Has anyone used Accelerated Debt Consolidation, Inc

[Planogirl]

Again, some consolidation companies can be great if you have no other alternatives. No one is suggesting anyone destroying their credit but if it's already happening you need to do something to stop the situation and get on track. It's not great to have a chargeoff on your file but sometimes you have no other recourse. I would not file bankruptcy unless you are completely overwhelmed personally. A chargeoff will stay on your file for 7 years from the date of first delinquency while a bankruptcy will stay for 7 or 10 depending on type. I see no improvement here.

Just be very cautious when you choose a company. Some are good and some are not. The company DH used charged a very small fee.

To the OP, you might want to continue talking to the companies themselves. I see people with modified payment plans all the time and they negotiated the terms themselves.

 

[Zoesmama03]

Its best to find non profit ones that do not charge it all on donations given either people pay a little extra when can or pay an extra "donation" payment on the end.

One I had heard great things about and almost used once was something like familychristiancreditcounseling. But if you check the BBB you will probably see if there are any negative complaints.


Often you can actually do your own negotiating with collectors too. Call and say I have this much and most will take that and eliminate the rest. I know I did this with Target credit card years ago. I was in collections though and they actually called me in the middle of my saving to call them with an offer. I cleared off 500 debt with 200 I think it was. You do need to get behind though or in some cases be in collections though so that may not be the case for some.

 

[Zoesmama03]

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.

I like his books too but I have never had a job that I can support myself and dd with and have 10-12% even to save not to mention a emergency savings. Hopefully I can build a nice emergency savings before we get our own place again.

I can see using cc for big items too. Some even have insurance on the items. Not to mention sales, I know a lot of stores have pretty big % discounts when using a card. If one is responsible to pay it off every month or within any no interest time periods it could be okay.