Have you ever used a credit counseling agency?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
January 27, 2011 5:06pm CST
I want to work on getting out of debt soon so that I can begin working on buying a house! I am debating using a credit counseling agency to help us consolidate our bills and make 1 payment per month that will work on lowering our debt across the board.
Have you ever used an agency like this? What was your experience? Are there any agencies that do not cost money, but are still good to use?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@GardenGerty (169585)
• United States
27 Jan 11
We were not making enough money to let them help us. We have negotiated some things on our own, after going into default on some bills. The important thing is to always keep up with your rent or housing payment.
@cynthiann (18612)
• Jamaica
28 Jan 11
I watched a U.S. programme on cable on this topic. You have to be careful as some do charge for this service so ask the right questions up front before dealing with them Do yo have a citizen's advice bureau or something that can help you with this? Getting the right advice is crucial. I know that you can ask your credit card bank to reduce the interest. This is a given. Then of course pay off the highest debt and pay the minimum on anything else and then when that card is paid then put the money on the second debt or card. It will be hard to do as we all need a little mad money
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
28 Jan 11
There is a lot of advice out there.. almost too much. Hard to tell what to follow and what not to.
Problem is, I don't have credit card debt, and most of the advice is for credit card debt. All mine is medical bills that have gone to collections or the hospital has sued me. Hubby has a couple of reposessions which is hurting his credit.
@cynthiann (18612)
• Jamaica
29 Jan 11
Perhaps you could persuade him to put the most of the rebate money to paying off a debt or debt. It would be wonderful to be debt free - I am not - ,my only debt is credit car debt but I get paid from the part time job every three months so I usually just put the cheque onto this debt to bring it down to a manageable level. I have the cheque in my hot little hands and am dithering. I wanted to buy US$500 to put into my US$ account towards the wedding but I have to give the tax people something to keep them quiet and I need back brakes for my car and then the money left will not make much of a dent into the credit card debt but it is much more than minimum payment.
Actually, I will finish paying for my car this coming October and then that money will go by way of a bank deduction from salary to a savings account. I still have just over 3 years to finish pay for the house but because of my age under the previous government my interest s only 2 percent and I really need to save some money. If I was young then I would have done things so very differently with regard to financial planning
@GardenGerty (169585)
• United States
27 Jan 11
A lot of them are scams, actually and can end up with you having a worse credit history. Someone who used to be here on the Lot had that experience. On the other hand, I went to an agency that is a not for profit and was very impressed. I was not in a position to get any benefit from their services at the time. You, on the other hand, with going into a new job, are in a great position. The initial consultation can cost $25, but the rest of their services are free. It is called Consumer Credit Counseling. My $25 got refunded because there is a grant that covers assistance if your financial situation has affected your ability to pay rent or house payment. You have to have enough income that they can go to your creditors and leverage some lower payments and stuff like that. Good luck with this, I hope you are successful in getting in charge of your finances.
@dawnald (85137)
• Shingle Springs, California
28 Jan 11
No, I have not. If I'm in debt, why pay out more money, instead of just making a budget? And if it's free, would it be a case of "you get what you pay for?"
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
28 Jan 11
I just like the idea that if I pay them $100 they will allocate that to all my debt instead of me giving this company $100 this month, then that company $100 next month, etc etc. I do not have any current debt, all my debt is closed accounts, but it's still on my credit report and affecting my credit score. Most of my debters have long since given up on trying to collect payments, so I'm currently not working on paying off my debts at all. If I don't try to get a system going for paying on those debts.. I'll never get rid of them, and the hubby and I are awful about trying to pay on stuff. We see extra money in our account that isn't needed for a current bill and we try to spend it! Excuse me, that was wrong. We don't TRY, we SUCCEED in spending it.
Think I'm gonna have a talk with him tonight when he gets home about getting our debt straightened out so we can eventually buy a house! I just wish I could convince him to SAVE more our of tax returns instead of spending it all. He's already planned to spend more than the entire return. Arg!
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
24 May 11
I have used credit counseling agency at lesast 3 or fourh times inmy lifetime. I had my ups and downs with them. I first used the Cousmer Criedit Counceling agengy when I first got into debt over 10 years ago. They work free of charge and they were great but I did not stay in the program for long becase I could not keep up with payment, I had changed jobs at that time and made less. I latter tryed them agaain but I sill could not jeep up with the payment. they recomed i file bankrupcy. I then tryed a for profit agency and they only helped a little. I got one of my criedt cards payed off with them but the other criedters kept halluig me for a payment. that agencey charged me fees and was expensive. I droped with them and filed bankrupcy. me and my gf enrolled in a credit repair agency that is helping us deal with some of our debt and also clening up our criedt recond as well. they alos change fees. they have help her the most.
My bankrucy attorney recomed that I only used Coumser Criedit Counsling and not fool with any other agenceys that our for profit. he said that they only realy take care of easy cases only and the ones they can make a quick profit from.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
31 Jan 11
Tom and I enrolled in a debt management plan in September 0f 2009 and I really couldn't be happier about it. They got us set up with payments for all of our credit cards that is saving us about $100 a month. We also know that we are going to be out of credit card debt in March of 2013.
We went through the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) which is constantly talked about on the Clark Howard Show. They set up your payment based on your household budget and they do negotiate down the amount of interest that you are paying. I would definitely recommend giving them a call and seeing how they will be able to help you and your family.
@bounce58 (17380)
• Canada
30 Jan 11
I have consolidated a couple of times already.
The first time it was through a credit counselling agency. Although it was a good idea at that time, looking back I think I might have rushed into things a little bit quickly. Although we got 1 payment for all our debts, our interest rate was a bit too high. Soon, I was in the same hole again. Last year, I have re-consilidated again through my bank. And I'm happy to say that it is a little bit better now.
