Debt cosolidation???

Has anyone done this???? We are so freaking behind on out bills, I told Bryan I would leave him if he doesn't stop spending money...But he has a ton of credit cards and past bills..I don't know what to do, so I started looking online at debt consolidation places...but it seems a little shady..is it a loan? I don't get it. And there's never a number to call , there are a ton of sites, but they all want you to put in your number..that seems weird. So have any of you other poor BB people done this debt consolidation nosense?

We had a problem like that for a while. We consulted a Debt Management company. They contact all the people you owe money to, and arrange a payment scheme. You pay the debt management company. It may get you black listed for a few years, but it will be worth it. If you can, keep 1 credit card with a very low credit limit. This can be your emergency card, for when you need to make small payments for unexpected stuff.

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Originally Posted by Black Spiral Dancer

We had a problem like that for a while. We consulted a Debt Management company. They contact all the people you owe money to, and arrange a payment scheme. You pay the debt management company. It may get you black listed for a few years, but it will be worth it. If you can, keep 1 credit card with a very low credit limit. This can be your emergency card, for when you need to make small payments for unexpected stuff.

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oh wow..cool. Okay...are they all the same thing? or are some of them scammy?

Some of them can be scammy. You should look for one that isn't offering gimmicks.

is it really expensive to do? or like a few hundred bucks..or do you make payments to them>? lol sorry..im just kinda curious

A friend of mine's cousin did debt consolidation and got totally screwed. He owed my friend's dad a lot of money and the debt consolidator called him up and got him to lower how much of it he wanted to be paid back, but the cousin still had to pay the debt consolidator back every dime, only his relative who loaned him the money got screwed too.

Basically, what debt consolidators do is they call all your creditors and get them to agree to lower dollar settlements. For example, they will call say MasterCard and, if you owe $500 including penalties, MasterCard may agree to accept $250 and call it done. Only with a lot of debt consolidators, while they stop collection calls, you will still owe them the full $500, even though MasterCard didn't really get the money they were owed. That is where they make their money. They are not nonprofit. Plus debt consolidation can go on your credit and you can't get any new credit while you are paying the consolidator. I am not a professional financial consultant, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think you would be better off (a) obviously trying not to run up anything more and (b) talking to the companies you owe to yourself and trying to come up with a repayment plan which works for you and for them. A debt consolidation place is going to give the company you owe less than is really fair to them and charge you more than in really fair to you.

Have you tried filing for bankruptcy? Even though thats a horrible option, but if your really that bad off, it may be a good way to start fresh.
Then give him an allowance to use after all bills are paid if he has a bad habit of spending bill money.

Never go to check cashing places.
My mom used to do the check cashing thing that I just broke her out of and am helping her try to pay off.
Write a check, get a loan, then have to pay back the check amount plus interest in 2 weeks. What? You dont have enough money to pay that other bill now? Why not get another loan from a check place?

And the downward spiral begins...

Stop signing up for credit cards in a nutshell. It's nice getting something, then having to pay for it later..but thats the key phrase..you will pay for it later! (in both meanings of the sense)

in canada we have government consolidation things, I know some people who've done it with them and it worked out quite well, I know people who've filed for bankruptsy and it worked out ok too, not the greatest thing but it worked. Hasn't this bill thing been going on quite a while?
the way I solved that problem myself was lay low in the bush for seven years until all that disapears, that worked for me

oh and unless he smartens up you might end up having to consolidate your consolidations one day

I would contact the public consumer counseling agency in your area. You really have to know what you're doing with the debt gig or you will be fucked sidewise by rabid porcupines.

OEC

yeah debt consolidation is usually a scam, but yeah it's essentially a loan, sometimes it works out ok but most of the time you get ripped off and your credit gets totally fucked for years.

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Originally Posted by Pull~My~Hair

is it really expensive to do? or like a few hundred bucks..or do you make payments to them>? lol sorry..im just kinda curious

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To be honest, we now have more money because of the debt management. We don't rely on credit cards, don't have a debit card and only deal cash. Yes there are things we might like to get but couldn't, but we lve with it.

We tried to manage the debt we had ourselves and it just got worse.

well we did it today and its amazing. We had $8,900 in debt and after the consolidation our debt including the fees for consolidation our debt is now at $6,800 we owe about $220 a month for 3 years they bought out all of the accounts we owed to and now we will have no delinquent accounts while we pay everything off. $220 a month is nothing, just one of our credit cards cost that a month. Plus we got to pick the day of the month it comes out.

Im so relieved

bankruptcy wasn't an option, in Oregon you have to have $60,000 in debt to file.
We went through a company called Care one credit counseling. There are all kinds of little perks also..I dunno, it was really easy to do and it covered EVERYTHING that we owed on.

Here is an article that might help.

It was an article similar to this one that helped me out. I ended up taking out a loan against my car to do my debt consolidation, but I still had decent credit. Remember tthat the point of these companies is usually profit.

Hope that helps.

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Originally Posted by Pull~My~Hair

well we did it today and its amazing. We had $8,900 in debt and after the consolidation our debt including the fees for consolidation our debt is now at $6,800 we owe about $220 a month for 3 years they bought out all of the accounts we owed to and now we will have no delinquent accounts while we pay everything off. $220 a month is nothing, just one of our credit cards cost that a month. Plus we got to pick the day of the month it comes out.

Im so relieved

bankruptcy wasn't an option, in Oregon you have to have $60,000 in debt to file.
We went through a company called Care one credit counseling. There are all kinds of little perks also..I dunno, it was really easy to do and it covered EVERYTHING that we owed on.

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isn't that $7,920?

like about 16%? i think

At least it's better than what was originally owed. Glad to see you got sorted out. Let's hope we helped.

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Originally Posted by karyn

isn't that $7,920?

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well it's 31 months, but it might as well be 3 years. I think its like $8,940 or something all together

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Originally Posted by Black Spiral Dancer

At least it's better than what was originally owed. Glad to see you got sorted out. Let's hope we helped.

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definatley thanks!!!