First, you can look at the phrase "debt recovery' in two different ways. It could refer to recovering debts that are owed to you or it could refer to recovering from personal debt. I don't want to waste your time so I will let you know up front that this page is about 'recovering from personal debt'.

Recovering from Personal Debt

Most people are in trouble with debts due to their credit cards getting out of control. You might picture a group of gold and silver cards escaping from your wallet, raising their pirating flags, grabbing torches and tearing up the town but in reality, credit cards gone wild is, unfortunately, a subject that must be taken seriously.

If you are trying to recover from personal debt then the first thing to do is to put those unruly cards under lock and key. They have already exhibited behavior that would leave you to believe that they are more than capable from escaping the confines of your wallet. A wallet does not make a very good cage for these impetuous plastic creatures so you need something more constrictive.

You might try placing them in a container of water and then placing the container in your freezer. Another idea would be to place your credit cards in a locked box at your bank. Just do whatever you have to in order to make it as difficult as possible to use them!

The next thing that you need to do is to start putting more money toward the credit card with the highest interest rate while at the same time continuing to make the minimum payments on the rest of your cards. When you do manage to pay off that first card, you can turn your attention to the credit card with the next highest interest rate. Continue this cycle until you are debt free. Sounds fairly simple, right? Well, maybe not all that easy. You might actually find that you need some help

There are a variety of ways that you can go about getting help in recovery from from your problems with debt. The methods for debt recovery generally follow a chronological path with the least painful method as the first step that you could take.

The least painful method of debt recovery is as I explained above. You simply start paying off your credit cards one at a time, starting with the card that has the highest interest rate.

If you have a credit situation that is a bit more complicated then the next chronological step would be to get some help. This help could come in the form of debt management. A debt management company can help you to pay your credit card debts in a way that will be most beneficial to you.

The next least painful debt recovery step would be debt counseling. A debt counselor would be able to direct you to the best solution for your particular financial situation. This may lead you to the next least painful solution which is a debt consolidation loan.

Just keep in mind that debt consolidation loans are not for everyone. However, they may be a necessary step on the way to debt recovery. The trick with debt consolidation loans is that you have to be able to qualify for them. If you are already in considerable debt then you may not have a good enough credit rating to qualify for a conventional debt consolidation loan.

Now we are starting to get into some of the more painful methods of debt recovery. This is not to say that debt negotiation is a painful process, unless you try to do it yourself.

Debt negotiation, sometimes called debt settlement, is a process where you negotiate with your credit card companies in order to come to a compromise. They want their money. You want to give them their money. They want their money. You can't give them their money. They still want their money!

If you do nothing and just stop paying your credit card bills, they would eventually have to initiate a lawsuit in order to GET THEIR MONEY! They don't like lawsuits. Lawsuits cost them MONEY!

They also know that if you can't pay your credit card bills, you might file for bankruptcy. In that case, they don't get their money! Therefore, they have an undeniable desire to come to an agreement with you. However, they can be very stubborn. That's why it might be a good idea to hire a negotiation service.

A good debt negotiation service will already have a relationship with many credit card companies. The debt negotiation services know the in's and out's of debt negotiation. That's what they do for a living. The credit card companies know this.

They also know that if an individual approaches them and tries to negotiate their credit card debt, they will have the upper hand. If a debt negotiation service approaches them, they can skip right through the tough talk and get right down to the details and strike a deal.

If all of these methods seem too painful to you then there is always bankruptcy. But wait! Bankruptcy is the last method on the list so it must be the most painful of all, right? Well, yes it is.

A bankruptcy will follow you around wherever you go for longer than you want to think! It's just a bad choice, especially when there are so many other options. Sure, debt recovery is possible with bankruptcy but do you really want to wait 10 to 15 years or more for that to happen?

The other methods that are mentioned take an average of about 2 years. That's still a fairly long time to deal with the unpleasantries but its probably much better to start your recovery from debt with the least painful process that you can find.