Has anyone had any luck with credit counselors?

Question

If so which one? I can barely pay the minimum balances due.

Answer 1

Yes. They do work. My wife went with Express Consolidation. Its worked like a charm. Just make your single payment each month and lay off the credit cards.

Answer 2

Do Credit Repair Agencies Work?

You see the advertisements in newspapers, on television, and on the Internet. You hear them on the radio. You've been spammed to death with these offers. You may even get calls from telemarketers offering credit repair services. They all make the same claims:

1. "Credit problems? No problem!"

2. "We can erase your bad credit-100% guaranteed."

3. "Create a new credit identity-legally."

4. "We can remove bankruptcies, judgments, liens, and bad loans from your credit file forever!"

But if you decide to respond to a credit repair offer, beware of companies that:

1. Want payment for credit repair services before any services are provided.

Before paying them any money, make certain that you know exactly what they intend to do and get any guarantees they make in writing. Thanks to the new Telemarketing Sales Rule, it's also a crime for telemarketers who offer credit repair services to require you to pay until six months after they've delivered the services.

2. Do not tell you your legal rights and what you can do (yourself) for free.

Credit Segregation-Is It Legal and What is It? The FTC has officially ruled that credit segregation is illegal.

If someone offers you a credit repair plan that will segregate your credit history by applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN), beware. The claim will be that an EIN (pretty much indistinguishable from a SSN) can then be used to establish a new credit history. If you never default on your bills, you might just get away with it. But there are HUGE caveats to this:

1. Even if you could pull it off, you would have a new identity but no credit history. As noted in the beginning of this book, no credit is equivalent to bad credit.

2. If you default and your creditor discovers that you had bad credit under another SSN, the creditor may decide to prosecute you for felony fraud.

We advise you to personally dispute all information in your credit report, and never take any action that seems illegal, such as creating a new credit identity. If you follow illegal advice and commit fraud, you may be subject to prosecution.

Resources:

http://www.citicredit.asia/index.php?pag...

http://www.citicredit.asia/index.php?pag...

Answer 3

You want to try a non profit agency like consumer credit counselors.  Don't go to a consolidation company.  They are a scam.  You make a monthly payment to them, they take some off the top for themselves and keep the money til they have enough to start settling with creditors.  In the meantime, your accounts go more delinquent, eventually charging off.  A lot of creditors will no longer work with these consolidators due to the fact they are so shady.  You may also want to try calling the creditors yourself and see if you can work something out with them.  Many of them will work with you on lowering your payments, lowering your interest and stopping your late charges.  Good Luck!   ***