Bad Credit Agency

Should I join Consumer Credit Counseling? They will charge me $468/yr to pay my bills with my money.?

It sounds great, I "only" have about $9k in credit card debt and it should be payed off in 3yrs. Right now I have very little money left after paying minimum payments each month. I will have $145.00 extra each month. However, I've looked into several credit reporting agencies FAQ's and they state that this may hurt you because the CCC agency will be "negotiating" your interest rates, which means you are not paying the entire debt that you agreed to off. I have enough negative items on my credit report so I dont know if this will put my good accounts into negative if i have to close them and then CCC ageny will also note that I am under a debt mgmt program. Any advise, my only alternative would be a consolidation loan, but i doubt i would qualify?

Public Comments

1. I paid off some debt through AmeriaDebt and it didn't affect my great credit score at all. If I remember correctly, they negotiated a lower rate than I was paying on my own but I had to agree to pay a certain amount every month.
2. those services never help you and cost more than they're worth - - some of those places take your money and do nothing for you - keep paying what you're paying and just start with one card and pay an extra 50-100 per month over the minimum until it's paid off, then move on to the next - start with highest interest rate card. think about getting a 2nd part time job
3. Don't do it. Credit Counseling hits your scores harder than filing bankruptcy. They effectively crash your credit back to the way it was before you had credit. And besides, the only counseling companies that really can help you are free and non-profit. But they will tell you exactly what the previous poster and I told you unless you have over $15k debt and make minimum wage. $9k isn't all that much. Just pay your minimums until you can afford to pay more. Maybe get rid of Cable TV and Internet connection for while so you can get at least one card payed off. Get rid of Either cell phones, or home phone bills. After that, use the money you were paying to the the first card to pay more on the next card. Pay them off in order of highest balance first. And keep snowballing them until they gone. Snowballing = Pay one off then use the extra money to pay off the next. Then use the extra money saved from the first to pay off the next card, and so on.
4. i dont know but you do need to get advice somewhere. you are on a very tight budget if you only have 145 dollars to spare each month. Have you looked at what exactly you are spending your cash on? I think you need to reduce you out goings more. And clear that debt more quickly. Only paying off the minimum is disasterous, and just playing into the cc co, hands. either cut your spending or get advice on what you are doing wrong with available funds.
5. If you are considering Credit Counseling the last thing you need to worry about is your credit score. It is true while you are in CCC your reported is noted that you are in a Debt Management Program and will find it hard to get new credit, but you really should not care because you are trying to get out of debt. However, once you are through it you are in much better shape. Because after a few months they start reporting as paid as agreed and current which if they are currently past due will increase your score. At the end of the 3 years you will have 3 years of good payment history. Also, you are still paying the entire debt, it is just the interest rate they are negociating. So if you owe a company $1000 you are still going to have to pay the $1000 they don't reduce the debt owed. But instead of an interest rate of 25% you are paying it back at an interest rate of 5%(for example). The CCC usually wants all accounts in the program, but this is something you need to ask them. But keep in mind that for most people these programs fail for is because they only want to put a "couple" accounts in the program. They do that and pay of the bad debts but DON'T change their habbits. So the good accounts then become bad and they are in the same situation. I am not saying this will happen to you, but it is something to think about if you are really commited to paying off your debt.
6. Don't get suckered into this! Do you know you can do your own negotiation and lower the rate on your credit card? Yes, if you've been paying on time for about 6-8 months (even at min.) all credit card companies will lower your interest rate. They'd rather do this and keep making the money on your or have you switch to some one offering 0% for 12 months. If all you have is this $9000 credit card debt, your monthly min is about, what, $60-$80? If you want to kill it fast, see if you can tag an extra $100 to $150 on top and pay that amount each time you get paid. Even it is only $25 extra, it is much better than just going at the min. Have other debt? List them out. What is it. Amount owed. Interest rate. Min. payment. Then decide to attack either the one with the highest interest rate or the highest debt first (attack interest equals speed while attack the amount will equal impact) Tag a comfortable extra on the min. of that debt first. Pay that off first and keep the min. on the others. Then, when that is done, use what you've paid on that debt (principle plus extra) and attack the next. You will see the end but you can do it yourself. Meanwhile, track every penny you've spend. Get on a budget and pay yourself first!
7. The company I am using is charging me $216/yr for the same thing in 5 yrs for approx $15k worth of credit. I have used this company before, and while it is true, all your credit cards/loans under this agreement would be closed towards future activity except for payment, you are paying a lower APR than if you did it yourself. Take a look if you haven't signed the dotted line. I have used them before and know that they are reliable.