I am 22 years old and just graduated college and just started a job w/ a good company making 42,000/yr.....?

Question

However, my credit is very bad and i am trying to get an apartment. I owe about 3000 to M&T bank, 4000 to Sears for credit card, 900 to express clothes store, 900 to CapitalOne, and probably a little more.....what can i do or what is a good company to consolidate?....What do i do if i have not responded to the creditors in a very long time? Can i still pay it off or correct it?

Answer 1

this is free to check out

http://www.expert-credit-advice.com/affi...

Answer 2

that's good u have like $32,200 to spend

Answer 3

live at home for a year if possible - you should easily be able to pay off all those debts in 12 months with that size income - you don;t need any consolidation company-they won;t really help  you

Answer 4

http://www.state.sd.us/attorney/office/p...

This is called a do not call letter, you fill in your information and mail it to the creditors that call and they will not be able to call you for 5 years. All dealings must be in writing only.

As for debt consolidation, check your local area. Google debt consolidation and your zip code and go from there. It is better to be face to face with the people who you are working with.

Hope that helps a little

Answer 5

Well seems like you'll have a good amount of disposable income at your new job (congrats). If you have to live on your own, try starting off with shared accomodations to minimize your monthly costs.

Focus on paying your debts one at a time (maybe 2). If at all possible see if the colelction agencies/creditors are willing to do a pay for delete arrangement. Make sure you get it in WRITING, so they'll remove the negative listing from your credit report when the last payment is made.

Remember that contating the creditor will re-set your date of last activity and the 7-year wait will re-start.

The last alternative would be to contact a reputable credit counselling agency and consolidate the debt, this will take 3 years to come of your credit report as opposed to 7 years to come off regularly.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Of course you can still pay off your debts, and try to improve your credit score.  You just need to communicate with all your creditors that your intent is to pay off all your debts through a structured payment plan, in full, by the end of the year.  They'll appreciate your honesty and communication, no matter how big a company they are.  Trust me, they will put notes in whatever system they use that say "This kid is making a valid attempt to follow through on her commitments..."  And, thus they'll be much more accommodating and willing to work with you.  

You have more than 5,000 dollars worth of debt, so consolidating is an option.  I would just listen to the radio for a few hours and go with whomever has an advertisement come on.  There's a lot of shady agencies out there, but the ones that do it well are all pretty much identical. Keep in mind though that you may have to settle for a massive interest rate, OR pay larger installments over a shorter period of time.  Sometimes those consolidation services are a last ditch effort for someone to turn to when they're in the throws of bankruptcy or plan on making some life-altering moves in the near future.

As for the apartment, your credit score will effect who will agree to rent to you and who wont.  But know this, the landlord isn't extending you a line of credit, there's plenty of property owners who will give you a chance to be a good tenant, even if another denies you.  Consider offering them 6 or 12 pre-dated checks for the months you'll be living there, in advance.  Give them assurances that each month when the rent is due, the checks will have sufficient funds to clear.   Also, give them an appropriate reference from a previous landlord or property manager.  You just graduated from college, so consider asking whomever ran housing facilities at your school to put in a good word for you (e.g.  they were always available when we had to do maintenance, they left the property just as it was when they moved in, their room and board invoices were paid in full prior to the start of each semester).

Answer 7

Avoid most consolidation deals. The way they work is to argue down a settlement on all your loans, then they take the money from your account and pay themselves first and make partial payments against your debt. When your debtors are satisfied to the agreed amount they write off the balance. Now that all sounds just fine but next year you get 1099's for the entire amounts written off as income. Now you owe the IRS for this windfall sometimes several thousand dollars and you are in worse shape than before.

In most cases, you can contact your creditor on your own and work out a payment schedule with them and in many cases have late fees reversed. In cases of national credit cards they can absorb some of your other bills but I advise against it if the bills do not carry interest.

First figure out how much you have to work with on a daily, monthly and quarterly basis. You do not want to promise to pay more than you can actually do. On your credit cards, decide the best rate you have and put that card in a drawer or jewelry box and cut up the rest.  Believe me you can get new ones after your debt is cleared if you must.

Pick the smallest total amount and make the largest payment you can and still pay minimum on the rest. When that bill is paid off take everything you paid on the last bill and apply it to the minimum payment of the second bill. When that bill is paid off take everything you paid on the last bill and apply it to the next largest bill.

By compounding your payments your debt will go away a lot faster as long as you don't make more debt.

While looking for an apartment make sure you know all that you will need to setup housekeeping. Be very careful of additional charges like parking fees, pet fees etc.

Answer 8

Contact them - but only ONE at a time or they will all be at you at the same time.  Start with the smallest one - probably the $900 to Capital One then they will be the most aggressive.  If the debts are real old,  you offer to settle for 1/2 the balance.  Don't give them access to your bank accounts, and get agreements in writing.