Crown Financial Ministries, Now thinking CareOne Debt Management?

[MAGICX2]

They are not a debt consolidation group. They are like a guidemap to help you eliminate your debt. They have a few products for purchase to help you along the way. Anyone ever used them or heard about them?

 

[barbmouse]

We took their course through our church several years ago. It is biblically based and quite helpful!

 

[Maybelle]

I often listen to their radio broadcast, and have purchased one of their books. Also I purchased their children's giving bank for my daughter. Very good company with a great reputation within Christian circles. Sadly, the founder, Larry Burkett passed away I think last year or so after a long battle with cancer.

 

[Goofyzgurl]

A friend at work went through it a couple of years ago and loves it. I am about to go to FPU with Dave Ramsey next week and can't wait to see how that is. I often listen to his broadcasts so I thought I'd try it since our church is having his classes.

 

[snoodledoo]

We took their course through our church several years ago. It is biblically based and quite helpful!

Ditto! Though we just took the course this past Spring.

 

[MrsPete]

I have no personal experience with them, but my church offered their classes not long ago, and I feel sure that if they weren't good my pastor wouldn't have made that choice.

 

[MAGICX2]

After talking it through, DH and I are thinking about going with CareOne Credit. It is not a loan it is a debt management group. They seem pretty legit. Through them we can eliminate all our debt including our student loans in 5 years or less. We know it will be less than 5yrs because we plan on putting all bonuses, tax returns, and those 4 extra paychecks a year that we get towards the pay down. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Tree-via]

Crown Financial and Financial Peace University are not debt consolidation companies. Most debt consolidation companies like CareOne charge fees for the consolidation. Crown and FPU simply teach you how to do this on your own. Please consider going to your library and getting some of Larry Burkett's or Dave Ramsey's books to research. They also have websites.

 

[TnTWalter]

without paying a fee for their service or hurting your credit. A lot of the debt consolidation places hurt your credit just like a bankruptcy would!

Just apply the 'debt snowball' [BABY STEP #2 below] to your debts....Smallest to largest....I've heard you can defer your student loans if you have a hardship. [I'm not sure].

So let's pretend you have 3 credit cards, a car payment and a student loan.
CC #1 is $1k, #2 is $3K, #3 is $8K, car payoff is $15K, student loan is $20K.

I'm a Total Money Makeover lover. So here is my advice based on Dave Ramsey's BABY STEPS....

BUT FIRST...
Before the baby steps even begin you need to sit down with spouse and spend your monthly salary on paper before you spend it in real life. Assign a job to every single $1. If you have a starbucks habit...give it a column in your budget. Here's some easy budget forms [free]. I tell you what it's amazing how when you make money work for you instead of you working for the money, it feels like you have more$$. http://www.daveramsey.com/media/pdf/tmmo_qbudget.pdf

now...TAKE THOSE CREDIT CARDS AWAY FROM YOU....CLOSE ALL BUT ONE AND FREEZE IT IN THE FREEZER IF YOU HAVE TO.

BABY STEPS

BABY STEP 1. BABY EMERGENCY FUND
You should have an emergency fund of $1k to START with [you'll add more later]. Do you have it? Great...move on to step 2....No? No problem. Hurry and have a garage sale, go crazy on ebay...find any way to save $1K quick...
If you don't have an emergency fund, you'll be charging those credit cards right back up.

BABY STEP 2. DEBT SNOWBALL...
Now go crazy again to pay off that 1st CC. Pay the minimum on all other debt. Stop anything unnecessary [bare minimum cable, cell phone, supercuts instead of salon, no out to dinner, rice & beans, etc.] any retirement/college savings plans can be put on hold if you are intense enough to pay off within 12-18 months. Also, if you get a tax refund at the end of the year...stop this. You need the money in your monthly budget to pay off debt! You should not give the government an interest free loan!

Once #1 is paid off, add that payment in to get rid of #2. Use same intensity as above.....it should be getting easier and fun. So now your payments are $350 instead of $250 because you've added in the $100 you were paying + any extra money you can 'find' in your budget surplus.

