Does anybody have any experience with.....?

Question

Credit card consolidators? I was just curious if it's something worth looking into or not. Some tell me to do it, that'll it'll really help me with my bills and then others tell me that there is all kinds of suprise fees and in the end I'll be paying more.
any kind of help would be great! thanks in advance

Answer 1

I've deal with a group right now, and it seems to be helping, but let me give you some pointers before I drop their website: 1. DO NOT close out your credit cards if they're unpaid - it shows you are irresponsible 2. Call up the companies and ask to speak to their debt management team and try to negotiate for atleast a monthly fee you can afford. 3. Even if you send in $5 a month, they cannot send you to collections. But definitely sit down, work over what you owe - make a list of your account #s, contact # and amount due with the date of the day you write these down then make your calls. And if all else fails, go to http://www.consolidatedcredit.org/ these are the people that I have been going through and it's helped me so far, I don't know if it's the best route, but it's been keeping my bills at bay. Just place a couple of hours aside and take it step by step - one creditor at a time. They might even offer you a settlement. Good luck!

Answer 2

There are companies that will charge you a fee & Iv'e been told that it's not a wise thing to do.You don't need someone to consolidate you're credit cards for you. You can do it you're self. Just call the credit card companies up & ask them what they might do for you if you transfered the other credit card balances onto they're card.Tell the others you are going to transfer the balances to another card & they will strike a deal with you. (lower interest rate)Take the best deal. Remember, you are in charge here, not the credit card companies.Also, once you transfer the balances put the other cards away or cut them up or else you will find you're self in debt once again.

Answer 3

My husband and I used Money Management Inc.(mmiaccount.org - formerly AmeriDebt) a few years ago and they worked wonders! We had been trying to pay down our debt for 10 years, and they helped us get rid of it entirely in less than 5! There weren't any surprise fees, just the regular monthly fee for the service (you actually have a contract for a certain amount of time) which goes towards paying the credit companies their money. MMI contacts them on your behalf and manages to greatly reduce if not freeze the monthly interest fees each account incurs. What I liked best about them was that they're non-profit. If you were to research other debt consolidation firms, look for that! Good luck - I hope this helped!

Answer 4

AKA credit counseling. There are I suppose reputable companies out there that won't charge you a bundle. Basically, they negotiate with your credit co's to get your rates down and then you pay them "x" dollars each month which is split up to pay each company. It goes on your credit report while in the counseling so you won't be able to obtain any new credit (which is good) since it is essentially equivalent to a chapter 13 bankruptcy.
There are always bad experiences with these companies making your payments late a destroying your credit. Then again if you are only making minimum payments, you will probably never pay your cards off anyway and they will end up going to collection. I think counseling is more respectable than not paying at all which is the common route people take. A lot of credit card companies are now putting judgments on collections so people can't get out of their obligations so easy.
So in short, it is good for some but not for others. If you can negotiate with your creditors to lower the rates and stick to a plan of paying off your debt yourself, you are better off not going through one of these companies. If you can't accomplish it on your own, they may be for you.