What is a good debt consolidation company?
Question:
Answer:
Talk to the credit card company before it goes to collections.
Maybe they can work something out with you.
If not...SHOP AROUND for a consolidation company.
Don't jump for the 1st one.
Forget about consolidation companies they charge fees. Call Consumer Credit Counseling Services, they are free and will work with your creditors to lower both your monthly payments and your interest rates.
I used them several years ago and was debt free in 36-months.
Dont consolidate, negotiate YOURSELF with your credit cards companies and get a bank loan for the medical bills. I went through CCCS (as noted by the answerer above me) and they have hidden fees, they are just not upfront. Checkout cccs.org. They made a plan for me to pay $26,000 in 48 months. I am half way done, but it really ruined my score. But my debt to income ratio is now low because I dont owe that much, which is good. I started in 2005 when I joined CCCS and I will have bad credit until 2012. On my credit reports, instead of charge offs, deliniquency or any bad marks, it just says "paying as agreed" which is still not good when i'm trying to get line of credit, but I can get some high interest lines of credit (loan offices which work w/ bad credit) because i'm responsible in their eyes. So negotiate yourself please! Dont do what i did. I have read every self help financial book. I was young and broke and lost my job when I consolidated. I wished I went through Citibank one time loan which you borrow $10-30K to pay all the creditors, and you just make monthly payments to citibank. For the citibank loan, you have to have a good credit rating at the time of loan application (no delinquencies, no charge offs). my credit was good, and I should have applied, I was 22 and i didnt know about all the financial tools, now that i'm a little older, i'm learning from my credit mistakes. My background was that i was putting myself through college, and no help from my parents/siblings which put a financial strain on me. I had to put half of my college fees on my credit cards because even when i worked i didnt make enough, and I applied for student grants which didnt cover all of the cost of my tuition first of all , then I still needed money for books, transportation, food...
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