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Mrs213
????????
Member since 2/09 18986 total posts
Name:
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Debt consolidation services
Has anyone here had luck with any debt relief / consolidation companies? Long story short after losing my job last year and 2 small children to care for we are not in a great place financially. I am working but its basically a wash once I pay for babysitting. We are not behind on anything yet (thank god for savings) but we've been depleting it slowly but surely. I'm wondering if a debt management company would be helpful with getting credit card payments down or if most of these are scams?
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Posted 6/15/16 8:02 AM  |
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jellybelly79
LIF Adult
Member since 5/06 3389 total posts
Name:
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Debt consolidation services
Yes, I used consolidated credit
best thing I ever did
I am now 100% debt free
I had 19 credit cards, crazy I know
they negotiated the cards to get the interest down and I paid twice a month for 3 years. My credit score is 754 now :)
www.consolidatedcredit.org
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| Posted 6/15/16 8:31 AM |
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blu6385
Member since 5/08 8351 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
I would recommend http://www.commcredit.org/
I think their fee is $50 a month
ETA: people say you can negotiate yourself but I don't know how easy it is especially if you are making payments on time.
Message edited 6/15/2016 8:48:25 AM.
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| Posted 6/15/16 8:46 AM |
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nraboni
Uggh...
Member since 10/09 6905 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by jellybelly79
Yes, I used consolidated credit
best thing I ever did
I am now 100% debt free
I had 19 credit cards, crazy I know
they negotiated the cards to get the interest down and I paid twice a month for 3 years. My credit score is 754 now :)
www.consolidatedcredit.org
By doing this, did it affect your credit at all?
Did you have to pay anything out of pocket to this company?
How does this work?
Sorry for all of the questions and for hijacking the OP's post.
Message edited 6/15/2016 8:49:24 AM.
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| Posted 6/15/16 8:48 AM |
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blu6385
Member since 5/08 8351 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by nraboni
Posted by jellybelly79
Yes, I used consolidated credit
best thing I ever did
I am now 100% debt free
I had 19 credit cards, crazy I know
they negotiated the cards to get the interest down and I paid twice a month for 3 years. My credit score is 754 now :)
www.consolidatedcredit.org
By doing this, did it affect your credit at all?
i want to say in the beginning it will but it will get better by the end.
I say this because I think they basically close all your cards so you will have a high/debt ratio for a while but once its all paid off your score should go back up.
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| Posted 6/15/16 8:50 AM |
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blu6385
Member since 5/08 8351 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by nraboni
By doing this, did it affect your credit at all?
Did you have to pay anything out of pocket to this company?
How does this work?
Sorry for all of the questions and for hijacking the OP's post.
for the company I listed they charged I think $50 a month. they call all the companies negotiate a lower interest rate and then you are basically paying the company and they will pay the credit cards.
what they don't do is negotiate that you pay less on your card. you don't want to do that because that will effect your credit.
there is also companies that will settle the debt for a lower amount but they charge a ridiculous amount of money and this will effect your credit negatively. I know someone who did this
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| Posted 6/15/16 8:53 AM |
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Peainapod
Peanuts are here!
Member since 1/09 13591 total posts
Name:
Diana
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by blu6385
Posted by nraboni
By doing this, did it affect your credit at all?
Did you have to pay anything out of pocket to this company?
How does this work?
Sorry for all of the questions and for hijacking the OP's post.
for the company I listed they charged I think $50 a month. they call all the companies negotiate a lower interest rate and then you are basically paying the company and they will pay the credit cards.
what they don't do is negotiate that you pay less on your card. you don't want to do that because that will effect your credit.
there is also companies that will settle the debt for a lower amount but they charge a ridiculous amount of money and this will effect your credit negatively. I know someone who did this
that is DEBT SETTLEMENT (the last part of the above statement). Completely different from consolidation and watch out for companies who settle debt. you will make a monthly payment into an escrow account, all the while NOT paying your credit cards. So then you are in default. When you have enough $$ accrued in this escrow account, the settlement company will go to creditor # 1 and say " we have x amount to pay, can we settle?" so on and so forth. Some companies settle, some dont. and all the while you are in arrears racking up bad credit.
you would be better off with bankruptcy b/c there are protections granted under the law with a bankruptcy filing.
also look into Green Path Debt Solutions. they do consolidation and counseling.
