Has anyone used Accelerated Debt Consolidation, Inc

[brota]

Hello
I am looking into some debt management, it has just got out of control for me now.
I have looked in to CCCS but they do not service MA. I also called MMI but they claim you could have 3 months of late payments before they can negotiate your deal.
Just lookinf for some more info

Thank you

 

[WildGrits]

I have never heard of them. We are happily 3/4 done with CCCS and so happy with the results. I only wish we had gone to them sooner.

If CCCS doesn't work in MA it seems odd that CCCS of Southern New England is based in Boston.

Maybe you could call them and if they truly dont work in MA ask them to recommend a group.

 

[disneylove69]

I do the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey theory. There are many threads on the Disboards about him. He says not to use any debt management company because they will charge you a lot of money to do what you can do yourself. I would recommend checking his website. His book usually is on sale for $10 or maybe you can get on Amaxon or something. Cheaper to check it out. Good Luck.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I do the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey theory. There are many threads on the Disboards about him. He says not to use any debt management company because they will charge you a lot of money to do what you can do yourself. I would recommend checking his website. His book usually is on sale for $10 or maybe you can get on Amaxon or something. Cheaper to check it out. Good Luck.

THIS....

 

[MMS1125]

Another Dave Ramsey fan here! I'm a pay cash for everything person (who knew back then I'd ever do that!)

 

[usnuzuloose]

Dave Ramsey all the way!

 

[Swimalie]

I love Clark Howard. Here is what he says Negotiating credit card debt down yourself.

Debt-settlement firms promise they can negotiate your credit card debt down to just pennies on the dollar. But are they true to their word?

Too often that promise is an illusion. You usually pay an upfront fee to the debt-settlement firm, plus a monthly retainer. Their strategy is to get you to stop paying on your bills. They typically have you take the money you would have paid on monthly minimums and stash it in a savings account.

The basic idea is to make the credit card companies so desperate that they'll settle with you. The reality, however, is that you just wind up damaging your credit.

Did you know that you can negotiate down your debt by yourself? Begin by figuring out what you owe and what you can afford to pay. Then call up your various creditors and say, "My total debt is X number of dollars and I can afford to pay you X amount every month."

Set a condition that all of your creditors must agree to your terms in writing or no one gets anything at all. And don't give them access to your checking account! You'll want to pay them directly to safeguard your funds.

It's important to know that this approach will foul up your credit and you'll get a tax bill from the IRS for each settlement. If you owe $10,000 to one creditor and they take $2,000, then the $8,000 that's written off is considered taxable income for you.

The power you have lies in the fact that credit card companies are scared you'll go bankrupt and then they get zero. More than a million people are expected to file bankruptcy in 2009. That means creditors that wouldn't deal with you before now probably will.

Finally, there is another option. You can use NFCC.org to pay off your debt over time in a negotiated settlement. Those who are particularly burdened may qualify for a hardship debt-management plan (DMP) through the above link.

http://nfcc.org/

 

[Planogirl]

You can sometimes negotiate with creditors but not always.

When DH got into financial trouble with some business expenses, he tried and tried to deal with one company but they refused. It wasn't anything that could be ignored either. He finally went to Consolidated Credit and they do charge a fee but it's reasonable and the company that refused to play ball was willing to deal with them. It has worked out well and we have no regrets.

Every situation is different though. If you decide to use a consolidation company make sure that fees are clearly stated and that they are reasonable.

 

[santa's surpriz]

ok, here is my two cents. Debt consolidation companies are NOT the way to go, they can only negotiate with accounts in horrible shape. You alot of money per month and most of that goes to fees and not so much towards your debts. Accounts are usually a charge off, when they settle you need you need to have the amount ready to pay off. In most situations that is not the case. It can take alot of people years to recover when they choose that option. During that time if you have a credit need you can forget about, plus the credit recovery period that can take another 3-7 years. Also the creditors have the right to 1099 you for the difference. In my field I have seen credit destroyed for 10 years + for those that went with debt consolidatin companies. Bankruptcy is a nasty word, but if your situation is really that bad in many cases the process and rebuilding period is much shorter. I am not recommending bankruptcy, but I do recommend that you seriously consider all the facts before getting into a consolidation company's program. Every company is different and maybe there are some good ones. I have heard horror stories about them from their clients as well as bankers, accountants to attorneys. Another thing to check out, if it is a law firm make sure they have the right to practice in your state.

