In $111,000 credit card and personal loan debt

I have seen my interest rates rocketed to 29.99%, my monthly payment hiked, one account closedÂ*and reduced credit.Â* I have been current on everything, but not without a price.Â* I have moved money around from these cards jsut to pay the other.Â* My husband has been asking me about my debt and I am too ashamed to tell.Â* I did most of this for my family who has nothingÂ* Now I am about to be behind.Â* I cannot keep up with the payments.Â* To pay all of these monthly its about $4000 and I make less than that. No to mention the rent, car payment etc.Â* I have maxxed out every available credit to me.Â* I do have some late payments (like a day or 2).Â* My credit score has dropped from 730 to 650.
HELP

Hello and welcome! Have you talked to a debt management company or a lawyer? That's where I would start. Then you can way you options.

Island girl, I was in that same boat one time, thank god I have a wonderful loving husband, I finally had to tell him what was going on, and we filed Bankruptcy back in 2002, best thing that I ever did and would do it again in a heart beat. I wish I could now, we have a few things going now, but its all due to two family members hospital stays of the past couple of years and things like that seem to always make a financial hardship. I hope all goes well for you. First step, come clean with you husband, it will make you feel better and ya'll can start working toward a solution together. Good Luck

I agree with the guest. It will come out sooner or later via phone calls and correspondence. Then I would look into 2 options, bankruptcy or settlement.

Island Girl, Is any of your accounts combined with your husbands? Settlement might be an option ...and if they are separate, it might be easier to rebuild that way. Hang in there. I was struggling to keep up for a long time too. Deciding you have to stop is hard, but once you get things moving in the right direction (finally!) its actually kinda liberating feeling.

island girl...i can sympathize with you. search my posts under Julia666

My situation is similar to yours in that I owe over 140,000 in credit card debt. I have perfect payment history but I am tired of robbing from my joint account with my wife to pay these. In my evaluation of settlement or bankruptcy I think settlement is the best if you work out the back end (either payment in one sum or reduced payments on lower amount.

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I would say that settlement would be the only way to go here. Unfortunately most of your creditors won't be willing to settle with lower interest rates or lower payoffs until you're already atleast 60-90 days late which will extremely damage your credit.

I just know that me and my wife filed for bankruptcy about 5 years ago and we still regret it to this very day. Not only did we have the past dues on our credit but the bankruptcy as well has taken many years to get past.

Don't let it bother you though. We've all been there or are still there now. Let it serve as a lesson learned. When this is all said and done you'll be a much stronger person because of it.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Bankruptcy is out of my mind. I can't tell my husband because he is not confidential. If I tell him all his family would know and he would act sympathetic at first, but then he would tell me about it when we have a disagreement. No, none of our accounts are joint.

I am planning on working with Take Charge America. Has anyone worked with them before?

Any suggestions as who to call? Agencies etc?

Thanks for the help.

I would only use a real law firm, especially since your debt is in the 6 figure range. there is a good chance you could be sue in settlement. keep in mind many debt settlement companies advertise as a law firm then do not help you if you receive a summons

I would really talk to a lawyer asap. As this sounds to be very serious problem.

hang in there, i know it stinks but atleast you are aware that theres a problem. The first thing i would do is talk to your husband and come up with a plan. Your going to have to tell him hes gonna find out one way or the other and its best that it comes from you.

I see alot of people here have posted that settlement is the route you should take. This is a personal decision that you and your husband are going to need to figure out if this is your best route or not. If you stick around on this forum most will say that settlement is better than bk (which it is in the short term if they are all unsecured debt) But you must relize the facts on settlement to be sure you are ok with what could, can, and will, happen during settlement. If your ok with that then by all means do it. Just be sure that you are well informed how settlement works and what could happen. Good luck to you! just hang in there most everyone who is on this forum has been there, dont feel that your ever alone.

First thing is first talk to them about settling the debt... many times especially in these economic times they will reduce your interest, set up payment arrangements, or reduce the debt. Talk to them about your options before going anywhere else. After that maybe talk to a debt settlement company to see if they can arrange a better solution for you. If all else fails look into bankruptcy to be able to start over after a reasonable repayment of your debts.

I have been with a debt settlement company since Aug 08. I too am in the same shape. My husband does not know. I wanted to get it handle and on track before i told him. My debt settlement co made it sound so easy. I paid the fees up front and tried and save for settlement . But I found credit accounts DONT Wait! That is the 1 thing to remember , when you dont pay it goes up. In Jan i was served on one of my cards for court. I call and said how could this be?? They gave me some song and dance that they could fix it. They couldnt. I had to take that card out of the program. But they did refund my money for that on. Now to make a story shorter. Discover has served me for court. They will not work with a DS Company. I was not told that. So basically I am probaly going to have to file BK. I have a letter from another card and court is coming soon. So you see by not paying my payments it hurt me instead. I have contacted my DS Company and thank God they are going to refund my money. That is the only good thing about this for now I am Unemployed . Got layed off in June. and with no money you cant settle. DO IT Your Self!! THanks

candie,

Your situation is exactly what I am trying to get people to avoid. You should never have paid up front fees. Here you are a year into the program, your DS company has been paid all there fees and you are getting sued.

Please read my blog on how to find a good DS company.