Now you've got it....put #1 and #2 payments into paying #3, now you have $250 from #2 + $100 from #1 plus what you were paying minimum for #3, let's say $200...you're paying $550 now! Woo Hoo....keep going all the way through. That's the snowball. Don't worry about which one has x interest rate vs. y interest rate. You want to see success and you get that by paying smallest to largest. And you're paying it off! Don't forget to cancel those cards as you pay them off!

NOTE:
IF your value of your car is >= half your yearly income, please sell them. . . and not to a dealer but to a 3rd party. If you make $60K and you have vehicles worth $40K, you are living above your means. period. Duh...you have debt to prove it! ;o) Sarcastic humor to keep it light.

If you owe $26K but your car is only worth $22 K then get a small loan for the difference plus a safe garage sale grandma car [$500-$1K].

If your student loan is large [can't remember if it's > 1/2 yearly income or what], then you would put this before paying off house but after the other steps [I've given all my copies away...need to get another!].

FOR FUN HERE ARE THE OTHER STEPS....

BABY STEP 3. SAVE 3-6 MONTHS OF LIVING EXPENSES.

BABY STEP 4. RETIREMENT SAVINGS.
Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement

BABY STEP 5. COLLEGE FUNDING FOR KIDS.

BABY STEP 6. PAY OFF HOME EARLY

BABY STEP 7. BUILD WEALTH & GIVE.

Here's the fun part....now you can Spend, Save & Give like no one else!!
And Invest in mutual funds and real estate or whatever!

Live like no one else so someday you can LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE

www.daveramsey.com

YOU CAN DO IT!!

I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to put the $$$$ we were paying on our credit cards and car payments into an ING account for us !!! It's amazing how quickly you can build wealth!!

TRISH
I'm off my soap box now, I promise!

 

[NancyIL]

I often listen to their radio broadcast, and have purchased one of their books. Also I purchased their children's giving bank for my daughter. Very good company with a great reputation within Christian circles. Sadly, the founder, Larry Burkett passed away I think last year or so after a long battle with cancer.

I was in Colorado Springs in August and visited the Focus on the Family Headquarters. I hadn't heard about Larry Burkett's death until that trip, so I asked someone on the FOTF tour when he died: July 4, 2003.

 

[MrsPiglet]

I did the Care One a couple years ago and probably have one year left to pay that portion of the bills off. We have already paid off 4 accounts. The main thing it does not do your credit any good. Especially if you plan to buy a house or car. Our only problem with the credit is when we purchased the car our interest was high. We still get offers on credit cards all the time and dummie me took advantage of a couple of them. they only charge me 20 a month and recently the charge has went up to 30 a month. But it is worth it to have that chunk of bills in consolation type thing with one payment and low interst. I am hoping to get out from under it within the year. But late payments are just as bad on the credit report.

Think about it in 5 years which way would you be better off. Do you have the determination to snowball them? I didn't. I do not regard going into it. I would do it again. I say go and have them take your payment direct withdraw from your bank account. If you have any questions just ask.

 

[lovesmurfs]

We were a mess about 15 years ago -- we went through Consumer Credit Counseling Service -- I know it's legit, and I think Larry Burkett recommended it as well.

It was a debt management company -- it was $15/month (I think) and they worked with all of our creditors -- Discover, finding out we were with CCCS, totally cancelled all interest -- we only paid the balance. Most others lowered the interest rates.

There are different agencies throughout the country. They straightened us out, put us on a budget, and we were able to get our debts paid off. Our credit is rock solid after finishing the program.

 

[dvcgirl]

They are not a debt consolidation group. They are like a guidemap to help you eliminate your debt. They have a few products for purchase to help you along the way. Anyone ever used them or heard about them?

They sure appear to be a debt consolidation service Magicx2. Are they "negotiating" and then paying off your debts for you? Are you then writing them one check a month? Why put this in the hands of someone else? There are a zillion horror stories on the internet about these companies not paying the debts with the money that you send them. I would never take that chance.

I still feel like you're looking for the easy way out here. I know you've already refinanced and done the home equity thing...another easy way out that didn't work. I really think you should either go with a Crown or Financial Peace plan that teaches you how to do this on your own....and more importantly, how to live on a budget.

