Ok, In my intro post you both think 35K is not a lot of debt or enough to file for bk, fine. You both agree that CCCS is a BAD way to manage my debt and it looks as bad a a BK, and I am starting to see that in many posts. So now I am reading a bit on postings discussing Validation strategies, Nutcase Letters, and so on. It has been 6 months since I started the CCCS program and all OCs have accepted my payment plans and dropped their int rates with the CONDITION that I continue to pay my bills on a timely basis and trough the CCCS. Rates will go up if I quit the program and will again begin to get hit with penalties if I am late on making payments. Do I use the Goodwill Approach some time in the near future to A) deal with my CC debt directly with the OC and not CCCS? B) Get the OCs to delete negative tradelines from my reports and maintain or reduce the interest to zero, and hint being close to filing for BK to get them to act? Please advice.
Please understand that I am only going to directly address your questions to the greatest extent possible and try not to bring in other options which may be more beneficial to you. Those ideas are mostly for trying to close the barn door after the horses already got out. Some times they work and sometimes they don't. I also have a letter which I call my Paid Chargeoff estoppel letter and just like Doc's nutcase letter it is free. Which of the letters is best I honestly cannot say. I would tend to think that once you paid them off that would be little use indeed.
bornlooser, let me add a few comments: 1) I didn't say that $35,000 isn't a lot of debt, nor did I say that it's not enough to file for bankruptcy. I'm sure it's my fault for not being clearer, ack. Here's what I meant: While $35k MAY be enough to file for bk, I would encourage you to consider other possibilities before you engage that step. Also, even if you engage other methods, figure out if you're able to maintain a chunk of that debt in good shape, which will provide a basis for an emerging good credit history. 2) While CCCS is OFTEN a bad way to manage debt, it's not always the worst thing to do in every single case (and neither is bankruptcy). Since you're evidently already in a CCCS program, I would continue with it. If you're with a good CCCS group, then you may well be in good shape when you're finished! 3) The more I think about your situation, the more hesitant I am to advise you, and here's why. First, you're already in CCCS, so contractually through CCCS you've acknowledged the debts as your own, and you're paying on them as agreed (I think, hope, etc., lol). That being the case, I don't feel comfortable telling you to reverse course, do something else entirely, etc. Others may feel differently, of course, so I will acquiesce to their better judgment. Again, to sum up, neither CCCS nor BK are always bad choices. Only you can decide what burden of debt is too much to maintain (although I always encourage people to pay off their debts if they possibly can). And, finally, perhaps you should stay the course you've set; however, like you, I'll look forward to hearing other opinions. Doc
Well, Doc, here is my thinking on your statement above. I agree with you completely and that's why I answered the way I did. The only way I would advise changing horse s would be if there is obviously something drastically wrong with what is being done at the present time.
As far as credit goes, the only good thing on my credit report is the fact that in 24 months, not once have I been late on my mortgage or been late on my student loans. I also have a car payment with a credit union and was late 30 days once. The rest is a mess. Repo, MBNA (4% interest), Citibank (9%), BofA(0%) Household (9%) Best Buy (9%) and working on OfficeDepot to lower interest....
Wow, it looks like CCCS is really working for you. Congrats! By the way, I was looking that the Fair-Isaac website earlier today on something that came up in another thread. I found somthing that might interest you: Of course that list was much longer, I cut out everything except the credit counseling thing. If you want to see the whole list, here in the link: http://www.myfico.com/myfico/CreditCentral/ScoringWorks/FICOIgnores.asp
This is also interesting: Y"our score considers both positive and negative information in your credit report. Late payments will lower your score, but establishing or re-establishing a good track record of making payments on time will raise your score." I have had sound credit since 1991. It took me 12 years to ruin it. I have had a bofa visa since 1991 No wonder these guys dropped my interest to zero percent. I have been a profitable customer having carried between 1k to 7k in debt since then. They should send me a refund LOL!
I have a couple of cents to add here (LOL!) We have been in CCCS for nearly 2 years and have had no problems and it is working well. We have our debt under control and are really paying it off. The only bad thing I have to say about my company is they try to charge you a fee for everything, you just have to be smart enough to know your contract and opt-out of their "voluntary" fees. Basically if I had found this board when I was in the throws of harrassing phone calls and wondering how we were going to pay the next bill, I would have considered BK (it really didn't seem like an option- we were in complete denial that our situation was "that bad"!) Basically we looked at CCCS like this: even if it screwed our credit up a little with their extra lates and CCCs notations, it is FAR better than what we were doing trying to pay things on our own (or not at all!) I say, if CCCS is working and the interest rates are low enough that you are touching the principal with your payments, you will dig out. The only acct we have on CCCS which is not really working is at 12.9% and they wanted a $33/payment so basically $12/month is going to principal. We are paying that off with tax money soon. There are pro's and con's to everything and your credit will be affected, but like we see here, everything can be fixed eventually.
