Who is a good Credit Counselor?

That's nice, but the real class act is making the creditor forgive the debt for you and take the adverse tradeline off your credit bureau files for you.

 

I hate to say this, but I would rather have the late pays on my account than the use of any CCCS. Whoever told you that they do not ruin your credit needs to get an education on this subject matter. They are the kiss of death when it comes to getting new credit in the future. This stays on your report for 7 years and it creates a huge mess. BKs are not the answer, unless you have a lot of equity in you current debts(for example your home). I would rather walk away from unsecured debt, than use a CCCS or file a BK for that matter. Keep up your payments on your secured debt if at all possible. Try to juggle your utilities around or any payments that are not going to show up on your reports. Of course, I do not know your current income situation and this would be detrimental in assessing your plan of action....

 

Again, I ask those that are just raving about CCCS if they have in fact used it. One poster has.

The reason that I ask is because CCCS was recommended to me by a creditor, and it was fraught with problems that certainly did not make my credit situation any better, if not worse.

No one seems to want to discuss calling creditors and negotiating payment on their own. Why is that?

I have been in the original poster's position. I know what it is like to be behind without a solution. This is not always a viable option, and can cause more problems than what you already have...and I agree with Bill on this one.

 

Right. The fact that it's recommended by the creditors should raise a huge red flag. If you want to learn the real scoop on CCCS, try this link:

http://www.budhibbs.com

Download the free book, "The American Credit System: GUILTY! Until Proven Innocent."

It's a pretty small download; about half a meg.

 

No one seems to want to discuss calling creditors and negotiating payment on their own. Why is that?
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Actually there are a couple of reasons why not.
First of all, under most conditions the debtor usually does not have the funds to meet any payment arrangements they might make in the first place. If they did they would probably not be in the position they are in so start off with.

Secondly they have added so much interest and penalties and late fees that the debtis ballooning so fast that the small payments the debtor might be willing or able to make would just be money down the drain.

Thirdly because in all probability, the creditor has already proven himself to be a criminal who has no regard for the law, no respect for the debtor nor his problems whatever. I do not condone criminal activites (LOL.LOL.LOL) no matter who the criminal is. Makes no difference that we got so many laws in this land that nobody can keep from violating one or the other of them sooner or later.

So, FELLOW CRIMINALS, I submit to you, WHY SHOULD I CONDONE HELPING THEM BREAK THE LAW BY SIMPLY "ROLLING OVER AND PAYING OFF THE CRIMINAL?"""

RUNNING AND DUCKING WHILE LMAO

 

You say you want to avoid BK - well, credit counseling has the same effect on your credit as BK. If you think about it, credit counseling is just "privatized" chapter 13 BK, and that is the way creditors will look at it.

 

I have to agree with Bill, it really does depend on your situation. Not many people who are in serious trouble with credit card debt have the extra cash or discipline to put away $1K a month.
But your points are well taken that after a BK, you can begin to rebuild credit immediately, where in CCCS you need to wait until after all the debt is paid to do this.

I have friends that have gone through a BK, and one that went through CCCS.

The friend that went through CCCS paid off her debts in a year, and immediately afterwards was able to get a low interest (I think she said 8.5%) new car loan for a Jeep Cherokee through a credit union. She praised CCCS and even said the credit union gave her special consideration because she went through CCCS and not a BK. Was she able to get new unsecured credit cards? Not a chance? Was she able to purchase a new home? Yep, about 1.5 years afterwards.

The friend that went through BK were not able to get a cheap interest rate on a new car (again through a credit union) for about 3 years. She was able to purchase a new home several years down the road, at I don't know what interest rate. She did say that she really waited for about 5-6 years to apply for new credit cards - I don't know what would have happened if she applied earler.

Bottom line, I think every situation is unique, and depends on the person.

 

Kristi:

Yep! And that's really the way it is with credit repair too.
While things do tend to follow a general trend, nothing is ever set in stone.

Different things happen with different creditors and different situations.

One just has to deal with each situation in a slightly different way at times. That's why some people just get lost and don't know what to do next even though they might be fairly well experienced in doing their own.

Gets real funny sometimes.

 

Send me an email and let's chat about it for a bit there.

If you would prefer a phone consultation, I'll give you my number by email and we can also chat a bit that way.

Maybe you will come away with some clearer ideas on what is best for you that way. Lots of things you probably don't want to put out in a public forum anyway.

I promise not to charge you anything nor try to sell you anything either.

 

Have you tried negotiating with your creditors yet? All you have to lose is them saying no.

It sounds like your situation will improve drastically in four months or so. The hardest part is calling-you might want to develop a script before you do detailing what you want and why you want it. That may take some of the anxiety out of it.

Again, I have used CCCS, and it was bad. If your situation will improve in a few months time, why bother with CCCS? I think any way you go at this point, your credit is going to be compromised for a bit.

 

Have you read Hal's post below on credit counseling? If not, I recommend that you do so.

As far as writing, I suppose that you could do so, but understand then that you are at the mercy of their response time back. And who knows when that will be, quite honestly.

I called my creditors. Told them that I had been enrolled in CCCS, and it wasn't working out because even though I was sending my patments to CCCS on time, they were not disemminating those funds to creditors on time. I was still struggling financially, and could they please work with me as I fully intended to pay my debt to them. The areas for bargaining are monthly payment, interest, and late and /or overlimit fees.

If you can't reach an agreement on one, how about any of the others. If they cannot reduce your payments, how about eliminating the overlimit fees. As you said earlier, I would also let them know that you expect your finances to improve in four months-would they be willing to put you on a reduced payment for only that time? As I said earlier, whomever you speak with you should ask first thing if they can negotiate a payment plan during a time of financial difficulty. If not, ask to speak to someone that can. If they refuse to budge, ask for their supervisor. Be objective and do not take it personally.

