Auroton Solutions...

I do not have any knowledge of this company but I am sure that someone will come along that has some input for you. Congratulations on taking the first step in getting your finances in order! Good luck and let us know if you need help.

Thanks Sassnlucy. I mistakenly spelled the name of the company wrong. It is Auriton Solutions - I am looking at the location in Atlanta, Georgia

On a safer note, do a search on the company with your state attorney general's office also. Most of the times, people with bad experiences will often report such places to the AG.

BBB is a private bureau and the companies pay a fee to get enlisted. Sometimes, it's easier if they don't want the bureaus to post anything negative about them because they pay to the bureaus.

Well, I tried looking them up on the AG's website, but couldn't find anything on them.

I went ahead and called them last night to just talk with them. The guy I spoke with was very friendly and seemed to bery knowledgable.

He told me a bit about their company and then went in to asking me about my situation. I explained everything to him and went through my list of bills and balances.

The outcome wasn't good, but he was honest about it. He just said...plain and simple....that I have to get more income coming in before they can even help me.

For us, everything took a turn for the worse when the real estate market dried up. I design houses from my home as residual income and our lively hood depends on that..but when the market dried up, my business went down hill fast. I haven't had any new design request come in and I have been stiffed by one customer already. I guess the days of doing business with a handshake truly are gone....

Any way, i am in the process of trying to find a second job so that we can attempt to make ends meet. That should get us by with daily expenses...then with each and every house plan I get to design, I will apply the proceeds torward paying off the things we have now...

It will be a struggle, but I will survive in time. This experience should make me a stronger person financially. It should teach me the value of a dollar and help me to better organize my finances from here on out.

Thanks for being so candid in talking about this on the forum. It is never easy to admit that you are spending more than you make and a lot of us here have been in or are in that same situation. I hope that things get better for you and the market picks up soon. Hopefully with summer coming people will be wanting to build lots of houses! Please stick around, there is a lot to learn and lots of nice people here. Good luck to you!

Thank you sassnlucy. You are truly a blessing with your kind words and your experiences.

I did receive a bit of good news yesterday afternoon.

One of my builders called to meet with me on Friday. They have approved the submittal I turned in for a house plan and we will meet to go over any changes that they have. Once the meeting is over, I will be able to finish up that product, turn in the statement and collect two weeks after. That one plan is good fr about $1500.

That will allow me to pay off one of my creditors and catch up on another.

I am hoping that this meeting will also bring about more work as they are actively building in a high priced neighborhood and the owner of the building group is ready to build his personal home.

I talked with another one of my builders/remodelers yesterday afternoon as well. I am currently in the process of designing out a basement remodel for him (good for abouit $200) and he has informed me that he has two new detached garage plans for me to work on. Each of the garage plans is good for about $300 and should only take about 5 hours to complete.

The combination of these should allow me to catch up on all of my other bills so that I am back to a current status with everything.

Hopefully, things will start to pick up for me and I will be able to get back on my feet soon.

For now, when the creditors call, I am just telling them to hang in there and I will get them paid as soon as I can. So, far they have been somewhat understanding and have not applied a lot of pressure.

I plan on calling the one creditor I plan on paying off so that I can make them aware of my plan.

I know that by delaying paying them, that all of them are reporting with the credit bureaus. When i am ready to pay each one off, I will contact them and negotiate the bad credit mark removals. I will let them know that I will pay them off by phone as soon as they remove the remarks.

Hopefully, that puts the negotiating power in my hands.