Credit Repair Questions & Answers

i’m in the same situation as you but i have alot more debt (student loans). i think the best thing would be to get a loan from the bank and make one monthly payment to the bank. good luck.

CCCS is helpful if you are behind in your payments. They will negotiate lower payments for you until the debts are paid off–but it will show on your record as a late payer. A consolidation loan is the better way to go if you still have good credit, but be careful to not drive up your balances again.

You are a very young man. You have your entire life in front of you.

Don’t wreck your credit for a mere $9,500. It’s just not worth it. If you have bad credit there are some jobs that you will not be able to get.

It’s a lot harder to get a loan from a bank than to get a credit card.

If you go to a credit counseling agency this will hurt your credit. They will make it possible for you to pay back less than you owe, but it will wreck your credit. Don’t do it. Also, avoid going bankrupt. The dollar amount involved is just too small.

Just pay your credit cards each month. If you are late or miss a payment the interest rate will go up.

I wish you the best of luck.

I am you, you are me. I too am 24 with about the same about of credit card debt, a little more actually. I started CCCS and it has helped sooo much… in some cases the interest on some of my credit cards went down to zero percent! My cousin also did it and she paid off every thing in 4 years. I too am on a 4 year plan. Its a nice way to take care of your debt. With CCCS you are making one payment and then they dispurse it to your credit card companies. I would go with CCCS as it is not another loan added to your credit rating. CCCS is also really helpful in helping you build a budget for you to stick to. They will help you manage your money.

Do not go through an agency, they will leave your credit in shambles. You could go through your bank, and it wouldn’t be as bad, but a common trap that people get themselves into is getting a consolidation loan, paying their debts off, and then running up the same cards again. Thus, nearly instantly doubling their debt. If you are serious about this, you should look at all your credit cards. Store cards that can only be used at say, JC Penny for example, should be cut up first. Then, if you have a visa or master card, or both, than you should figure out which one has the best apr and cut the rest up. You only need one. Now, take that one, put it in a zip lock bag, put that into a plastic dish, fill it with water, and put it in your freezer. This will freeze your assets. Now, you have no plastic to distract your thoughts, you need to organize your debts. You can do this by the largest balance, the smallest balance, the highest interest rate, the lowest interest rate, or even just based on how much you like the company. Now, organize your money. See what you have coming in and what you have going out. Take any nonessential items, in other words, things that don’t have to do with food, water, shelter, and air(wait that one is a freebie, luck us!!!) and cut them out. That means no smoking, no pets, no going out to eat, no cable, internet, cell phone, none of that is essential. Now you should have lots of money leftover. It’s still not time to pay off your debts. Now you have to make a direct deposit of around 5% or more to a savings account from your paycheck. This is going to be your new emergency fund, and it should have 3-6 months worth of expenses in it. Now, take what is left and pick an order to pay off your debt. Once you have paid off one debt, move to the next one, all while paying the minimum payments on the others. As you pay them off, the amount leftover gets added to the next and so on. It is called snowball payment or power payment, and is very effective. I hope this helps you in some way.

A strategic plan for paying off the debt may be better than taking out a loan. See a financial consultant, they can come up with a plan that will dramatically reduce your pay-down time and the amount of money you end up wasting on interest, simply by deciding how much to pay to each creditor each month. It is a little tricky to do your self, but the basic plan is to find how much you can spend on creditors each month, then pay as much as possible to the highest interest accounts until it is paid off, while paying the minimum payment to other lower interest accounts.

I would recommend that you tackle this debt yourself without a loan and without a consolidation company. A consolidation company can help with lowering the interest rate and monthly payments, but the monthly payments will be smaller and it will take longer to pay off the debt. I believe if you start aggressively attacking the debt you can pay it off faster.

It will require some (temporary) lifestyle changes. I recommend stopping any non-critical payments you are paying, like gym memberships, cable TV, cell phone, Internet access, etc. With my debt I like to start with the smallest balance credit card and knock that one out of the way quickly (sell something or work extra hours to make more income). While aggressively attacking that first debt you will continue to make the minimum monthly payments to the other debt. Once you knock out that first debt then you will add the money you were paying to the first bill to the minimum payment of the second debt, and so on. By knocking out the first two or three debts quickly that will fire you up to keep going.

