Debt Management Plan or call to get lower APR's myself?

I really need to start getting serious about paying off my debt. I have around 38k, most of which is with B.O.A., Chase, and Discover. My APR's range from 14% - 19%. I have never missed a payment in my life and have decent credit scores (high 600's - low 700's), which I would like to avoid ruining.

I try to pay a little more than my minimum payments, but it is a struggle. I am barely squeaking by every month. I have looked into Care One and their debt management plan. They have an A+ rating with the BBB and I've heard really good things about them. They negotiate with my creditors to get a lower APR, then I make one payment to them each month and they handle everything else. They have a $35 startup fee and a $50 monthly fee (from what I understand). My question is, am I better off contacting the creditors myself to try and get a lower APR or is it worth paying Care One $50 a month to let them handle the dirty work?

If I do go with Care One's DMP, how will this affect my credit score?

If I choose to contact the creditors myself, can anything bad come from it (other than them denying my request)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

It is better to negotiate with your creditors on your own.

Debt Management Plan does not affect your credit score. For details on Care One you can refer the various threads on it in this community. Write Care One in the search box, and hit search.

No there will be no other negative outcome. The creditor can only deny your request.

AVOID A SETTLEMENT COMPANY! especially Care One ... i discussed this in another topic.. we talked to them and they told us they would not send out letters to creditors until they actually received our first payment. we signed on, got papers thru email to look over, then within 48 hours called back and cancelled the plan. no money sent to them... well, it took 3+ months, to learn that within the 48 hours they had in fact sent letters to our creditors, which bit us in the rear quickly! they also collect more upfront in fees over the first year than they tell you too! you are better off to call your creditors. if you are current, explain your hardship to them and ask them about getting into one of the hardship plans they offer. most will cooperate.
bank of america will not work with us, as our debt to income ratio does not leave any funds to make any sort of payment to them. Yet we had been making a payment each month, not always the amount due, but a payment all the same. chase dropped our interest and reduced our payment as well to what we can afford to pay each month, and that is good for up to 5 years. citi was the best on the interest, as they reduced our interest to 0 % for one year,then we call back to review our situtation and get set up for another year if needed. they also cut our payments to less than 1/2 of the normal payments. do it yourself ! save all those massive fees the ds charge and it is much better on your credit report.

As SC said, if you have time and can negotiate with your creditors, it's better to negotiate with your creditors on your own. You can use the amount of money that you'll pay to Care One as fees and charges on paying your debt faster.

Regularly call your creditors and tell them about your financial hardship. Let them know about your financial problem. More often than not, they will lessen your interest rates and agree to a settlement process. Best of luck and keep us posted.

I was reading in another thread and a guy explained in detail how these DMP's work. He said that when Chase is contacted by a DMP company, their standard response it to drop the APR to 6% and require a monthly payment of 2% of the balance. I have around 10K with Chase, so basically I would have a $200 payment every month @ 6% APR. Right now with Chase my minimum payment is $260 and my APR is 17.24%.

Could I expect to get these same results by contacting them myself? If Care One can get me results like this with all 3 of the creditors, I would be happy to pay them $50 a month

Probably 95% of my debt with Chase and BofA is balance transfers. Does that make a difference on how low they will negotiate the APR if I try to do this myself?

Also, I'm pretty sure I've read on one or more occasion about people contacting their creditors to negotiate their APR and ending up not only getting denied, but also having their credit limit dropped. Is this a possibility? I really don't need available credit at the moment, but I know having your limits dropped can hurt your score.

Hey guys... just hoping to get a little more info here. If a DMP can get me an APR around 6% (as I read in another post), wouldn't it be worth paying them $50 a month? Can I honestly expect to negotiate them down that low on my own? Mine range from 14% - 19%. I'm looking to make a decision on what action to take in the next week or so, so I'd love to get a little more advice from you guys.

Believe me, you can do it on your own. Debt management programs don't have any magic wand that they will do such wonders which you can't. The key is in good communication and negiotiation. Check out the following link on how to do debt management on your own: http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com...ebt-management

I tried to do a DMP, I called each creditor left them know I lost income and asked if they could lower my interest. Each one I called closed my card ( not to bad a thing) But 2 of 4 only would do it for 1 year then rates would go back up