30 Days Following Your First Payment

Creditors come into line, calls begin to stop and you can feel good about your financial future once again!

The 30 days after making your first payment are very important. As your creditor statements arrive, you should carefully review them for lower interest rates and cessation of late and over-limit fees, as well as information regarding your acceptance into the debt management program. If you receive a letter from your creditors that does not reflect acceptance into the DMP, you should contact the GFM Client Services Center Department as soon as possible, by calling 1.800.460.8641.

Please note that until your creditor has accepted your new debt management program payment in writing, either by a letter or reflecting that amount as your minimum due on your statement, you may need to pay the difference in order to eliminate the possibility of the creditor noting your account as 30 days late. This does not mean that you will need to pay more than your normal minimum due, only that you may need to maintain that same amount until they have accepted the new, lower DMP payment.

For example, let's assume you have just enrolled in our DMP program and your typical minimum due for Creditor A is $100, but on the DMP program it will only be $80. Until Creditor A has notified you that they will accept $80 as your full monthly payment, you may need to have GFM make your $80 payment through the program and you make an additional payment of $20 to cover the full $100 that Creditor A expects to receive that month.

This eliminates any chance that Creditor A could reflect you as past due because of a partial payment during the time period they are processing your paperwork. While most major creditors process DMP program requests in a very timely fashion and typically reflect your new DMP payment within 30 days of enrolling, some may wait to see if you make 2 and even 3 consistent payments through the program before offering you the full benefits. During this transition, it is critical that you do the following:

Make your payments through GFM on time each month.
Pay any difference for those accounts that may take a little longer to reflect your benefits.
Communicate to GFM Client Services Center any accounts that have not shown acceptance of your DMP program by 90 days after your initial payment.

This will not only ensure a smooth path to your new financial plan, but will also protect you from any unwelcome surprises.

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If any of this information seems confusing or overwhelming, please call us directly at GFM Client Services Center - 1.800.460.8641. We are here to take the fear out of your finances and put you back in the driver's seat. We will happily discuss each question and concern you have to make sure you fully understand the in and outs of your personal debt management program.