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Hi,
My debt payments are straining my income to the breaking point. I do not want to declare bankruptcy, I am not able to secure any loans, and do not have any house equity to cover my debts.
I have been advised to work with CCCS -- Consumer Credit Counseling Services -- to set up a payment plan for my debts. Do I really need to join a counseling service? Are credit counseling agencies authentic? I am at a loss. Please, tell me what should I do?
credit counseling agency
Hi Torrey,
You can try to pay down your debts yourself without taking help from any credit counseling agency. You are facing problem in paying off your debts because you are having financial problem. Thus, you can try debt consolidation.
Debt consolidation allows you to take out a loan with a low interest rate to pay off all your debts. You can try to negotiate with all of your creditor's. However, if you can't negotiate, you can then join a credit counseling agency. They will first help you in budgeting so that you may be able to pay off your debts. If this does not work, they will enroll you into a debt consolidation program, and negotiate with all your creditors.
As for the authenticity of the counseling agencies, you can check whether or not the company has an accredition with the Better Business Bureau, whether this company has been in business for more than 10 years, if there are any bad reports against this company.
Thanks,
Aaron