CCCS - Debt consolidation?

Bolt00

Hi guys, hopefully I dont come across as a complete idiot here.

Im 25 and married and have a wife and 4 year old son. We have a house, 2 nice cars, and pretty much anything a person could ask for. We are very happy and comfortable. But we are in debt and live paycheck to paycheck every week. Currently we are about $18k in credit card debt. $8k of that is from a motorcycle I bought about 2 years ago. It was stolen and I had liability only insurance. It wasnt a traditional car loan, but a credit card style loan. I pay $201 a month right now on that with nothing to show for it.

Then I have about $8k on a Discover card (which is about $600 over limit) and another $4k on an old studen mastercard I used to have. I pay about $500/month in just minimum payments, and not only am I not getting anywhere, but occasionally Im late and have to add in late fees, and Discover is also adding in over limit fees. Id like to just send $500/month to each card and get paid off... but just dont have the cash flow to do it. Like I said, im lucky to make minimum payments on time... Id say over the past year now, i have ruined my credit. Iv never been more than 1 month late, but that 1 month late thing has happened on various things a few times... makes me upset thinking about it, cuz it was near perfect except for the high debt... but payment history was always good.

Anyway, all my credit cards are high intrest, like 18% or higher. I tried calling them all to lower, but they wont lower because of payment history, over limit, etc... say I have to be in good standing for 6 months, blah blah...

they way I see it, we are not gonna get anywhere by paying min. payments for like 50 years.. Id like to be debt free by time I am 30 (5 years)....

I hear all these stories about places like CCCS.. they consolidate all your credit cards, lower your intrest rate and all you have to do is pay them like $20/month.

can someone please give me some opinions... whats the good/bad of doing something like CCCS... and if thats not the route... what is the route to go? I would get another job, but I already work about 15 hours a day at my one job (own a small business) so its just not possible... my income is not gonna grow anytime soon until business takes off....

any help is greatly appreciated...

MattLG

First of all, we've all been a bit stupid at some time or other so don't worry. One of my colleagues bought a brand new Lotus Elise and only had 3rd party insurance. He'd written it off within a few months and is still paying for it a few years later.

Those debt consolidation companies are generally not the best idea because you end up paying more in the long term, it may be a lower interest rate, but you're paying for it over a longer time. That said, if you have a poor credit rating it may be the only option. You could do it for a while just to let your credit score get better.

Have you tried applying for 0% credit cards yet? Your credit rating might not be as bad as you think. Get your credit report from Experian and Equifax and see exactly what they know about you. If one of them is significantly better than the other you could try applying for credit cards from companies that only check with the credit reference agency you have a good report with :-)

Hope that helps

MattLG

Gotabiscuit

MattLG wrote:

Have you tried applying for 0% credit cards yet? Your credit rating might not be as bad as you think. Get your credit report from Experian and Equifax and see exactly what they know about you. If one of them is significantly better than the other you could try applying for credit cards from companies that only check with the credit reference agency you have a good report with :-)

Hope that helps

MattLG

I suspect that Bolt00 is American so I don't think advice on a UK site will help him much.


There's nothing to stop us giving moral support, though.

Bolt00

yes im american... is this not an american site? if not, do you know of a good site to discuss my problems elsewhere?

JasonW_2

No.

You can discuss them here, its just the info we give probably wont apply to you. Some people put the $ sign in for strange reasons, so its not always realised the poster is american.

johannamse

Maybe someone could move this to the debt free wannabe board.

I guess budgeting is budgeting whatever country you are in, and OP could learn lots from this site.