debt consolidation

Wecome to the community. You can call the 800 # to the right of the screen for a free no obligation consultation. They should be able to help you.

Hello atc005 and welcome to the forum. I have never dealt with consolidation, but Mobile seems to know quite a lot about this subject, I will send him a PM and ask that he check out this thread, perhaps he can shine a little light on this subject for you. :D

Kash we were posting at the same time. :D

Ask and you shall receive

I will be happy to go over all your options with you.
Option # 1 : debt consolidation loan

We would all like is to just borrow some money at a low interest rate and pay off all your debts, right? Here is the problem with that. Usually in order to obtain a consolidation loan you will need to be a home owner because the bank will want you to put up some sort of collateral in in case you default on the loan. With you being a college student that not likely. But lets assume you are a home owner. Most financial advisers don`t suggest turning unsecured debt into secured debt . Plus it can be very risky because if you ever can`t afford the pavements because of a hardship that could come up you lose your home. Lets look at another option.

Option # 2 : Consumer credit counseling

Outside of a loan, the next type of program you might be interested in is called a debt management Plan or a dmp. These repayment plans are administered by consumer credit counseling agencies. atc005 , with a debt management plan you will repay all of your accepted creditors over a newly negotiated contract and terms. The Credit Counseling Agency will negotiate with all creditors to accept a lower interest rate, waive late fees and over limit fees and spread your payments out over 5 to 7 years. You will repay 100% of your current balance with a payment that typically runs about 3% to 4% of your total debt. You will have one payment each month that will be close to what you are paying each month with all you current minimums combined. This program will not hurt your fico and drops off you credit report that you were ever in a program once you complete it. If you can afford the one monthly payment for this program you should do it. If you are overextended and are about to fall behind or are already behind there is one last option.

Option # 3 : debt settlement

Debt settlement is an aggressive hardship program and best for consumers that don't qualify for debt management, can't continue paying minimum payments, can't borrow to pay off debts and don't want to file bankruptcy.
Simply explained, the Settlement will work with you to establish a savings program that will be used to pay off your debts over a period of two to three years. You will have one monthly payment and the amount you will pay back is typically between 40% and 60% of the amount owed when you joined the program. This type of program will hurt you credit because your bills must be past due for the creditors to be willing to settle, which should be that big of a deal IF you are a good candidate for this program since your bills are likely already past due or about to be and thus your credit is already or about to be negatively impacted anyways. The payments are usually about half as much as a DMP and get you out of debt in about half the amount of time.Most importantly if will help you avoid bankruptcy.

Both Credit Counseling and Debt Settlement are good options. It just depends on you budget and situation.I suggest that whatever company you are considering doing business with to be sure you check them out with the BBB to make sure they have a good track record. I hope this info helps. Have a great day. :D :D :D

There are several types of loans available to students. The simplest categorization is into federal student loans and private loans. Federally funded loans are administered initially through the US Department of Education's Federal Student Aid programs, and are usually the easiest to get student loan consolidation services for. These federal programs disburse about $60 billion a year in loans, work-study support and grants. Stafford loans are the most common form of federal loans for students, but there are a variety of other federal payment plans - among them military / ROTC plans to pay for college.