 

[howlongtildisney]

Check out Credability - the recently re-named CCCS of Greater Atlanta. I just confirmed with my husband, who is a grant manager for them, that they serve all 50 states, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. They can help with anything from helping you make a budget to better manage your debt yourself to a full debt management plan that involves you making a payment to them and them paying your creditors. http://www.credability.org

Good luck!

 

[brota]

I have never heard of them. We are happily 3/4 done with CCCS and so happy with the results. I only wish we had gone to them sooner.

If CCCS doesn't work in MA it seems odd that CCCS of Southern New England is based in Boston.

Maybe you could call them and if they truly dont work in MA ask them to recommend a group.

Let me correct that a bit Apprisen who used to be CCCS do not service MA

 

[brota]

You can sometimes negotiate with creditors but not always.

When DH got into financial trouble with some business expenses, he tried and tried to deal with one company but they refused. It wasn't anything that could be ignored either. He finally went to Consolidated Credit and they do charge a fee but it's reasonable and the company that refused to play ball was willing to deal with them. It has worked out well and we have no regrets.

Every situation is different though. If you decide to use a consolidation company make sure that fees are clearly stated and that they are reasonable.

I have called them all and no one will lower the rates becuase we are paid on time. Citibank jumped the rate from 9.9 to 29.99 for no reason on me

 

[brota]

ok, here is my two cents. Debt consolidation companies are NOT the way to go, they can only negotiate with accounts in horrible shape. You alot of money per month and most of that goes to fees and not so much towards your debts. Accounts are usually a charge off, when they settle you need you need to have the amount ready to pay off. In most situations that is not the case. It can take alot of people years to recover when they choose that option. During that time if you have a credit need you can forget about, plus the credit recovery period that can take another 3-7 years. Also the creditors have the right to 1099 you for the difference. In my field I have seen credit destroyed for 10 years + for those that went with debt consolidatin companies. Bankruptcy is a nasty word, but if your situation is really that bad in many cases the process and rebuilding period is much shorter. I am not recommending bankruptcy, but I do recommend that you seriously consider all the facts before getting into a consolidation company's program. Every company is different and maybe there are some good ones. I have heard horror stories about them from their clients as well as bankers, accountants to attorneys. Another thing to check out, if it is a law firm make sure they have the right to practice in your state.

I am not looking for a charge off method just someone to help get my rates lower and hopefully my monthly payment to get these gone once and for all.

 

[mrodgers]

Why is it, any time someone with CC problems asks a question, someone always has to pipe in with the bragging that they "pay cash for everything..."?

That's great! Not everyone has cash. What do you do when you have to get to work and have no car because you have no cash to pay for it? What do you do when you run out of heating oil when it's 8 degrees outside and you have no cash? What do you do when your car insurance is due and you have no cash? It's fantastic that you are rolling in money, but not everyone else is.

I myself just had to put another $250 on a credit card. The car didn't pass inspection. Not sure how I'm suppose to go to work without a car while I wait 2 weeks for the next paycheck to pay for the parts.

I researched the CC debt help stuff after hearing it all over the radio and TV. Seems it only works when you are buried under months and months of missed payments. I pay my CC bills, but the problem is, every month something comes up. This month was paying the $200 payment, but putting $250 on for car repairs. Last month it was paying $200, but putting $250 on for a new dryer (half cash, half CC). Month before same thing with a washing machine. Month before that was was something else. Just can't get ahead.

I have a plan, but it's just put off by a month every month it seems. We were going to open up a savings account yesterday and start direct depositing a small piece of the paychecks in until we get the recommended $1000 emergency fund. Problem #1 was, I had to take the car back up to the shop after I fixed it for the inspection sticker. That took me past when banks were open. Now we have to wait until we have a day off together again. Problem #2 is, we plan to put $20 direct deposit in every pay, which is every week for us. So, we will have $80 going in a month, but we seem to have something happen to the tune of a couple hundred every month, so it is wiped out before it can build up.

