debt consolidation/management/settlement

debt settlement will definately impact your credit in a negative way.

This was my experience, credit was bad to begin with due to to many debts, and got worse because after awhile i began to become late and it made my situation even worse. later i joined a settlement company were i stopped payment on everything and it got even more worse. But once all the accounts were settled and the program was over, after about 1 year my credit was better than it ever was. i hope this helps

Debt consolidation as a lower interest loan to pay off higher interest debt if, even available to you in the current lending environment, would likely have a brief (if any) effect on your report just for the fact it is a new trade line and the other acounts you rolled into the loan would not post as 0 balance immediately. The negligible effect would likely be gone in a matter of a month or so but perhaps as long as 6 in order to season the new trade line (depends on what your file contains now).

debt management will have an affect on your report as the trade line will often show dmp. This tells creditors that you are enrolled in a debt management plan. If applying for new credit this will typically be viewed as a weekness as you needed assistance to pay the debt. In years past this has led to a extremely high percentage of credit denials based on DMP participation. Once the management plan is complete though, historically you are good to go. If your DMP is a 5 year plan than wait 5 years to apply for credit has been one rule of thumb.

Debt settlement will have a drastic effect on your credit report. Much worse than a board posting can prepare you for. The benefit is that, when done correctly and aggressively, as you obtain 0 balance reports on the settled accounts your debt to income factoring improves at an accelerated pace. Perhaps as little as 12 to 18 months after your last 0 balance is achieved you will be in decent shape again.

In todays lending environment and perhaps well into the future, your ability to service new debt based on income is going to be the larger factor in risk management/score analytics.

Ask yourself what you need your credit profile for in the next couple of years. If the answer is to buy a home you will need to improve your debt to income if you carry a high debt load. FHA funding is, I think, at 620 fico right now so, keep that in mind.

If it is a car purchase you want to make in the near future, I would speculate that (due to auto industry slowdown) you will be able to find what your looking for with a few blemishes on your credit as long as your debt to income ratio is semi healthy, At what interest rate though, will depend on score.

If you are concerned about other types of credit other than home, auto, student loan, and are currently debt heavy... get out of debt first.