A benefit to early counseling at the first sign of trouble is that you might be able to lock in a minimum payment before there is any additional increase by the lending institute.

Creditors have been gradually raising minimum payments every year. High risk rates are increasing as well. It’s is getting more hard for people to pay off their credit cards. Most just end up digging themselves deeper and deeper into debt until they have to claim bankruptcy.

If you seek early debt management counseling at the first sign of financial trouble, you have a much better chance to get out of the vicious debt cycle. In most cases, pre-bankruptcy counseling is free of charge. Just another reason that the earlier you seek credit counseling the better.