The $9,500 in debt is definitely manageable. Depending on your income, and the changes you are willing to make to get rid of the debt, I would say you will be able to get rid of the debt in 18-24 months. To give you a comparison of the power of focused intensity, my wife and I will have paid off over $90,000 of debt (mostly student loans) in under three years! We are willing to make the sacrifice for a couple of years so we can live better afterwards.

It is cheaper to get a debt consolidation loan from a bank or credit union.
Those so called non-profit agencies charge monthly fees to handle your money and they don’t save you, they prolong the agony and it doesn’t help your score.

Get a loan, you’ll pay less in interest and save some $$$, but DON’T use the cards anymore, (put them in a container and freeze them, this makes it harder to use them compulsively, and don’t close the accounts, this will lower your score.

Hope you find this helpful.

Just knuckle down with a written budget.
Most if not all of these so called Consolidation Companies will trash your credit.
I would first get rid of the credit cards. As you have found out. it is too easy to get into trouble with them.
Second. list all of your debts smallest to largest and pay min on all of them except the smallest. Put every penny you can squeeze out your budget and pay off the smallest then just move down the list.
Most people will tell you to start with the highest interest rate. I like the smallest bill because you can pay it off faster which keeps you motivated to keep going. That is also the reason I wouldnt consolidate. If you consolidate you’ll have one big bill that seems to take forever to get paid off.

OK so if you work full time, then try calling the cc and see if they will make a payment plan for u.. or just pay off one by one and before you know it all of your stuff will be paid off..

and when u pay it off,it takes up to 7 years to be removed from your credit report..

Debt consolidation loans are mostly for those having lots of trouble repaying debts. You are best paying those high intrest debts of first, make others wait if necessary, and then the lower rate debts. Use a budget to pay them out.
ie If you can afford to put aside $200 a month then pay it towards the highest debt first. When that is paid, put the $200 to the next debt, and so on till they are gone. Do not get anymore loans. That will just buy you more time and make getting into more debt much easier.See all the debt related articles at http:/www.debt-support-center.com Lots of good study material to help you.

I am going to make this short and sweet, do not even think about these CCCS they could really damage your credit rating.. Your best bet is to go into a credit union to discuss this, They will take that 9500 pay off all of your ceditors close all of them. You will have a payment monthly and chose how long 24 months to 60months. Be care full not to get into a payment you will not be able to afford. 60 month loan on this ballance will be around 200 dollars.

Sorry but kikihope is wrong. CCCS does ruin your credit by making you close your credit card accounts. Have any of your credit accounts been charged off and sent to collections? If not then you need to do the snowball effect where you pay extra money on the account that is charging you the highest interest rate. Once that one is paid off take the amount of money you were paying them add that to the 2nd highest interest rate and get it paid off.
You credit score is not only hurt by late payments and chargeoffs but also when you close accounts then you have no new credit. Once you have everyone paid off you’ll have no credit history if you do as CCCS requires and close all cards. It’s very important to keep your oldest line of credit open!!! It’s also good to have different types of credit such as a credit card and a car loan. Shows lenders that you can handle credit & you’re ready for a mortgage.
If you have any negative marks on your credit, do what you can to get them removed. If you have a simple 30 day late try a goodwill letter to the creditor to get it removed.

Ask your credit card lenders for a lower interest rate. If they do not give you one, tell them you are going to go with another credit card company. They should work with you.

Or you could play the switch game. This will hurt your credit score slightly but it can be done. Get the 0% interest on balance transfers and a new card and switch your high rate balances to it. Don’t use the card for purchases

The biggest thing you need to do right now is to learn to live without the credit cards. If you put one dollar on that credit card, it will keep you in debt and you will work for the credit card company for the rest of your life without ever paying it off.

You are young. Do it now.