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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:52 pm Subject: Advice?

Hello, my name is Stephanie, and my husband and I are victims (if you can call it that) of the Hess Kennedy fiasco. (I posted as StephanieS below, and then created an account)

About two years ago, my husband (fiance at the time) entered into a debt settlement program with Hess Kennedy. We were only 12 months away from completing the program when they closed their doors. We have to wait until at least april to get our money back, if we even get it all.

We have additional debt in my name, which wasn't included at the time because I had good credit. We bought a house last may, and got married in Sept of 07.

We were handling our current debt pretty well, until I lost my job, and subsequently had to deal with my husbands old creditors.

As of right now, my credit isn't the best, but our mortgage and most of our bills are paid on time every month. But now we have this additional debt that won't go away.

I am considering debt consolidation or debt settlement to help us get on top and try to pay it all off, but it seems impossible, and I am very leery of being burned again.

I'm not sure if consolidation or settlement is the answer, but I don't want to lose our house and I don't want to be in this position forever.

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:59 pm Subject:

You will not lose your house if you are paying your mortgage on time like you stated. What are these additional bills, are they in collections with agencies, how old are they and how much? You can probably do this yourself.

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:07 pm Subject:

His debts are over 3 years old. Mine vary. The monthly payments are getting to be too much. And we have another card that is coming up off of a no interest no payments period in May. So while we can manage right now, if something doesn't give, we won't be able to soon

I am trying to research our rights, and it's very conflicting. I was previously under the impression that a creditor could not garnish my husbands wages or our bank account, and now I see that I am incorrect.

I am not in a position to make any additional monthly payments, and my attempts to reduce the interest rates have failed due to my credit rating.

I have not yet attempted to reduce the payments, and I never really thought that was a possibility.