And again, it seems like your major problem right now may be a lack of income problem with you out of work. If you solve that problem, everything else may fall right into place. Good luck to you!

 

[Muushka]

I loved Larry Burkette. His radio program was the best.

And for all you Larry Burkett fans, he wrote a fictional book called
"The Illuminati" which is very good.

 

[Chicago526]

I really think you should do this on your own, either following Crown or Dave Ramsey (or whatever program makes sense to you) rather than doing debt counseling. But if you feel you must (and only YOU can determine that for yourself), I second the recomendation for CCCS (Consumer Credit Counseling Service). I've never used them myself but on all the debt threads I've ever read, they always get the most (and best) recomendations.

Either way, you've made the first and hardest step, realizing you have a problem and then trying to do something about it. That puts you ahead of a lot of other people in this country. Good for you, and good luck!

 

[MAGICX2]

They sure appear to be a debt consolidation service Magicx2. Are they "negotiating" and then paying off your debts for you? Are you then writing them one check a month? Why put this in the hands of someone else? There are a zillion horror stories on the internet about these companies not paying the debts with the money that you send them. I would never take that chance.

I still feel like you're looking for the easy way out here. I know you've already refinanced and done the home equity thing...another easy way out that didn't work. I really think you should either go with a Crown or Financial Peace plan that teaches you how to do this on your own....and more importantly, how to live on a budget.

And again, it seems like your major problem right now may be a lack of income problem with you out of work. If you solve that problem, everything else may fall right into place. Good luck to you!

dvcgirl, Thanks for checking in. You have been a fountain of advice and knowledge for me through this entire ordeal. With me being out of work, we just didn't see how it was going to be possible to get anything paid off. We can make the min.s but have no extra to pay down with. I started investigating our options because I didn't want the paydown to stop. I am not looking for any easy way out, just a way to keep going. We are living on a budget and have been for some time. It took a HUGE adjustment when I lost my job, but we are still making it work.
According to CareOne, they don't pay off our debt and then we pay them. They negotiate a lower % rate to help us pay off things quicker. I am hesitant. Why should I pay them $50 a month to do this? They were able to keep us at or under the current amount we are paying for our minimum payments, but yet get everything, including student loans, paid off in 5 years or less. With our snowball plan we had not included the student loans yet.
I don't want the paydown to slowdown. I am anxious to get this debt gone! We were so on the right track and had made alot of turn arounds in our life over the past year or so. Even when we were hit with one thing after the other, we stuck to it. I still believe that I have changed. I have a totally different thought process when it comes to money, budget, purchases, etc. I still have not used credit since I comitted to it on my other thread. I burnt (melted) the cards we had and have not opened any new lines of credit since. I figured very quickly that we could totally live on cash only. The trick was living within our means, which we have been doing, and are still doing even though our means are meager right now.
I am still totally comitted.

 

[MAGICX2]

I did the Care One a couple years ago and probably have one year left to pay that portion of the bills off. We have already paid off 4 accounts. The main thing it does not do your credit any good. Especially if you plan to buy a house or car. Our only problem with the credit is when we purchased the car our interest was high.

What did it do to your credit? According to CareOne this plan will not affect our credit in any way. We can not obtain any new "consumer" credit lines while enrolled in the program, but it would not effect our score or report. How exactly did it affect you?

 

[Tree-via]

Magicx2,

I must compliment you on working on your debt and sticking to it. I really feel that the credit consolidation company won't do anything for you that you can't do for yourself. Paying them more money just doesn't make sense for someone like you, who is already working on debt reduction yourselves. I called my credit card companies myself. Most of them were willing to reduce the interest rates in light of other offers that we received with lower rates. Most of them were able to cut by half. The only one that couldn't was Sears. They said it was because they weren't a bank and couldn't compete. The cuts really helped us in the long run. My husband was unemployed for 2 years.

 

[DawnM]

We love Crown! In fact, we taught it for years at our previous church.

I would look into it if you get the chance. Dave Ramsey is fine for the program itself but he grates on my nerves for a variety of reasons.

