If you enroll in a debt management plan (the kind where the Credit Counseling Agency negotiates with your creditors to lower your interest rate and enable you to make a smaller lump payment each month, and so forth), is it usual and/or customary for them to take some of that payment you make each pay period and keep it as a fee?

I would like to buy a home but my credit is not great. The news about the economy doesn’t sound good, so I want to know if getting credit counseling worth it?

I took out too many payday loans last year. I paid as many as I could, but now it’s catching up with me.

My wages have been garnished from one creditor, and the balance is almost paid off, but now I just received notice today that I’m about to be garnished again by another company. I’m in debt, but not enough to declare bankruptcy (at least I don’t think so). I want to get this taken care of, but I’ve found out that payday loan companies are not very flexible. I’ll never deal with them again.

Should I get a lawyer involved? Can anyone recommend a good credit counseling company/service? Have you been in this situation, and if so, how did you handle it? ANY advice or encouragement would be very much appreciated!

Thanx!

Does anyone know how good is Consumer Credit Counseling Service??? I have a credit card debt of 10000 so I called them and they told me, they will charge me 35 usd one time fee, after that they will settle a low interest rate and low monthly payments for me and they will charge me 7.5% of the monthly payment being sent to my debtors until everything is paid off.. Does anyone know how good is Consumer Credit Counseling Service??? any opinions out there???..I need help since my cards are already 8 months past due..

OK, I would really appreciate if only people how know the true answer, will give answers as this is an important question for me and I need to know THE TRUTH. Someone at a local mortgage company told me that if I go to Consumer Credit Counseling Service and start working with them on my credit report, to fix things, this mortgage company person said the credit bureaus see this as me almost filing bankruptcy . I have never ever heard this and I want to know if this mortgage person is telling me the truth, I don’t think so because I have worked a little with Consumer Credit counseling service before ( the non- profit one, where we don’t pay anything, I think it is funded by the government). anyhow, I never understood it to be a ” bad’ thing to do, to work with them What do you who are experienced in dealing with credit repair know ? I know there are a zillion places could sign up for money , but i don’t mean any of those places. Hope this is clear enough;)

I’m thinking about looking into the credit counseling companies to see about reducing my monthly payments. I know it is not that good for your credit but I’m a single mom now and I need to not have such big credit card payments every month. Pretty soon I will have a couple of them paid off on my own. I know that you have to cut up your credit cards and you can’t use them again…but do I have to cut up the ones I paid off on my own? Or can I keep those open? Also…the ones that I do talk to the credit counselors about and get help with….will those creditors cancel my cards forever?

In a quest to repair my credit, I have sought out the help and expertise of a credit counseling agency. I have numerous delinquencies on my credit and much information that needs to be disputed. Previous attempts to self-repair have failed, so I decided to get help from professionals. After the initial consultation, everything sounded great until the credit counselor I had been assigned hit me with the fee: $9700. This is not including the money I have to put into paying for the things on my credit. On my behalf, they will contact my creditors and negotiate settlements, pay them directly through payment plans, and dispute inaccurate information on my report. Then they will work to help me rebuild my score; they offered for this to be done within 17 months. My payments to them would be $500/month with a $900 down payment, then an additional $200-250 to go towards my settlements.

It all sounded great (to me) because they seemed genuine. The company is registered with the BBB, and I found no negative reports regarding the company, which is First Stone Credit Counseling. The payments I can afford with me cutting expenses and working a part-time job in addition to my full-time teaching job. I am also teaching summer school and doing extra opportunities this summer to bring in additional income. It just seems more logical to put that money towards my creditors. I am desperate to repair my credit. However, is the fee this agency is charging extreme? Another issue is with them offering settlements; I thought “paid in full” is better for the credit. If this is not worth the risk, what other options do I have, whether its self-repair process or professional services?

I need help bringing my student loans under control. I have a federal loan and SEVEN (smaller) private loans. Since graduation, they have never been all current at the same time, so I don’t qualify for a consolidation loan. I can’t stand dealing with the agencies, since they treat me like a cockroach, but I really need to bring everything current with one or possibly two payments. Sending $100 – $200 each for the private loans (the federal one is much more) is bleeding me dry and my credit is awful!!!!

Please let me know if you’ve been in this situation and how you got out of it (preferably without having to speak directly with those rude people who treat you badly).

Thanks!
Hmmm, after reading the first answer, maybe I need to clarify the question. Although character assassination is certainly an aspect of Y!A, perhaps I should rephrase to elicit helpful responses. So:

If you’ve successfully dealt with credit (particularly student loan) problems through an agency, which agency did you use? What were their methods?

I am 26 yrs old. I lost my job in August of 2007. I have been employed through temp agencies since mid october of 2007, with temp employement at one company since Nov 2007. Job will end Mid May 2008. What is the best way to get my finances back on track? I am very confused about the best route to take. I have heard that the counseling serviecs have a negative effect on my credit score and they don’t do anything I can’t do myself. I have heard that the credit restoration companies are gimmicks and that bankruptcy is the worst thing that can happen to me finacially… I have a copy of my credit report from all 3 credit bureaus. I don’t know my score currently, but in July 2007, it was in the mid 400 range. Please help.
I am 26 yrs old. I lost my job in August of 2007. I have been employed through temp agencies since mid october of 2007, with temp employement at one company since Nov 2007. Job will end Mid May 2008. What is the best way to get my finances back on track? I am very confused about the best route to take. I have heard that the counseling serviecs have a negative effect on my credit score and they don’t do anything I can’t do myself. I have heard that the credit restoration companies are gimmicks and that bankruptcy is the worst thing that can happen to me finacially… I have a copy of my credit report from all 3 credit bureaus. I don’t know my score currently, but in July 2007, it was in the mid 400 range. Please help. ( oh and by the way, I have been looking for permanent work… DUH. I live with my father and pay all utilities. I don’t spend money on wants… Oh yeah I could move to a shelter… Please, no smart remarks. It’s a serious issue. I have made mistakes, but want to do better

My husband and I are separated and I have been stuck with the credit debt which is in my name. I have paid it only by borrowing from other accounts. This will catch up to me in the end. My minimum payments run me around 600 a month. I also have a car loan that I’m paying. So are there any reputable credit counseling agencies? I would like to hear personal experiences about how they lowered your monthly payments and helped you to get out of debt.
I also know many of you are Dave Ramsey fans. His method is not going to work in this case. Also, I don’t want to file bankruptcy if I can help it.