I hate to talk about the debt we are/were in, it is so embarrassing. I thought I would post for those of you with lots of high interest credit card debt. 2.5 years ago my dh went through a mid life crisis and got us in a LOT of debt (we only had a car payment before this). We ended up with credit card debt that would take us 15+ years to pay off. We entered consumer credit counseling. It does not negatively effect your credit, as long as you bring all your CC payments up to date before you enter the program. ALL of our credit cards lowered the interest rate after we had been in the program a few months and one even stopped charging interest all together (the one we owed $4500 on, the biggest one). We will be out of debt this year, and we are only paying the minimum on each card. After one is paid off, they move whatever they were paying on that card to whichever card we choose.

I would be happy to answer any questions about our experience.

We only have $190 credit card debt but we are thousands in debt to medical bills (they aren't up to date - I'm just paying them as I'm able to. Been turned into collections more times than I can count). Will consumer credit counseling help me with this type of debt or do they only deal with cc debt? Any ideas?

Originally posted by 3girls
We only have $190 credit card debt but we are thousands in debt to medical bills (they aren't up to date - I'm just paying them as I'm able to. Been turned into collections more times than I can count). Will consumer credit counseling help me with this type of debt or do they only deal with cc debt? Any ideas?

I am not sure, but it is worth it to call and ask them. If you look in the yellow pages, there is at least on office right here. I know they won't take on home or car loans, but I am not sure about student, etc.

Gosh, I've been thinking about this for weeks. Dh thinks that it's a negative thing (meaning irresponsible cause we can't pay our bills ourselves), I look it as an opportunity to STOP the insanity of juggling, transferring etc etc etc. We're not behind (though I'm bad about late payments sometimes, out of sheer laziness and poor timing), but it wouldn't take much to be in a total mess.

How does CCCS report to the credit agencies? How do they determine your payments? Do they take your net income, divide it up with your debt and come up with the payments? Is there a formula they use that would help me figure it out?

Also - any tips on how to broach this subject with dh? He's aware of the general picture, but since I pay the bills (at his request and denial of responsiblity) I KNOW what the numbers are. {sigh} I absolutely HATE this.

Help mamas, I'm a receptive vessel of your knowledge. ;)

nt

CCCS doesn't report to your credit report. That didn't come out right. Anway, I know several people that paid off their bills through the program and it doesn't show anywhere on their credit report that they even did CCCS. The only thing that shows up is if you are behind in payments, you will continue to be reported as late payment until it is caught up.

They did ask our income, rent, etc when figuring what we should pay. I *think* you have to pay the minimum on all cards, so you are still paying all your bills (not sure what your dh means) it just means you won't be paying the minimum for the next 20 years. The minimum payment will actually pay down your debts because they lower your interest rates when you are in the program. We are still paying on every debt we incurred and paying our full balance, they just aren't charging us the interest they would have if we hadn't been in the program.

I would call your locals CCCS and ask your questions, they are very helpful and can certainly answer them better than me.