What should I do?

Well, you have come to the right place. Search this forum and you will find tons of posts about situations such as yours by people who have been exactly where you are now (myself included).

There are several things you can do---you can consolidate all your debt or just your PDLs or both depending on what your needs are. Someone will be contacting you and can advise you on your next step.

Ask the debt counselor who contacts you about T&C (a debt consolidation company that works with PDLs and see if going with them would be a good step for you.

Speak to your rental manager and see if you can make some type of arrangements about paying your rent a little late. You have to have a roof over your head. Feel free to post any questions or concerns. Good Luck!

You can close your checking account and open a new one, I would go to a different bank though. Then change your direct deposit. This will take about a week or 2, so until then they will be able to get their hands on your money. Or go to your bank and let them know your situation and put a freeze on all ACH's. I would talk to your landlord and explain the situation and ask for arrangements and you probably will have to pay a late fee because of it, or you can even include a late fee in the arrangement. He may be more than willing to help you if you are honest with him. If you have had a good rental history that makes your chances even better. But there are also places that can help you with your rent if you meet certian income requirements for hardship. It doesn't hurt to ask around. But put a stop to the direct deposit or put a freeze on the account first thing in the morning.

Make sure all of your other checks and withdrawals have cleared though before closing the account--don't want to make your situation even worse.

what happens with my bank when I close my bank account? If they continue to try and take out the money that no longer is in my account my bank will continue to charge $34 everytime something attempts to go through. The bank will cover the charge but then charge me. If I cancel and they continue to try and send money through what happens from there? Will other banks even let me go through them?

This will cost you a fee per block, but try going to the bank and placing a block on each of these companies, and also notify each company ASAP that you are revoking your authorization allowing them to withdraw their payment from your checking account.

Open another account BEFORE you close this one if you are worried. If your account is CLOSED they shouldn't be able to take out anything as far as I know. I mean if you don't have an account, what would they deduct it from? When I closed mine, I walked across the street and opened another one the same day (a Wednesday) and the PDLs tried to debit old closed account and they were rejected---never heard a word from that bank, which was BoA.

First of all I Just want to say thanks to everyone who is helping out on this site. It is a relief to know that there are other people going through this, or have gone through this and are here to help. I'm only 21 and I was considering bankruptcy because I didn't know what else to do. Sorry for all the questions but I really have never had to deal with anything like this before. Do you by any chance know how much or at least approximately how much the fee is? And there are a few loans I've had out for so long that I don't even remember the name of them, usually they have a phone number on my statement so that I can call them but a few of them don't. What would be my best bet in that case.

Are you talking about a fee to stop payment? Mine was either 20 or 25 per item.

Call the numbers you have and then ask them the name of their company. Each bank charges a different fee, some are the same as if it were a bounced check fee and some are less, depends on the bank. But the fee is well worth gaining control back.

Yes that fee. Now if I do this stop payment and cancel my bank account with the bank I have now and open a new one. What will happen from there because aren't those companies going to becoming after me for the money? How do I pay them off, without giving them my information?

Open a new account at another bank if you can. AND aboslutely under no circumstances give them your new info. These people are going to threaten you with fraud and arrest. Please know they are lying to you and no such thing will happen to you. They are only false threats to take more money from you. Start filing complaints with your AG's office. You will find majority of these companies are not licensed to loan in majority of states. By the way, what state are you in?

You don't want to do a stop payment AND close the account, you want to do one or the other (Steelers, correct me if I am wrong here)
And yes those companies will want to come after you for their money. You can try and make arrangements with them or try and go with a debt consolidation company that deals with repayment of PDLs. When the debt counselor calls you, they will provide you with names of some that can help you. You will want to sign up with one ASAP to get things going and they can contact the PDLs and submit repayment proposals. The amount you pay each month will definitely be much, much less than you are paying now in interest and not getting anywhere.

That would be perfect. I make decent money and shouldn't be this far behind but I just fell into the trap. I live in Michigan by the way. And if I could get that, I would rather do that then have to close my bank account and stop payments etc. I do want to just pay it off, and be done with it. Do you have any idea about how much a month I would pay if I were to arrange a consolidation with a debt consolidation company? Just a ball park would do.

You are right Lorri, don't do both (stop payment fee and close the account), if you close the account and pay the stop payment fee you are going to be out money that should be in your pocket.

I guess when it comes to closing my account the thing that makes me nervous is that I close it and then the PDL companies come after me for their money. Will I go through national city and i'm afraid they will come after me or something if I dont have the money in there.

You might still have to stop payment or close your account because they WILL try and still get the money even if you go with a debt consolidation company. The amount you pay each month to a debt consolidation company depends on how much you owe to each creditor you put on the program, how much they will accept as repayment amounts. Just count on it being a heck of a lot less.

Is national city your bank or the name of a PDL? If it is a bank and your account is closed they won't come after you cause it would no longer be their problem.

I just signed up tonight so I haven't gotten a call yet from a counselor (which I'm looking forward too by the way). But...if I opt to go for the consolidation which right now is looking like my best bet, do I still have to deal with the PDL companies or do they do that for me?

National City is my bank. I just thought if I close an account from them and the debits still try going through that they would come after me. But I guess what your saying is right....it wouldn't be there problem because the account no longer exists.

A debt consolidation company deals with the PDLs for you. The debt counselor call might take 24 hours or so, depends. Ask the counselor about a company called T&C ( a debt consolidation company that deals with PDLs) and see if that would meet your needs. Do you live in National City, California?

No I live in Michigan but National City is my bank. I'll defintely remember that debt consolidation company. Thank you so much for all your help Lorri and everyone else who replied. I really appreciate and thank God for people like you. Hopefully I can actually sleep now, it's been hard the past few nights thinking about how much debt I'm in and how I can't get out of it, now there is hope! :)

So glad to hear that you are feeling beter---go to bed and relax. You have a plan! And there is always HOPE!

Thank you so much for all your help! Hope to hear from you soon!