Somebody Help Me PLEASE!!!
Date: Thu, 11/30/2006 - 11:14
Ok, I was wondering if someone who has been through this same situation could please give me some advice and help me out here because I am at my wits end.
I started using credit cards in my first year of college. I managed them well at first, but I was working a minimum wage college job and could only start making minimum payments. Soon the two cards went over limit, they raised my rates, etc. Due to my company merging when I got a job after graduation, I fell behind again and the interest rates went up to about 30% on both cards. The balance for those cards now is roughly $2,000 each. Then I had to go to the hospital unexpectedly and they wanted about $2,000 as well (I had no insurance). I got a new job, but needless to say I got tired of paying five different people every month, so I sought debt consolidation services.
Consumer credit counseling of America said I could go through a settlement program for $189, legal fees included. The man Stephen that I talked to said I should take the deal before the prices went up the next day. I couldn't qualify for regular consolidation because my credit was so messed up and the banks said I didn't make enough money. So I did, thinking $189 wasn't that bad. The first payment was $189, the next month, they took out about $279 and I called them in reference to this. They said that I had enrolled with another attorney, which I didn't and I have the paperwork to prove that. I asked to speak to Stephen, and found out that he doesn't work there anymore (what a surprise). They did debit the first payment back to me but again took $279 out this month. Collectors are still calling me, wanting their payments, and all I can do is tell them I am in a settlement program. One of them said the could not contact them, which is what the law office is telilng me to tell them. And what's more insulting is that it took the law office a month to receive my paperwork, so the are moving at a rather sluggish pace IMO.
So my questions are:
1) Should I make an attempt to pay these collectors or continue to pay the CCCA, even though they technically lied about the terms of their agreement?
2) Has anybody had an experience with CCCA? They are based in MA, so I really have no info about them but they were accredited by the BBB according to their website.
3) Is this settlement program considered filing for bankruptcy? A family member said I should not continue to go through with it, and it disturbs me that these collectors can still raise fees and take me to court in the process of this settlement.
What do I do???
I started using credit cards in my first year of college. I managed them well at first, but I was working a minimum wage college job and could only start making minimum payments. Soon the two cards went over limit, they raised my rates, etc. Due to my company merging when I got a job after graduation, I fell behind again and the interest rates went up to about 30% on both cards. The balance for those cards now is roughly $2,000 each. Then I had to go to the hospital unexpectedly and they wanted about $2,000 as well (I had no insurance). I got a new job, but needless to say I got tired of paying five different people every month, so I sought debt consolidation services.
Consumer credit counseling of America said I could go through a settlement program for $189, legal fees included. The man Stephen that I talked to said I should take the deal before the prices went up the next day. I couldn't qualify for regular consolidation because my credit was so messed up and the banks said I didn't make enough money. So I did, thinking $189 wasn't that bad. The first payment was $189, the next month, they took out about $279 and I called them in reference to this. They said that I had enrolled with another attorney, which I didn't and I have the paperwork to prove that. I asked to speak to Stephen, and found out that he doesn't work there anymore (what a surprise). They did debit the first payment back to me but again took $279 out this month. Collectors are still calling me, wanting their payments, and all I can do is tell them I am in a settlement program. One of them said the could not contact them, which is what the law office is telilng me to tell them. And what's more insulting is that it took the law office a month to receive my paperwork, so the are moving at a rather sluggish pace IMO.
So my questions are:
1) Should I make an attempt to pay these collectors or continue to pay the CCCA, even though they technically lied about the terms of their agreement?
2) Has anybody had an experience with CCCA? They are based in MA, so I really have no info about them but they were accredited by the BBB according to their website.
3) Is this settlement program considered filing for bankruptcy? A family member said I should not continue to go through with it, and it disturbs me that these collectors can still raise fees and take me to court in the process of this settlement.
What do I do???
Have you contacted them again in regards to withdrawing another
Have you contacted them again in regards to withdrawing another $279? Has CCCA made any payments? Personally I would start with the answers to those questions and go from there. I dealt with a company called consumer credit counseling about 20 years ago and was very pleased. I do not know if it is the same place. I do know that there are several companies out there that go by names similiar to each other.