Any Experience with Credit Card Debt Elimination?seeking for help
the last 10 years, after starting a new business, I finally
got myself up to about $70,000 in credit card debt. The final straw
was when one of the card companies raised my interest rate from about
19 to 23 %. i finally realized, i was getting nowhere, and those
bloodsuckers had made, in the last 5 years, over $70,000 in interest
on my accounts.
So, now i am looking into these "credit card" debt elimination
programs, advertised pretty strongly all over the web. Naturally, i
am not suckered into the spam emails, but am looking for a reasonable
and established company to help me get this debt eliminated.
restructuring is not possible. lowering the interest level is
interesting, and yet, because of a downturn in my business, i am still
pretty much unable to service the debt ($1500 to $2000 / month).
I do not care if my credit is ruined for 5-7 years. i do not plan on
buying any major ticket items, and as for cars, i can always buy used
at about $3 to 5k at local dealer auctions.
i figure if i start saving - in cash - the $1500 a month i have been
paying, in about 6 months i will have some decent cash to start make
some settlement offers. i am hoping to settle for between 25% and 35%
of my debt.
anyone with experience on the debt elimination / settlement
programs???
_Don't go there. Most "debt elimination" firms are scams who charge
exorbitant fees to do for you what you could do yourself without paying
thousands in "administrative fees" to these scamsters.
Whether you attempt to negotiate settlements with your creditors yourself,
or you use these "debt elimination" firms, you'll ruin your credit, and your
credit will STAY ruined for seven or more years. Also, note that you'll
never get a 25-35% settlement from creditors. You'll be lucky if they
settle for half the amount you owe, plus penalties, usurious default
interest rates, and fees. (The reality is that you'll probably be made to
settle on 70-75% of the original amount owed before default.)
Your single best option to eliminate your debt permanently? Assuming you
don't have much equity in a home, or any expensive automobiles, that would
be Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Liquidation. Full discharge of unsecured (i.e.,
CC) debts.
_While you wait and default for a settlement, your CC
interests, late penalties, and over the limits penalties (if
applicable) will continue to pile up. They are not going to stop.
Your outstanding debts are not going to stay the same during this
time. Your debt will go up quite a bit.
Your monthly saving of $2000 can barely cover the interests (23%) of
your total debt ($70,000) during that time. That amount of the
monthly saving is not going to get you anywhere
_Oh sure, they promise to work with your creditors, but "forget" to tell you
that (while you are making payments to them) some of the creditors
(Citibank, for one) refuse to work with them.
So while you are thinking you are finally making progress, Citibank reports
you months late, destroying your credit report and hounds you into
bankruptcy while you wonder what happened to the money that all this
time.....
Ask me how I know.
Oh yea, and I worked with Ameridebt, Neway, and Money Management
International.
And they all promised the sky and just delayed my realization that Chapter 7
was the only way to go, if I knew then what I know now, I'd have saved a few
bucks and filed early so I could start my road to recovery that much
quicker.
Of course this is just my story
_My Father is going through the cc eliminations method right now and 4.5
months in has had almost all the companies try to settle the debt for 35-50%
of the original balance. I also know another aquainitence that is about 8
months along in the process and she has had around 34,000 dollars total,
eliminated from several ccards with only 1 more card to go that has 6000
dollars on it or so. There are companies that you do have to watch out for
but the process I have seen personally seems to be working.