pdl

Should I try it alone at first then sign up with a consolidation company. Or is it better to start out with them? I just need some sound advice

You have to decide what would work best for you. Do the research on the different companies talked about here. Are you the type of person who could put the time into making the phone calls and doing the leg work yourself?
In order to help you, we would need to know how many PDL's you have, whether they are internet or store front and what state you live in.

I have 12 pdl's from internet I live in Oregon

I had 5 pdl but mine were storefront. I signed up with a debt management company and stopped payments on my accounts. As it turns out, as soon as my checks were returned to them for NSF, 2 of them called and offered payment arrangements, so i worked those out on my own and took them off my plan with the debt mgmt. co. THe other 3 wont work with me so i refered them to the co im with and even though they all say that they dont work with them ,they will or they wnt get their money back. I dont know how internet ones work with people, but if their is a customer service number, call and explain your situation and ask if they will work out a payment plan with you.if not, find a reliable debt management company, freeze your bank account and let them handle it. The pdl co. will probably harass you and whoever you put down for your references, so prepare cease and desist letters for each company before you stop payments (be sure to include the contact info for your debt settlement company)and be sure to send them certified so that if they continue to contact you, you have proof that they were still harrassing you and can report them.

If you make payment arrangements with the internet PDL's make sure you keep everything in writing, including payments. I was working with one about a year ago and I was sending them monthly payments through my DMP and all of sudden I started getting nasty collections calls claiming that I still owed the full balance and then some. They called me a liar and said I was not sending any payments and that the PDL never informed them of any payments. When I called the PDL they kept giving me the run around. I was able to get copies of the checks that they were cashing and when I told the girl I had cashed check copies she started stuttering. It was in illegal internet PDL but I was still trying to pay back what I borrowed but they screwed themselves so I dropped them from my plan and haven't heard from them since.