Debt

Welcome, Randy! Can you give us a little bit more information? What type of debt do you have? Are your payments current or delinquent?

Are payments if you want to call them that are current the credit is mostly on one card for 25,000 and another at 9,000 and another at 3,500 and another two at about athousand a piece.

Pretty much all credit card companies offer hardship programs. Some of them won't offer them to you until you are delinquent. You would probably need to be able to show them that you have a hardship (loss of income, etc.). Usually, the programs are temporary (six months to one year), and they will reduce your interest rate (about 0% to 10%), and they will reduce your minimum payment amount (usually about 1% of your outstanding balance).

You could also consider a debt management plan. You would want to contact a non-profit Consumer credit counseling service. However, if you are over extended, this option may not help you much because your minimum payments will probably not be much less than what you are paying now. The good side is that your interest rates will probably get lowered, so more of your payments will go toward paying down your balances, and you will be out of debt sooner.

The other option would be debt settlement. You would need to stop paying your bills, and once they are several months delinquent, then you may be able to negotiate with your creditors to settle for a lesser payoff amount. However, you would need to have those funds available for a lump sum payment. This does affect your credit score, and you also run the risk of lawsuits. You can also hire a company to negotiate for you, but then you have to pay them fees. Also, you would need to be very careful because many of those companies are not reputable.

As a member of this community, you are entitled to a free consultaion with a counselor to review your situation. Just call the number in the upper right hand corner.

So what's the bottom line should I just call that number? I know your just trying to help, but all those ideas really sound terrible!

So what's the bottom line should I just call that number? I know your just trying to help, but all those ideas really sound terrible!

I would call the 1-800-601-1579 and discuss all of your options that alias1958 suggested. They will be able to answer your questions in more detail and give you an idea on where you would stand on all of them.

Calling that number would be a good place to start. Also, if you review some of the other posts here, it might give you a better understanding of your options.

If you are able to continue making your payments, there are a couple of systematic methods of paying down your debt. Basically, you continue to make minimum payments on all of your cards, and you figure out how much extra you can pay towards one of them. Then you pick either the highest interest rate card or the lowest balance card, and you pay extra towards that each month until it's paid off. Then you take the amount that you were paying on that card and add it to the minimum amount on the next highest interest rate card or the next lowest balance card until it's paid off, and so forth.

Some people prefer starting with the lowest balance card because they see progress sooner, and some prefer starting with the highest interest rate card because that is costing the most.