Should I settle?
Date: Wed, 01/26/2011 - 19:21
My husband and I owe around 50k on CCards. We had to use the cards when my husband lost his job and it has been downhill ever since. My husband is a soldier and right now due to his army status we only pay 6% on all of our credit cards. With this we are paying our cards on time but BARELY. Actually right now we are in the process of attempting to rent out our home (yes rent since we cant sell it since we owe more then its worth) so that we can rent a smaller less expensive place. Our credit scores are in the mid 600's.
We are completly STRESSED all the time.. on top of it all I lost my job. Unemployment is paying pretty much what I made take home (since I dont have to pay for daycare)
I guess in a nutshell. We are paying the min. payments on all our cards. and when they go back up in interest we are SCREWED. and even if we can keep up.. I see no way out.
DO you think we should try to do debt settlement?? I am just so stressed all the time.
ADVICE PLEASE
Hi! Welcome to the forums! You can always go for debt settlement
Hi!
Welcome to the forums!
You can always go for debt settlement. It may help you lower the pay off amount by 40% to 60%. You can contact the credit card company and settle the debts on your own. If you can't, then contact a professional settlement company in your city. They will help you settle the debt. However, you should keep in mind that debt settlement will hurt your credit. So, if you don't want that, then you can go for debt consolidation. You can know about debt consolidation loan and program from the following pages:
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/program.html
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/loan.html
Alternatively, find a job as early as possible. This is because without a regular income, even the debt relief programs will not be able to help you.
I read your post and so feel your pain! I remember the stress I
I read your post and so feel your pain! I remember the stress I used to be under when I tried to stretch 89 cents into a dollar every month. It is horrible and feels hopeless.
I won't guarantee you that settlement is the way to go but I can tell you, from experience, that the day my husband and I sat down to discuss the ins and outs of it and made the decision to do it, I felt like 1000 pounds had been lifted from my shoulders! I felt such a relief, even knowing where our credit scores were headed. We had always protected them but what a toll it took.
We have settled 9 cards and it has been quite the journey--all of way too long to type! Knowing what I know now, I would have done it MONTHS, maybe years sooner. We are cc debt free now and only owe on a house we rent out (same as you, we can't sell yet and are living for cheap in a rental that we manage), a truck and a camper that we also had no luck in selling. I look forward to the day that we owe on NOTHING.
If you have further questions, feel free to contact me. You do NOT have to live with this over your head for the rest of your life! There is hope. We have even been advised to file bankruptcy but I was NOT going there and am so glad we didn't.
Settlement was definitely the answer for us. It made me feel like a thief and cheat when we started but when we got in the thick of it and I saw the practices of cc companies, I got over that quickly. It's a scam that they hope to keep you in for the rest of your life.
We stopped playing the game and I am so glad we did.
Lisa, I so agree with your post. You put it not words perfect
Lisa,
I so agree with your post. You put it not words perfectly. I am done playing the game too.