Now I will tell you this. Not all of them cooperated. Discover and Sears flat out rejected my proposals. However, I still paid them something, and then got caught up again asap. I do have some 60 day lates from them.

Some I had to call back on several times before I got an agreement. But then, there were others that not only gave me what I was asking for, but also waived any late or overlimit fees associated with my tenure with CCCS.

 

But if someone owes $40k and wants to pay it all off in 3 years, aren't they going to have to come up with $1k+ a month if they do CCCS? Are you really saying that not having to pay a $1k+/month for 3 years is really just an "eh". Or am I mistaken and CCCS will actually reduce the principle as well as the interest rate?

If you mean my point, that isnt my point at all. My point is that not having to pay off the principle is a HUGE advantage for bk.

A year?!?! Huh? How could this person even qualify for bankruptcy? How much did the person owe? I have trouble believing it was anywhere near $40k. I really would be interested in more details for this example.

For BK person you said...

Are you sure you don't know? If you don't, you might try reading people's bk stories here and you can find out what happens to people who start rebuilding credit immediately.

Ah...something we can agree on

 

Well, the first thing I advocate is never talk to a creditor or his agent(s) on the phone.

Reasons for that are simple indeed.

1. You have no experience equivalent to the person you are talking to. Professional phone collectors in many corporate situations are constantly attending training to learn and brush up on their skills and learn from their superiors and peers. They are trained to keep away from you discussing your problems and how to keep you going down the straight and narrow path leading to successful collection if at all possible. You are not so well trained so you are at a definite disadvantage from the git-go. You go their way or they don't talk except to get nasty with you.

Don't play the other man's game. Make him play yours. The only way to do that is not to put yourself in a position where you are bound to come out the litle end of the horn.

2 Another reason is that if they make blunders such that would or might be "chargeable" in a court of law, yoi have no proof by phone whereas when you do everything by letter you have a paper trail that might be useable at a future date in a court of law should that become either necessary or desireable.

That's more than enough reason not to speak to them by phone.

 

There's no magic involved in simply talking to your creditors. Believe me, I've done it with about 6-7 of them and they WILL work with you. I don't know very much, but this is an area where I have a LOT of experience. You say it will be about two months before you can pay on the credit cards again? By that time, they will most definitely be willing to give you a "hardship" program of some sort. In fact, they'll probably do that right now. Personally, I've been on programs that ranged anywhere from 0-8% interest for a YEAR. Once you start this with a given creditor, it typically takes about 3 months for the account to re-age. Once it re-ages, your credit reports will be showing R1 on the accounts again, with the prior lates, of course. A few prior lates don't constitute a disaster to your credit once you put those months behind you for a while.

By the way, I totally understand your confusion. I appreciate all the input on this board and elsewhere, but when you hear 20 conflicting opinions on the same question, it gets tough to put much faith in any single one of them. The main thing is that I don't want to see you do something bad that is irreversible, like BK. CCCS isn't irreversible, but the damages could be with you for a while. Just talk to your creditors. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

And I totally agree with what the poster of this message has to say. And no, that's not a contradiction of what I have said before in any way. I will explain below.
**************By the way, I totally understand your confusion. I appreciate all the input on this board and elsewhere, but when you hear 20 conflicting opinions on the same question, it gets tough to put much faith in any single
one of them. The main thing is that I don't want to see you do something bad that is irreversible, like BK. CCCS isn't irreversible, but the damages could be with you for a while. Just talk to your creditors. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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Now then, the poster is talking about situatuations in which one is not all that far behind and there is still time to negotiate in the manner he is discussing and his advice to those in that situation is excellent.

The situations I say in which one should never talk to creditors or collectors is where it has already gone to collections or sent to collection agencies and the time for proper negotiation is long over and the battle is on.

Two totally different sets of circumstances and I simply don't get into the kinds of negotiations he is talking about.

If one is in the appropriate situation where his advice seems relevant and applicable then I say by all means one should heed his advice.

Once the battle is on, then I believe that I am more correct.

Let's see if he agrees with me too

 

Yes, I believe you would be his greatest asset once things reached critical mass, Bill. In fact, you've helped me out pretty recently, so thanks. I just don't think he's quite there yet. In my "contradictions" comment, I simply meant that there are differing opinions and experiences which could confuse someone (like myself) who has never used CCCS or filed BK.
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The situations I say in which one should never talk to creditors or collectors is where it has already gone to collections or sent to collection agencies and the time for proper negotiation is long over and the battle is on.
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If he were approaching the point of chargeoff, you would be the first guy I would recommend to him, so I agree here, also. I just remember the original poster saying that, in a couple of months, he'll be able to start paying about $1000.00 a month toward his credit card debt. What's scary is that several posters seemed too quick to start recommending BK or CCCS. Maybe they didn't fully read his post. It sounds like his "battle" hasn't started yet and, if he plays his cards right, it may never get that far. Basically, it sounds like this man and his wife are determined to do whatever it takes to save their financial status and their credit, taking part-time jobs and making plans. I think they can pull out on their on if he just talks to his creditors.

 

I am here to offer my opinion and experience.

I have no problems talking to creditors at this juncture (30-90 days late) simply because I know what I am and am not going to say. I do not talk to creditors once the accounts are in collections, but instead go to writing. This has worked for me. I am providing detailed experience with what I have done, what has worked, and what hasn't.

Also, Bill, don't just assume that I am a man

If the original posted has questions, please feel free to email me by clicking on my name. Otherwise I am done as some members are again using this post to promote.

Good Luck.