I am considering going through a counseling/consolidation company called "Aggressive Financial Services" - I was contacted by them after being turned down for a Citifinancial consolidation loan. My main question is I always believed you had to put ALL your cards on the program & the cards would be CLOSED for good once on program. I am being told that it depends on the credit card companies if you have to put all on the program or not (in my case I do not) & they are saying that it works that the accounts on program are "frozen" until they are paid off (by making my payments throught the Aggressive agency) & once paid off you get the card back again & with a lower interest rate. Does this sound right to everyone?? Thanks for input!
CCCS is a complete waste of time and money. Dont bother with them. Call each CA and work out some kind of payment plan. They can not guarantee the interest rate on the account will be lowered. If a CCCS contacts my company we will not work with them. We will not waive any of the charges, settle the account, stop the interest. There is no reason for us to do that.
Debt settlement companies are illegitimate by and large. I implore everyone to stay away from them. In all honesty, if you cannot afford the minimum payments or lump sum settlements, consider bankruptcy if you find you are eligible. If you can afford lump sum settlements, often times the tradeline can be addressed effectively after payment. Still, I wouldn't engage a company that takes your payment and then passes it on to the creditor. At least not one that does so on a monthly basis insofar as that virtually ensures late payments at one point or another. Waste of time and money in my opinion . . .
