Using credit card consolidators and debt management services are one way to get your debt taken care of, but in my opinion they are not the best way. One problem with these services is that so many of them are dishonest and will make your problems bigger. Although these services can help you they all take fees and interest from you, even the “not for profit” services charge you extra. It is true they can get you a deal with some of your creditors that can lower the balance you owe them, but understand that they have contracts with many of the major credit card companies so they are really working for them, not for you.
On the other hand if you need a service to take over the control of paying these debts with your money for you than these companies might be worth the extra you will pay them to do it. You will arrange a set amount that you will pay every month that is calculated ahead of time to get you out of debt in a set time frame. Because they have contracts with so many creditors they will have an easier time cutting a deal for you. Many of these services require that you have automatic withdrawal with them so that you don’t have a choice every month.
We have chosen not to go with a credit card counseling service or any other type because I want to try to get a better deal from my creditors on my own without having to pay someone else to do it for me. We do not own anything expensive that could be used as collateral to get a consolidating loan. It can be difficult to find a good service that will do what you expect of them, and I am determined to get the bulk of our debt taken care of sooner than three to five years. The biggest reason we will try to go it alone is that our income is too small. Any reputable service should say they can’t help, go get a bankruptcy. We will try to make deals with our biggest creditors instead, if that doesn’t work than maybe we will try one of the many credit card debt elimination services available. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out.
