At some point in your life, you will probably be faced with the inability to pay all of your bills on time. This does not always occur because of overspending or poor planning. Many times it occurs because of an emergency expense that could not be planned. Even worse, it often happens because of a job loss that certainly cannot be planned in advance.

For someone who has always paid his or her bills on time, the thought of not paying a bill on time may seem like the end of the world. Even worse, for a person with perfect credit, the inability to pay for something such as a car loan brings the fear of ruining one’s credit.

While most people fear the companies to whom they owe money, in reality they should not be feared at all. They are in the business of making money, usually through lending money to people to make purchases. They understand that a certain percentage of their customers are going to have problems making their payments at some point because of unexpected events.

By understanding this small but important piece of information, individuals who are having problems making their payments can actually help themselves. The purpose of this article is too show how with different types of bills and payments people can get help during times of need so that their credit reports will not be ruined, and so that they can even keep their utilities working.

Utilities

One of the biggest problems that people face when there is an unexpected lack of income is how to pay their utilities. Making sure that you have power, water, and telephone service is very important, especially if you need to look for a new job. However, some of these bills, especially a power bill can be very expensive when you don’t have any extra money.

The key to keeping the power on is to let the power company know what is going on. Most power companies will not disconnect service as long as you pay at least half of the total bill due. For instance, if you owe $150 on last month’s bill and $150 on this month’s bill for a total of $300, as long as you pay half of that, $150, you should be okay.

It is advisable that you do call the power company to explain your situation and make sure that they will accept paying half of the total bill. Usually a power company will work with you, especially if you have been a good customer and not had a lot of late payments or disconnections in service due to non-payment in the past.

While we used the power company as an example, this will usually work with most utilities, including phone, water, cell service, etc.

Car Payment

The largest monthly payment that most people have after rent or a mortgage payment is a car note. For most individuals, life without a car truly means the inability to get anything done. If you have lost a job and need to get another one, having a car is the difference between working or continuing to be unemployed.

In addition, for someone with perfect credit, missing a car payment can bring instant terror. Besides the fear of having a car repossessed, knowing that the lender may report to late payments or non-payments on your credit report bring about even added stress.

The key to avoiding all of this is to contact your lender the moment you suspect that you will be unable to make the car payment. Let the company know what is causing your lack of funds, and when you think that you will have the problem correct.

A little secret that most people are not aware of is that many major car lenders have a plan in place to help you. By calling the lender, you can ask for a one to two month deferment on your car note. When you ask for a deferment, you are asking the lender to add these payments onto the end of your car loan in order to give you a couple of months to make payments.

While it may seem a little humiliating to do this, you are protecting more than your car when you do this. Most car lenders who will grant a deferment will not report anything negative to the credit bureaus. So, you are given a month or two to be able to make your car payment, giving yourself the piece of mind of knowing your car is not going to be taken away, and protecting your credit score.

Credit Cards

When you are lacking funds, especially due to the loss of a job, your credit cards often become very important. Many people turn to them for their living expenses to get them through the tough times. However, if your credit cards are near their limits, they quickly become an additional burden to worry about.

Again, once you discover that you are going to be unable to pay at least the minimum payment, immediately call the credit card company. Explain to them what is occurring in your life, and ask what can be done to assist you.

Some credit card companies will actually help you by deferring the payment for a month so that you can catch up. There are other companies, however, that will not assist you at all. The key to finding out your options is to call each credit card company and simply ask. There are no hard and fast rules in the world of plastic.

Insurance Premiums

The insurance industry is one area that has actually built in a payment protection to most of their products. Most insurance policies have a 30-day grace period for non-payment. So, if you know that you are going to be a few days late, you should have no problem. Just don’t be beyond 30 days late, or you risk completely losing your coverage.

For life insurance, depending on the type of insurance you have, it may be possible to actually borrow money from the policy to pay the premiums for you. You should contact your insurance agent to see what your options are so that you can insure you will not lose your coverage.

General Advice

If you have been carefully reading this article, you have probably noticed a common them throughout. Regardless of the reason why you cannot make payments, you should always contact the companies in question.

The reason that so many people get themselves into trouble, the kind of trouble that can take a long time to clear up, is that they do not communicate with the companies to whom they owe money. Even worse, they may only contact the companies once a lot of damage has been done.

If you are facing the inability to pay your bills for the first time, it can be quite humiliating to call someone and say I can pay my bills. However, you must understand the individuals who answer the phones at these companies hear this everyday. In fact, they are training to handle such calls, or get you to people who are.

So, if you are not able to pay your bills, take a deep breathe and call your creditors to find out what they can do for you. You may be surprised at how easily some of the stress that comes from not having money can be eased so that you can focus on the real problem at hand.