief. Dan notes that high interest rates and low minimum payments make credit card debt the hardest to escape from, with fees for late payments and over-limit charges adding to the burden. But big financial institutions have worked hard to get their card-delinquency rates down, and they'll often look at potential solutions that get bad debt off their books. Dan offers three tips for communicating with your lender and coming up with a debt solution that will work for you.
Citigroup (C 1.41%) is a big credit card lender, but for investors, its stock looks tantalizingly cheap. Yet the bank's balance sheet is still in need of more repair, and there's a considerable amount of uncertainty after a shocking management shakeup. Should investors be treading carefully, or jumping on an opportunity to buy?
Editor's note: The volume levels in some segments of the video are low. We apologize for the inconvenience.