For debt consolidation to work or be approved you usually need to show disposable income, or money left over every month to pay the consolidated payment. If you are in the red, and negative after expenses, they may not approve you. I've been through this and eventually had to go the bankruptcy route it was so bad.
Message edited 6/15/2016 9:16:06 AM.
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| Posted 6/15/16 9:14 AM |
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momtimes2
LIF Infant
Member since 4/14 333 total posts
Name:
stephanie
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Debt consolidation services
I used Cambridge - it has been working out well - I pay 814/month (including a 40 fee to the debt consolidation company) and my credit score has already went up close to 40 points
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| Posted 6/15/16 9:29 AM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
We have credit card debt, we never used a debt consolidation agency mostly because I've heard some sketchy things about many of them. This is what we did:
We took out a personal loan from TFCU (personal loans don't affect your credit like consumer debt does) and we paid off a huge chunk of our credit card debt with it. We ended up saving over $200/month thanks to a lower interest rate and monthly payment. We plan on paying it down more quickly then the length of the loan but AT WORST, it will be gone in 5 years even if we don't accelerate our payments.
Because of the loan our credit score took a nice big jump UP (about 40 points within weeks of getting the loan) so our now empty credit cards started offering us 0% balance transfer deals. So, we shifted around the remaining debt to those 0% interest rates cards and consolidated everything down to as few cards as possible.
Then we set up a "snowball" payment plan. We lined up our cards from highest interest rate to lowest and started focusing on the highest interest rate card first. On top of the minimum payment we started also sending them any additional money we could every month PLUS the $200+ we now had available because of the TFCU loan. As we paid a card off we took ALL of that money we were sending them (min payment, additional money, and the $200) and applied ALL of that money to the next card. And we're just continuing down the line that way.
As you start paying cards off you'll be amazed at how much money starts "snowballing" into the next card. You save a TON of money on interest and you'll be able to pay down your debt so much faster!! Good luck!!!..............I know it's overwhelming but once you have a plan it doesn't seem so insurmountable. 
Message edited 6/15/2016 9:55:49 AM.
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| Posted 6/15/16 9:55 AM |
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Mrs213
????????
Member since 2/09 18986 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by Hofstra26
We have credit card debt, we never used a debt consolidation agency mostly because I've heard some sketchy things about many of them. This is what we did:
We took out a personal loan from TFCU (personal loans don't affect your credit like consumer debt does) and we paid off a huge chunk of our credit card debt with it. We ended up saving over $200/month thanks to a lower interest rate and monthly payment. We plan on paying it down more quickly then the length of the loan but AT WORST, it will be gone in 5 years even if we don't accelerate our payments.
Because of the loan our credit score took a nice big jump UP (about 40 points within weeks of getting the loan) so our now empty credit cards started offering us 0% balance transfer deals. So, we shifted around the remaining debt to those 0% interest rates cards and consolidated everything down to as few cards as possible.
Then we set up a "snowball" payment plan. We lined up our cards from highest interest rate to lowest and started focusing on the highest interest rate card first. On top of the minimum payment we started also sending them any additional money we could every month PLUS the $200+ we now had available because of the TFCU loan. As we paid a card off we took ALL of that money we were sending them (min payment, additional money, and the $200) and applied ALL of that money to the next card. And we're just continuing down the line that way.
As you start paying cards off you'll be amazed at how much money starts "snowballing" into the next card. You save a TON of money on interest and you'll be able to pay down your debt so much faster!! Good luck!!!..............I know it's overwhelming but once you have a plan it doesn't seem so insurmountable.
Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately our monthly income exceeds what we owe between credit cards, mortgage, gas, electric, groceries etc. Thank god we have a savings but its killing me to take $$ out of savings to pay off credit cards . I know the situation is temporary though so I'm trying not to get too discouraged about it. most of my balances are already on 0% because I have a very high credit score and high limits on the cards so they keep sending me balance transfer offers.
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| Posted 6/15/16 12:17 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by Mrs213
Posted by Hofstra26
We have credit card debt, we never used a debt consolidation agency mostly because I've heard some sketchy things about many of them. This is what we did:
We took out a personal loan from TFCU (personal loans don't affect your credit like consumer debt does) and we paid off a huge chunk of our credit card debt with it. We ended up saving over $200/month thanks to a lower interest rate and monthly payment. We plan on paying it down more quickly then the length of the loan but AT WORST, it will be gone in 5 years even if we don't accelerate our payments.
