When it comes to seeking debt relief, most consumers opt for one of three things: consolidation, settlement, or bankruptcy. Most individuals not only want to get out of debt to stop the collection calls and letters, but they want to improve their credit score as well. What about those three common debt relief options? How will they impact your credit score?

* Debt Settlement: This is when you owe less money when all is over with. Most times, you contact a debt relief program that handles settlements. They start negotiating with the credit card companies you owe money to. The goal is to get them to eliminate some of your debt. You might get away paying up to 60% less. Owing less does make it easier to get out of debt, but you didn’t pay your bills in full. For that reason, settlements will show on your credit report. As for your credit score, it is usually negatively impacted for one to year years.

* Debt Consolidation: This is when you get a consolidated loan (all your debts are transferred to a new loan). You partner with a debt relief company that handles consolidations to do this. As for the impact on your credit score, you will find that it does vary. It depends on a number of factors. Those checking your credit report will see that some bills were paid off and that you now have a loan with their total out. They will likely know it was because of debt consolidation. The good new is that if you make on time payments to your consolidation company, your credit score shouldn’t be impacted.

* Bankruptcy: This is when you basically get to walk away from your debts. Right now, I bet you are thinking “that sounds great.” It does sound great, until you learn about those consequences. The biggest is the impact on your credit score. In terms of debt relief, filing for bankruptcy will have the biggest negative impact on your credit score. Most individuals not only find it difficult to get financing, but they get a low credit score for around seven years. This is a long time when you compare it to the above mentioned settlement or consolidation.

In short, you can go for settlement, consolidation, or bankruptcy. The choice is yours. However, before making that choice, you may want to use the services of a financial advisor to help you review all of your debt relief options. Most importantly, don’t forget that the choice you do make is likely to impact your credit score.

If you are over $10,000 in unsecured debt you really should consider getting a debt settlement. Creditors of unsecured debt are fearful of collecting and they also have stimulus money to make debt settlements financially feasible for them. Once the economy turns around it will be too late to eliminate your debt. Check out the link below to locate legitimate debt relief companies in your area: Free Debt Advice.

Cash flow notes are legal instruments used to document financial transactions between sellers and buyers. Multiple types of cash flow notes exist. The most common include: real estate, land, seller carry back, business notes and structured settlements.

When cash flow notes are used to buy vacant land or real estate, the property is used as collateral. Real estate notes are attached to trust deed or mortgage documents as a lien against the property. If borrowers default on note payments, the lien holder can foreclose on the property and sell it to another buyer.

Real estate cash flow notes are used to secure a wide range of property including raw land, single and multi-dwelling houses, mobile and manufactured homes, and commercial properties.

Seller carry back notes can be used to secure real estate or business ownership. Using seller carry back, the seller provides all or part of the financing. In most cases, sellers finance 10- to 20-percent of the sale price and buyers obtain financing for the balance through a traditional lending institution. If sellers engage in 100-financing, buyers must obtain conventional financing when the note terms expire. Seller carry back notes typically extend for two to five years.

Structured settlements are oftentimes used to compensate individuals who sustained injuries due to negligence of an organization or person. Structured settlements are also used to compensate lottery jackpot winners who choose to receive their payout over an extended period of time.

The primary role of structured settlement cash flow notes is to provide long-term financial security to individuals whose injuries prevent them for obtaining employment or to pay for ongoing healthcare.

One major disadvantage of structured settlements is once they are established they cannot be changed. However, structured settlement notes can sometimes be sold in whole or part if the Annuitant requires a lump sum of cash. Most states require Annuitants to obtain court authorization before selling structured settlement notes.

Business cash flow notes use business assets as collateral. There are multiple types of business notes, but the most common include purchase order funding and factoring.

With factoring, business owners sell their account receivables to a funding source referred to as the ‘Factor’. Funds are loaned using receivables as collateral. In most cases, the Factor will purchase no more than 80-percent of total owed on notes receivable.

Purchase order funding is similar to factoring. The difference is purchase orders are used instead of accounts receivable. Factors can loan up to 100-percent of the amount of purchase orders. For example, if a business owner holds $100,000 worth of purchase orders, he can obtain a loan up to that amount. This type of cash flow note is typically reserved for businesses holding purchase orders backed by credit-worthy customers.

Simon Volkov is a private investor who specializes in buying and selling cash flow notes. Simon is particularly interested in real estate notes for properties held in Orange County and southern California, Washington, Nevada and Arizona. Individuals with cash flow notes for sale are encouraged to submit information via the “forms” section at http://www.SimonVolkov.com.

“I only pay 1.29%!” Have you ever heard these words? Have you ever said something like this when referring to your merchant account fees? Is that really the case? I would like to make clear at the outset that a LOW DISCOUNT RATE DOES NOT MEAN you have the CHEAPEST merchant account.

“Discount Rate as low as 1.19%! Free processing! Free credit card machine!” Sounds nice, doesn’t it. This ad looks really attractive on websites or ad slicks. However, these are two examples of clever marketing at its finest. Merchant account providers know that everyone wants the cheapest rates and lowest monthly fees. Of course, we all want the best deal when we make purchases. However the problem with merchant card fees is that no aspect of the service is truly free.There are so many other fees that go into processing – fees that all add up to the total monthly cost you will pay. There are fees such as transaction fee, Mid and Non Qualified downgrade fees, statement fee, annual fee, batch fee, AVS fee, and PCI fee.

The banks’ boards of directors as well as credit card associations didn’t wake up one day and say, “Why don’t we just give away credit cards for free to make everyone’s lives easier?” We all know that banks are doing business to make money. You are accepting credit cards at your business because someone thinks that this is a great way to make money. Therefore, without knowledge of the true cost that merchant account providers and their banks incur, you would never be able to find out what was a truly good price for a merchant account.

Another thing you need to keep clearly in mind is that many of the charges you will incur are not made as apparent on the monthly contract or merchant application. Is this an accident? Not at all! Many business people simply do not want to take the time to investigate what all the miscellaneous fees are and would rather just stick to asking, “What is my discount rate?” Merchant credit card providers realize this and therefore continue to cater to this mentality by printing the discount rate in larger print on advertisements and merchant account applications. Is this wrong? I don’t believe so. Is choosing a merchant account based on the discount rate going to get you the cheapest account? Definitely not!

What can you do to ensure you are getting the best deal? Know your business needs and do your homework! Research several companies and build a grid comparison of features and fees. This will keep everything in order and help you weigh the various fees and quickly see the bottom line costs for each company. It is also good to keep contact information on this list just in case you have a quick question for the company you are thinking of doing business with. Or check out the links above to see some great rates and service. After doing a little research, you will find that you can get the best merchant account deal for your business.

Chris DuPont is the owner of http://merchantstatementanalysis.web.officelive.com/BESTMERCHANTACCOUNT.aspx which offers the best merchant account service and pricing available. Visit his merchant account blog at Merchant Statement Analysis