Debt Consolidation, Ideas??

Updated on September 07, 2007
D.M. asks from McKinney, TX
4 answers

We have decided that we would like to consolidate our debt that we have incurred from our son's medical needs. Paying each credit card each month is draining us dry and we wanted to see if there was a better way. Have any of you consolidated your debt, if so, how? What companies are usually pretty good about working with families living on 1 income? We have only lived in our home for 3 years, so we don't think we have equity enough to do this and would rather leave our home out of it. We are followers of Dave Ramsey and have been through the Financial Peace University classes, however we are just having trouble doing it. We aren't giving up, just looking into the other options out there. Thank for your input and help!

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So What Happened?

Just this morning I was able to secure a loan from a bank that we had an account with to cover all the medical bills at a very low interest rate with a payment that is so much less than what we were paying for each one. There is no penalty to pay it off early, but now that we have done this we can actually work on paying it off early and use extra money as we get it to accomplish our goal. Thanks for all your help!

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.K.

answers from Dallas on

Hi Shannon,
Wow what stress you are under. I will pray for you and your family.

We too are Ramsey followers and my husband does financial advising (our journey with our debt brewed a passion in my husband to help others)now to help others. He will do a financial needs assessment for free and he can share with you some different options that his company can offer, as well as his own study of different debt reduction/consolidation strategies. Seriously, this is his passion and he would love to sit with you and see how he could help. Feel free to contact me or go directly to him....either way is fine. Nothing to lose....he will meet with you and consult for free. (crazy huh? :-) )

My info: ____@____.com
###-###-####

Kevin's: ____@____.com
###-###-#### (best way to reach him)

2 moms found this helpful

L.A.

answers from Dallas on

I used Express Consolidation several years ago ( a credit card for a single college girl got me in trouble!) and it really helped.

http://www.expressconsolidation.org/index.aspx

I understand that there has been a bit of controversy with debt consolidators, due to hidden fees and such (I think mine ended up being about $30 a month of fees to them I didn't really understand at the time) but ti still helped me a lot.

Here is the link that details the bad part of debt consolidating:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/01/ftc_consoli...

1 mom found this helpful
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T.O.

answers from Birmingham on

Shannon,
I would think carefully before you use your home equity. Credit Cards are "unsecured" debt. That means there is no real property that can be taken from you if you stop paying on the card. A mortgage is "secured debt", which means they can take your house.

I would check out several avenues. The other poster might help and if it doesn't cost anything to listen, it might be worth it. There are also agencies that are advertised on tv all the time that will help you. Like the Consumer Credit Council. They are non-profit and work by negotiating with the card companies to take less than what's owed etc. But you cannot use your credit cards again. At least till they're paid off and they council will know if you use them. that's part of what you sign up for.

Good luck.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.M.

answers from Dallas on

Hi Shannon,
Congrats on your loan, I am sure that took some stress off. :) If you are interested in learning about a way to add a monthly residual income check to your budget just email me. The company I work from home with allows people to obtain a goal of being debt free. In the past 3 years since working with them I have paid off over half our debt and we will soon be debt free as my checks keep increasing each month. I am having an informational meeting on Monday evening in Corinth at 7pm. Email me if you would like the directions.
www.workathomeunited.com/texas

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