My DH and I are thinking about doing a debt consolidation but I have heard so many bad things about it. I was just woundering if any one has any advice about it, or can recammend one? TNA
I asked the same question a few weeks ago!! We decided against debt consolidation, it does seem like a bad idea. 98% of the answers that I received on this site were against debt consolidation. I did some more research on the internet and started reading Dave Ramsey's book, which was recommended on this site. The book is very informative. I also picked up Finance for Dummies another good book. Good Luck
Debt consolidation? No...nope...none...never!
Get a Dave Ramsay book and do it yourself.
There are no "magic" solutions...just hard work to get yourself out of debt.
And immediately CUT UP your credit cards--to consolidate and keep using credit cards is known as "financial suicide"!
You can do it. Our house is paid off and this program WORKS...free..get it from the library ASAP!
If it's CC debt, don't pay a company to do it for you. You can do it yourself. You have to go through the "process." They will not work with you -- either lowering your interest rate or the principal -- until you are about 6 months late on payments, which is what most of these debt cons. companies do anyway. We have CC debt due to job loss now, and our CC companies are offering a reduction by almost half of what we owe. You will have to put up with the phone calls, however. It really becomes easier to negotiate down the debt when it goes to a collection agency. But they will not work with you until you are so many months late. I tried being proactive, before I was late on our cards, but they wouldn't even consider reducing the interest rate then until we stopped paying.
DO IT YOURSELF!! You are already in debt, so don't trust another person or company with your finances. They are in it to make your money, which you don't have because you are in debt already. Get a handle on it yourself. There are several ways to reduce your debt yourself, so you don't need those vultures. I HIGHLY recommend Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover!! He is on the radio, online (at www.daveramsey.com), and his books can be checked out from the library (you will have to be put on the hold list) or purchased NOW online for $10 here: http://tinyurl.com/2asek9d.
A company called Careone saved our lives about 4 years ago! I'm unsure how much it has dinged out credit, but I believe that these programs can help if you have over $5,000 in cc debt. You have to accept that you are going to lower your credit score, but if you're already late on cc payments, then the damage is already started.. right? We are almost debt free because this group called and got our interest rates reduced on our credit cards. Some of them went from more than 20%, to 5.99%. We have about 8 months left on the program, and then we will only have a mortgage and 1 car payment. We do not pay this company a fee as some will tell you they get part of the money...it's not true. And we've continued to lease/purchase cars, and have never been turned down on anything we've applied for, so it must not me damaging our credit that much.
www.CareOneCredit.com They are one of the ONLY debt consolidation companys that are BBB rated.
find a dave ramsey class near you...they are everywhere go to daveramsey.com go to "find a class" & plug in your zip code......this class is for everyone, all walks of life......so basically what i am saying is that if money is part of a persons life then this class is for them".........or like other posters mentioned get his book but i personally like the class rather than reading the book......you will not be sorry
IMO opinion there is no easy way out of debt. What worked for us was Dave Ramsey. It was not easy, especially when started we had gone from $120K a year with bonuses to $60K a year (my husband was hurt in the military and classified as "unemployable"). We had about $50K in debt. It took us about 6 years, but now we only owe on his truck and the mortgage, we are hoping to have the truck debt gone this year. There is a credit service company where I live that friends of ours think very highly of the owner, http://repairmycreditnow.com/, you might try it.
I just sent my last payment to Consolidated Credit Counseling Services 1866-###-###-####. It is sooooo nice to be debt free FINALLY. I had been in the program for 4 years with a 26,000 dollar debt. They disbursed my 345/mo to all 5 of my creditors and I did not have to any work at all. They DO charge a monthly fee of 45 so only 300 went to my creditors but the fee is (i think) based on how much you owe. I was lazy and the fee was worth it to me. Good luck! Edit: I forgot to mention that they significantly lowerd my interest rates from almost 30% (yikes) to 2.5% to 6%!!! FYI
I worked in auto finance -- and repossession for 8 years. Please be aware that companies are not obligated to work with the consolidation companies. Usually, the best the companies could accomplish would be things consumers could accomplish too if they knew how.
Most people don't call and ask for a lower rate, or focus on paying off your highest interest card first and paying the minimums on the others. In some cases they negiotiate "settlements" which can hit your credit. It other cases I've spoken to people that the settlement company was paying bills VERY late and the customer had no idea. Others may not know if you or your spouse became active duty military after you got the loan there is a "Soldiers and Sailors" act that protects you.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/sscra/l/blsscra.htm
Some do more then that, but their success is largely dependant on the companies you have debt with. Plus... they don't do this for free. So when you're already tight on money giving a chunk to a company seems senseless.
