What to do!

Hi all,
I am married, a mother of 2 young one's and essentially a stay at home mom. But last year I started a business which is starting to be profitable and I am now contributing to monthly bills. Anyway, my husband and I have basically kept our debt seperate (which is fine with me) I am an owner on our home but not on the mortgage, (also fine, it was the right thing to do with one income and 2 sets of debt).

So I have accumulated $30,000 in CC debt over 5-6 years. I always pay at least the min payment and try to pay extra. I have no delinquencies on my Credit report but because I have high balances I have a score only in the mid 600's.

I want to get out of debt. I am concerned how the options will effect my credit. In college I messed up (late payments) my credit and I worked very hard to get rid of those negatives and improve my rating. With the credit crunch my limits have been lowered so my score is getting lower even though I pay on time.

I would like to get some info on what to do and who to trust. II will not go the bankrupcy route.

Thanks so much!! Any help is appreciated!

I live in CT

Since you are current and can afford you minimum payments I suggest you consider a debt management Plan. It is administered by a non-profit consumer credit counseling agency. It will get you one monthly payment close to what you are paying now but at much lower apr's " usually around 6%-9%". Plus A dmp does not hurt your Fico score. It does show up on your credit report that you are in a program to prevent you from getting any more debt. However that is only temporary and will come off your report as if it never happened once you complete the program.

Thanks that is good to know.

Have you tried to contact all of your credit card companies and ask for lower interest rates and/or higher credit limits? I called all of mine a couple of times this past year, but I had minimal to no positive response.

So after reading the suggestion here on this forum, I then wrote my "main" card company that I had held for the longest amount of time a long letter explaining WHY I had been late (which caused my interest rate to skyrocket) and what has happened in my life recently to show that it WAS improving, how the lower interest rate/higher limit would help me, etc.

I received a call back a few days later, spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the person who called who was not able to increase my credit limit but she WAS able to drop my interest rate from 30% down to 9%.

So for me, it worked. I didn't think it would, but it did. Maybe it won't work for you RIGHT NOW but it might in a few months. It's worth a shot at least!

First looking at the total sum of money you owe, it seemed that debt settlement will be a good way to get out of debt. But after seeing that you don't want your credit score and report to be marred, I'll go with Mobile's suggestion. You are an appropriate candidate for debt management Program (dmp) which will help you to pay a reduced amount of debt on a monthly basis without hurting your credit score. DMP will also help you by making an appropriate budget in accordance with your current financial position.

You can also get Free Counseling from our community HERE.