Because of the loan our credit score took a nice big jump UP (about 40 points within weeks of getting the loan) so our now empty credit cards started offering us 0% balance transfer deals. So, we shifted around the remaining debt to those 0% interest rates cards and consolidated everything down to as few cards as possible.
Then we set up a "snowball" payment plan. We lined up our cards from highest interest rate to lowest and started focusing on the highest interest rate card first. On top of the minimum payment we started also sending them any additional money we could every month PLUS the $200+ we now had available because of the TFCU loan. As we paid a card off we took ALL of that money we were sending them (min payment, additional money, and the $200) and applied ALL of that money to the next card. And we're just continuing down the line that way.
As you start paying cards off you'll be amazed at how much money starts "snowballing" into the next card. You save a TON of money on interest and you'll be able to pay down your debt so much faster!! Good luck!!!..............I know it's overwhelming but once you have a plan it doesn't seem so insurmountable.
Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately our monthly income exceeds what we owe between credit cards, mortgage, gas, electric, groceries etc. Thank god we have a savings but its killing me to take $$ out of savings to pay off credit cards . I know the situation is temporary though so I'm trying not to get too discouraged about it. most of my balances are already on 0% because I have a very high credit score and high limits on the cards so they keep sending me balance transfer offers.
You're welcome. Hope you're able to figure something out!!!
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| Posted 6/16/16 6:20 PM |
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PhyllisNJoe
My Box Is Broken
Member since 6/11 9145 total posts
Name:
Phyllis
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Re: Debt consolidation services
They do work because I know my brother did it years ago. But I read you already have all balances moved to 0% card - so I don't know if they can do much
Usually they contact the creditors and try to lower your apr, sometimes cut your debt down, etc., and go from there.
But if you already "paid" your credit cards using a new 0% card - I don't know what deal you can actually get.
Did you sit down and go over every single thing? Anywhere you can trim the fat?
I hope things turn around quickly for you
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| Posted 6/16/16 6:51 PM |
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bklyngirl
COULD THIS BE MY YEAR??
Member since 6/05 15758 total posts
Name:
Gail
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Re: Debt consolidation services
I used Green Path Debt solutions. And no, it doesn't ruin your credit
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| Posted 6/16/16 8:40 PM |
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jellybelly79
LIF Adult
Member since 5/06 3389 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by nraboni
Posted by jellybelly79
Yes, I used consolidated credit
best thing I ever did
I am now 100% debt free
I had 19 credit cards, crazy I know
they negotiated the cards to get the interest down and I paid twice a month for 3 years. My credit score is 754 now :)
www.consolidatedcredit.org
By doing this, did it affect your credit at all?
Did you have to pay anything out of pocket to this company?
How does this work?
Sorry for all of the questions and for hijacking the OP's post.
It is a free estimate and once I signed the paper work, all by fax/email I think the membership fee was about $50
My credit went down and then back up. Super easy, they took the money from my account I didnt have to set up payments.
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| Posted 6/17/16 7:38 AM |
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Mrs213
????????
Member since 2/09 18986 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by PhyllisNJoe
They do work because I know my brother did it years ago. But I read you already have all balances moved to 0% card - so I don't know if they can do much
Usually they contact the creditors and try to lower your apr, sometimes cut your debt down, etc., and go from there.
But if you already "paid" your credit cards using a new 0% card - I don't know what deal you can actually get.
Did you sit down and go over every single thing? Anywhere you can trim the fat?
I hope things turn around quickly for you
Thank you we already have the cheapest cell phones ($30/month) and we cut cable for summertime just have Internet. I'm gonna call my mortgage company and see if I will qualify for a modification. I am working now but my husbands income covers the mortgage and mine basically covers childcare as I made much more at my previous job. Trying to look at the bright side As I know child care costs are a temporary expense. Lesson learned here always have a savings and carry as little credit card balances as possible
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| Posted 6/18/16 10:10 PM |
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Can you look into a cash-out refinance to have some more cash?
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| Posted 6/19/16 10:13 AM |
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Mrs213
????????
Member since 2/09 18986 total posts
Name:
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Re: Debt consolidation services
Posted by oldtimerocknroll
Can you look into a cash-out refinance to have some more cash?
Not sure, I got something in the mail today about refinancing. I was going to call them up anyway and see about a loan modification but I guess I will start there. We just don't have the funds to pay closing costs or anything so we'll see...
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| Posted 6/20/16 8:39 PM |
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