Hopefully nothing will be needed for a while, at least until either the future prospect of a possible bonus this year at work (first time since about 1999) and we can dump enough to get our $1000 or tax return season comes. we plan to continue the direct deposit, and when we reach a couple hundred above our base $1000, we will take the extra amount out and dump it on a credit card. I'm hoping that works out for us, but lately there just seems to be something that we need to pay for every month that is unexpected.

 

[Tina]

Depending on who your debt is with, you may have great luck in lowering your payments and interest rates on your own. I had one card that had gotten out of control with Chase bank. I did quite a bit of reading over on the creditboards site. Now while there is a great deal of good information there, there also seems to be a lot of people who are looking to just walk away from their debt and see what happens. You'll actually find threads about this where people discuss how long before creditors called and offered them an acceptable offer to payoff for a lesser amount. This may be fine for some, but if you have a good credit history, its not the wise choice.

The great gem I found over there was a thread talking about calling different creditors for plans they offer. That's where I read about Chase's Balance Liquidation Plan. So I picked up the phone and called. I was completely honest and told them I'd been making all of my payments on time (true, never late) but my balance had ballooned out of control and I wasn't able to make a dent in the principal any more. I asked out this plan. I was immediately transferred to a BLP rep who asked me a brief series of questions about my income. She then offered me a 5 year payoff at 6% interest. This offer still made my payments a bit too high for me. I asked if we could do better. She said "well.... you qualify for 6%, but we could request 3% on the application and see what happens in the approval process." My response was, "Well in that case, can we request 0%?" She hemmed and hawed for a second and replied "We can request that, but it probably won't go through." I told her to give it a try. I called back 3 days later for a status update. I was approved.

So without paying anyone else, I was able to get myself on a manageable payoff plan with 0% interest. This plan will not affect my credit in any way. I've always had an excellent payment history and Chase will continue to report as normal on my account. I did have to close the card, but that was fine with me. Good riddance!

My advice to you is to sit down, map out your income and debt and figure out what you can handle. Then pick up the phone and start calling. You just may get lucky without having to pay another company to help you.

Good luck!

 

[dvcgirl]

Why is it, any time someone with CC problems asks a question, someone always has to pipe in with the bragging that they "pay cash for everything..."?

That's great! Not everyone has cash. What do you do when you have to get to work and have no car because you have no cash to pay for it? What do you do when you run out of heating oil when it's 8 degrees outside and you have no cash? What do you do when your car insurance is due and you have no cash? It's fantastic that you are rolling in money, but not everyone else is.

I myself just had to put another $250 on a credit card. The car didn't pass inspection. Not sure how I'm suppose to go to work without a car while I wait 2 weeks for the next paycheck to pay for the parts.

I researched the CC debt help stuff after hearing it all over the radio and TV. Seems it only works when you are buried under months and months of missed payments. I pay my CC bills, but the problem is, every month something comes up. This month was paying the $200 payment, but putting $250 on for car repairs. Last month it was paying $200, but putting $250 on for a new dryer (half cash, half CC). Month before same thing with a washing machine. Month before that was was something else. Just can't get ahead.

I have a plan, but it's just put off by a month every month it seems. We were going to open up a savings account yesterday and start direct depositing a small piece of the paychecks in until we get the recommended $1000 emergency fund. Problem #1 was, I had to take the car back up to the shop after I fixed it for the inspection sticker. That took me past when banks were open. Now we have to wait until we have a day off together again. Problem #2 is, we plan to put $20 direct deposit in every pay, which is every week for us. So, we will have $80 going in a month, but we seem to have something happen to the tune of a couple hundred every month, so it is wiped out before it can build up.

Hopefully nothing will be needed for a while, at least until either the future prospect of a possible bonus this year at work (first time since about 1999) and we can dump enough to get our $1000 or tax return season comes. we plan to continue the direct deposit, and when we reach a couple hundred above our base $1000, we will take the extra amount out and dump it on a credit card. I'm hoping that works out for us, but lately there just seems to be something that we need to pay for every month that is unexpected.

I don't think anybody is "bragging" about paying cash. They're just stating that they pay cash instead of using their credit cards. The first step in getting out of a hole is to put down the shovel. To me, you sound incredibly frustrated, and I'm sorry for that.