 

[DisMN]

After talking it through, DH and I are thinking about going with CareOne Credit. It is not a loan it is a debt management group. They seem pretty legit. Through them we can eliminate all our debt including our student loans in 5 years or less. We know it will be less than 5yrs because we plan on putting all bonuses, tax returns, and those 4 extra paychecks a year that we get towards the pay down. Any thoughts on this?

We've been very successful with CareOne and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Our plan is a bit ahead of schedule due to the fact that while our payments stay the same, the amount owed is going down....thus, it's somewhat of a version of the snowball plan. We have NO problem paying CareOne to have done the legwork of contacting our creditors at a time when they refused to work with us. What you will pay is very very minimal. The people who complain about CareOne are the folks who are looking at debt settlement. I would not go with settlement for a multitude of reasons.

Crown Financial and Financial Peace University are not debt consolidation companies. Most debt consolidation companies like CareOne charge fees for the consolidation. Crown and FPU simply teach you how to do this on your own. Please consider going to your library and getting some of Larry Burkett's or Dave Ramsey's books to research. They also have websites.

Minimal fees. Our interest was cut more than $1500 per month and I feel paying $50 per month total for CareOne to do most of the legwork is well worth it. I don't know why anyone would be cheesed off with paying a little bit for the amount of help we've received.

I did the Care One a couple years ago and probably have one year left to pay that portion of the bills off. We have already paid off 4 accounts. The main thing it does not do your credit any good. Especially if you plan to buy a house or car. Our only problem with the credit is when we purchased the car our interest was high. We still get offers on credit cards all the time and dummie me took advantage of a couple of them. they only charge me 20 a month and recently the charge has went up to 30 a month. But it is worth it to have that chunk of bills in consolation type thing with one payment and low interst. I am hoping to get out from under it within the year. But late payments are just as bad on the credit report.

When we began our management plan with CareOne our credit initially went down by about 30 points which honestly, we expected.. This was 18 months ago. Since that time we're back up by 45 points, well into the mid 700 range. We bought a car and got a fantastic interest rate 2 months ago.

dvcgirl, Thanks for checking in. You have been a fountain of advice and knowledge for me through this entire ordeal. With me being out of work, we just didn't see how it was going to be possible to get anything paid off. We can make the min.s but have no extra to pay down with. I started investigating our options because I didn't want the paydown to stop. I am not looking for any easy way out, just a way to keep going. We are living on a budget and have been for some time. It took a HUGE adjustment when I lost my job, but we are still making it work.
According to CareOne, they don't pay off our debt and then we pay them. They negotiate a lower % rate to help us pay off things quicker. I am hesitant. Why should I pay them $50 a month to do this? They were able to keep us at or under the current amount we are paying for our minimum payments, but yet get everything, including student loans, paid off in 5 years or less. With our snowball plan we had not included the student loans yet.
I don't want the paydown to slowdown. I am anxious to get this debt gone! We were so on the right track and had made alot of turn arounds in our life over the past year or so. Even when we were hit with one thing after the other, we stuck to it. I still believe that I have changed. I have a totally different thought process when it comes to money, budget, purchases, etc. I still have not used credit since I comitted to it on my other thread. I burnt (melted) the cards we had and have not opened any new lines of credit since. I figured very quickly that we could totally live on cash only. The trick was living within our means, which we have been doing, and are still doing even though our means are meager right now.
I am still totally comitted.

You are looking at this from the same viewpoint as we did. We did NOT want to skip out on paying what we owed, but after so many big huge financial hits we had no choice but going with a debt settlement plan or a debt management plan. We went with management and are more than happy to pay CareOne for being our go-between with some rather nasty creditors. We have truly been blessed with having found such a great company to work with. They've been helpful, quick to answer questions or to call us back, and flexible to our needs. (changing bank withdrawal date and the like)

Good luck on whatever you decide to do!

What did it do to your credit? According to CareOne this plan will not affect our credit in any way. We can not obtain any new "consumer" credit lines while enrolled in the program, but it would not effect our score or report. How exactly did it affect you?

It does affect your credit, no doubt about it. We were told however that in looking at our prior payment history they (CareOne) did NOT believe we'd be hit tremendously hard...they were right. Read my other post just above.

Again good luck! It's been a real challenge but it's been well worth it!