Falling behind isn’t a pleasant experience, especially if it’s falling behind on bills. Late bills can be extremely stressful and as everybody understands – they can spring up due to several reasons. That’s no excuse though, as defaults can easily mean non-availability of a vital service.
Fret not, the EarlySalary team designed this step-wise guide on how you can catch up on late bills.
Sorting bills:
Sorting bills on the order of priority should be the first step you take in your quest towards catching up on late bills.
- It may not be feasible to pay all of your bills at once, so make it a point to organize your bills in an order you see fit. You may choose to arrange them based on the repayment date, amount due, the necessity of the services, or a hybrid between the three. Arranging them in order of importance and having a budget on hand will help ease your financial stress greatly.
- By order of necessity, we mean those services which are absolutely critical. For instance, payment of utility bills is necessary to ensure adequate electricity, water, etc., while you can postpone credit card bills, albeit at a higher cost.
- You may choose to opt for a cheap online loan, such as the ones offered by EarlySalary, as an effort to reduce the interest payable on your credit card bills.
Evaluating your finances:
Once you’ve sorted your bills based on priority, you’ll naturally be able to understand what bills you can avoid in the future. It is crucial to understand the difference between need and want.
- Review spending on luxurious habits like cosmetics, alcohol, subscriptions, personal grooming, etc, if you’re really getting behind on bills. Keep a constant check on the money you have been spending.
- You might be having a gym membership without actually going to one or you may be paying for some app on your phone which you hardly ever use.
- Read up on Tips for adjusting your budget when facing a crisis to understand the ways to budget and ease your financial burden. Ensure to follow these steps at all times to ensure you aren’t in this predicament in the future.
Additional work/gig:
A relatively easy solution, given the plethora of options we have for us today. This next step is to find ways to generate additional revenue. You might find a temporary job or gig for a while or could opt for some overtime to earn additional income.
Talking to creditors: Once you have implemented any of these choices, you might want to call on your creditors.
- Start by canceling any unnecessary services that you might have opted for, and forgotten. Try negotiating and try explaining your situation. Understand any extra amount that you might have to pay over and above your principal amount in the form of late payment fees and interest overdue. Check for possible clerical errors.
- Consider bundling certain services like the internet and cable which might fetch you additional discounts. Additionally, try working out a repayment schedule with your creditor.
- If you take an effort towards repaying the amount due, the creditors are likely to appreciate the effort and be lenient. This will also minimize the risk of you going bankrupt or adversely your credit score.
Execution:
The final step is to execute your plans. While planning is essential, it is even more crucial to ensure that the execution is on point.
Cutting up on expenditure and taking up extra gigs might not be our first choice of thing to do, however, these steps are certainly important to help us catch up on late bills.
With a little help from Fibe (Formerly EarlySalary), catching up on late bills won’t be very difficult. Get your utility bills and last-minute rent payments paid up with help of Fibe’s products. You can get instant cash loans up to Rs 5,00,000 for a tenure of up to 24 months. It comes with zero prepayment charge and you will get your loan amount transferred directly to your bank account.
Download the Fibe app here, or log in to our website and be a part of the #OneSmallStep experience.