It sounds to me that you are at the very beginning stages of trying to get out of debt. Each time you're just about to get that $1,000 baby emergency fund, you get knocked down by a minor emergency and have to start over. As a regular listener of The Dave Ramsey show, this is really common. Eventually, things will settle down and you'll get that $1,000 and be able to pay cash for these emergencies instead of having to use your CC. So don't give up, just keep plugging away.

The other possibility is that you're having an income crisis....or simply that you don't make enough. I don't say this to be a wise *ss.....but rather to say, sometimes it's as simple as that. A lot of people with consumer debt end up there not because they are living a lavish life with credit, but rather because they are using their credit cards to make ends meet. Sometimes folks are able to work OT, or pick up a second job to pay down the consumer debt and then can make it on a lower income. In this economy, second jobs and OT are tough to come by, and so a lot of people out there are as frustrated as you.

Hopefully, "Murphy" will stop knocking on your door and you'll be able to move forward. Best of luck!

 

[cglaura]

I'm going to throw out a suggestion from another direction, in case you can't get the % down...

Have you already trimmed your budget as much as possible. I mean really trim. Mimimal cable, no eating out, look at phone charges, etc. It's not fun, it might be hard to transition, but it will be worth it.

Can you pick up a 2nd job, even just 1 day a week.

Check into lowering inurance rates, shop around (be careful to still go with a good company though). What I do for insurance is instead of waiting for the ssemi-annual bill, I pay my savings monthly (I have an account for bills that are not monthly, like sewer and insurance). Figure out what that bill would be if it were monthly, then pay the savings that. That way when that $800 bill comes, it is not something you have to "fit" into that month's budget.

Small things like doing what you can to save electric, hang laundry, whatever.


I suggest this because it seems you are doing ok, maybe to the wire some paychecks, but no late payments. While none of these will lower your payments on the cc, what this can do, if you don't spend any of the extra budget you created, is give you a good cushion for that car fix, or other things that pop up, so you don't put any more on the cc. Then when you have a good cushion, you can put some of that extra towards paying more down on the cc.

Good luck. At least you are on the right track and knowing you have to do something b/f you get late. Some people just have no idea until it is too late.

 

[taylor3297]

I used CCCS many years ago and it was wonderful for me. This group is a non-profit and you don't pay a huge fee for them to assist you with your bills. I willing paid a $10 donation each month in order to help keep the organization going. If I couldn't afford the donation then I was not required to pay it.

I had tried negotiating with the credit card companies at the time but they wouldn't work with me. When CCCS contacted the companies on my behalf, they were more than willing to work things out.

Dave Ramsey has some great ideas, but not for everyone. We do have an emergency funds, but we do use our credit cards responsibly and we buy new cars. When we buy new cars we negotiate in the selling price the extended warranty and the maintainence plans. Works out better for us in the long run.

Big ticket items we use the credit card, even though we have the cash, in case we end up with a dispute on the item.

 

[Tina]

I had tried negotiating with the credit card companies at the time but they wouldn't work with me. When CCCS contacted the companies on my behalf, they were more than willing to work things out.

I agree that CCCS is a great, non-profit company to work with, if needed. With the research I've done, the one thing that I learned that made me decide to do this on my own was the facts of state of the current economy. In this economy, with so many mortgages failing and people out of work, creditors are more willing than ever to work with you. When times were good, they didn't have to. Now, they are willing bend a lot more to get their money out of you. Many have created programs because they'd rather work WITH you than be listed as a creditor on your bankruptcy application.

 

[santa's surpriz]

I am not looking for a charge off method just someone to help get my rates lower and hopefully my monthly payment to get these gone once and for all.

I understand that you are not, but that it is what these credit help and consoldation companies do. Please be sure you have your facts. The bottom line is that no creditor is going negotiate with a third party unless your account has been turned upside down. These companies will tell you once you sign with us stop making you're payments. What people are fooled about is that the chunk of money you pay monthly does not make your credit payments it goes to their fees. Your accounts go unpaid. They wait until your accounts are very poor shape and then jump and settle. Just be sure you know exactly what you are getting yourself into and how they intend on helping your situation then decide if it is right for you.