Credit Cards
In too deep: Americans have nearly $800 billion in credit card debt. Is debt consolidation the answer to your financial woes?(economic conditions): An article from: Black Enterprise [H] [T] [M]
Leslie E. Royal (Digital) Thomson Gale 2006-03-01
Release date: 2006-04-14
Price:
$5.95
$5.95
Answers
I have terrible credit (2 back surgeries will do that to you, plus male pride, my prides' gone now) I get the constant annoying calls, and I don't want to plead bankruptcy. I've paid off a couple of them for about half what I owed (most of that money was fees, on average 28% a month and $70 in other fees, adds up quick) Which company could help cut all those freaking fees, and crap! Which companies have the most influence and can help the most? Please help my stupid butt!
Be very careful of responding to companies that claim they can help you with eliminating your credit card problems. Many of them are scams that do you more harm than good. You should first try to deal with the card companies yourself. Let them know that you are willing to work things out, but that you need their help by eliminating penalties and reducing the interest rate. In any case, cancel the cards. This will not cancel your obligation but it will stop you from getting in deeper.
The credit card companies may not cooperate. They make huge amounts of money from people like you, and as long as you are making payments, they are happy to leave things as they are.
Bankruptcy is a last resort. Before you consider it, talk to an attorney and ask him to help you. He may advise you to stop making payments on the card while he writes letters to the card companies and negotiates a settlement or a schedule of repayment at a lower interest rate and elimination of penalties. The card companies may only start cooperating when the payments stop and they hear from a lawyer. I know of a case where this tactic eliminated 1/3 of the total debt, but the balance had to be paid in full. Good luck.
www.DebtmericaFreedom.com Cut Debt 60% & Save Credit Rating. Avoid Bankruptcy & Be Debt Free! Compare Counseling, Consolidation, & ...
no jobs have callled me. how can i lower my debt
Does Anyone Have a Knowledge of this Company?
Thanks redvelvetflames4ever, I Got a Bad Feeling About Him.
Thanks K, his Primary Motivation is Very Probably Not Altruistic.
I will definitely be of no help here, but couldn't resist a comment:
So, you are referring to an ad to do with someone advertising their services to help people get OUT of debt??
If so, boy, do I feel like the most naive person in the world. I mean, someone who is suppose to help people get out of a horrible, stressful, financial mess is really out to sucker them??
I am 34 years old, pretty introverted, also never had any credit cards, and I've been a student for so long (11 years), I think I've missed out on certain aspects of reality here :-) :-). I mean, wow, how does this person sleep at night knowing he's swindling very vulnerable people whose debt I would suspect would affect every fiber of these people's being?? I am also seriously shocked that this kind of thing largely goes unchecked without legal consequence.
Phew, it blows my mind! I never see those kinds of ads here.
EDIT: Huh, imagine. With examples like this, it is easy to see why many people walk around with iron cages surrounding them. *Sheesh*...
I actually know someone who was considering, I guess, a similar service that offered debt-consolidation, of some kind. I will be warning him to be prudent about his decision...but, I'm sure he is more aware than myself about this kind of thing. I wonder how many of these ARE fraudulent...
I can eliminate this debt today by paying this card off and keeping the much needed $1,100 it will save me, but will this cause too much of a negative impact on my good credit to make it worth keeping the money?
In actuality, income does not affect your credit score. Also, settling can help you out. If you don't pay it off now, it will sit on your credit report for much longer then if you settle. If you are at the point where you can settle for less, then you have already hurt your credit. However, the collection agency can still sell your account to someone else who will ding your credit, and they can do the same...and on and on and on. That means, the longer you don't settle, the longer your credit score will hurt you.
However, once you have settled, you can get them removed from your TRW by doing a simple TRW Clean Up. It's easy and only takes 30 days to get your score up. Plus, there are tons of other easy ways to strengthen your score fast. Check out the two articles below to see how to do this fast. I've done it myself and it does work.
Hope this helps.
I have approximately £800 on a credit card as outstanding debt, yet I want to apply for a mortgage, I have a decent deposit. Will the outstanding credit card debt prevent me from getting a mortgage?
You credit rating is not assessed on the amount you currently owe. In fact if you have payed your instalments on time and without default it will help you. The mortgage firm will take the outstanding debt into account and will need to know the repayment figure when agreeing your loan. But if your deposit meets their criteria as does the rest of your circumstances there should be no problem.
Incidentally you should always shop around for a mortgage offer as they do vary quite a bit in interest and conditions from firm to firm.
Beware credit fakery
THE PITCH
The telephone representative was from a company called Accelerated Debt Relief. The firm first contacted Trematore a year ago in October 2008.
‘‘It sounded like a good deal, and I agreed on our initial conversation,’’ she said. ‘‘She called back about a week later, and she then told me the fee would be $895 on an existing credit card.’’
Trematore thought the price was exorbitant but as a woman of her word, felt obligated to continue because she already said yes the week before.
A few weeks later, the rep called Trematore and initiated several three-way calls with Trematore’s credit card companies. Of four credit cards, the rep was able to secure a rate reduction for only one card.
What Exactly Is Fair Debt Collection? An Overview Of The Fdcpa
FDCPA applies only to third parties who are hired by a creditor, not to creditors collecting their own debts; however, if a creditor uses a fake name or pretends to be a debt collector in order to collect their own debt, they will have to follow FDCPA. For example, if the United States Credit Card Company wanted to collect the debts owed by their credit card holders by calling them up and saying that they are the United States Debt Collection Company, they would have to follow the rules set out by the FDCPA. If they simply called to say that this is the United States Credit Card Company and we need your monthly payment, they are not bound by the FDCPA. Creditors that do not need to follow the...
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