Take Charge America: Has anybody dealt with them?

Allow me to add my voice to the chorus in favor of TCA. My wife and I reached the end of our rope in March 2010. By that time, we had racked up $56,000 in credit card debt (due to some very bad choices made in the past), and every one of those cards was either past-due or charged-off. To keep the wolves (i.e., lawsuits) at bay, we were making minimum monthly payments of over $1,000. We also had four revolving payday loans, with monthly payments totaling around $800. We were actually relying on the payday loans to make the credit card payments and to purchase necessities! We were just barely making ends meet, and were only current on our car payment and our mortgage.
In March 2010, BofA said they would no longer work directly with us after we dropped off their in-house plan for a second time (for missed payments). They would not offer us reduced interest rates or payment plans on either of the two accounts we had with them (one $20,000, and one $5000). They recommended we talk to TCA.
Like most other people here, we were skeptical of TCA at first. Their initial recommendation was that we should declare bankruptcy because the payday lenders would not offer payment plans. We made the tough choice of paying off the payday loans by emptying our 401(k). Once those debts were gone, TCA was able to put us on a very aggressive, three-year plan to pay off the $56,000 in credit card debt. The highest interest rate we have on the program (on a retail store credit card) is 8%. The lowest interest rate is 0%. That huge BofA account was reduced from 29.9% to 1.9%. We made our first payment to TCA in April 2010.
Now, fourteen months later, it's like we've been given a second chance at life. We haven't received a collection call or letter in over a year, and several of our smaller balances have already been reduced to zero. The biggest balance (BofA for $20,000) has been reduced to $11,500! In just fourteen months, we've reduced our $56,000 debt to $35,800. Don't get me wrong--the program requires a lot of sacrifices and is not easy to live on (especially the first couple months). TCA recommends devoting every bit of disposable income to debt payments to reduce the balances as quickly as possible. This is good in the end because it gets you out of debt more quickly, but it requires you to curtail some of the luxuries you're accustomed to (like eating out, going to movies, etc.).
We absolutely love TCA. Honestly, things were so stressful before we got on the plan that I'm not sure our marriage would have survived without it. And one of the unadvertised benefits of working with TCA? Learning to live without credit! And that is a gift whose value cannot be measured.

One year with TCa and we have paid off 28,000 dollars of our debt. Our interest rates were reduced, some not drastically, but better. The budget is tight but only 3.7 years to be debt-free is well worth it! I have been happy with their prompt service, their budget help.

We are currently dealing with TCA and they have been absolutely fantastic about helping us in our huge financial debt. They are truly concerned with making us more aware of our financial situation. Thhey worked with me for 6 weeks on a budget program and called all 16 of our credit cards and got them to drop ALL finance charges and drop ALL interest charged on all of our cards. Now, when we make a $110.00 payment on a credit card through TCA, $110.00 goes right to paying the bill! It's amazing how fast our cards are getting paid down.
You have t truly be willing to become poor for 3-4 years, but when it is done...We have learned how to manage our monthly income down to a science where we now are putting money into a savings account.
I applaud TCA and reassure you they are not a scam. If you really need help, work with them everyday like we have done and you will be debt free and managing your money SO MUCH BETTER..Good Luck with them...

Word of warning....working with a debt management program does not prevent you from being sued. In fact it is not uncommon for this to happen.

Take Charge America is a great company. I have been with them for the past two years and my creditors have lowered my interest significantly, on most cc's I am actually not paying any interest.

For the person who said I could have done this on my own that is simply not true. My banks nor my credit cards would negotiate anything with me because I was never and had never been late or defaulted on any of my accounts.

Most Definately. They will help you. Most professional organization out there. You will be amazed st how fast they set you up and you can literally watch your debt go down !!!

I wanted to add that not only are they helpful and nice they are also non-judgmental.. My experience with TCA has been great, more businesses could learn from them. It took me four years to pay off my debt but I did it and I am healthier and happier for it.

My mistake was I bought a car with my credit card as it offered a 1.9% interest rate for the life of the loan. Well, that was not the case, after a few months my interest jumped to 24% and when I called my card company all they could say was that it was raised based on my high balance on this card and in order for them to lower my rate I had to lower my balance due. Impossible to do so I paid the best I could never wanting to be late or default and ruin my credit. That is how I got into trouble using other cards to pay some bills and using my income to pay my card. TCA was great in helping me negotiate a reasonable payment plan. I am forever grateful...

Take Charge America is an amazing company. I am 5 days away from making my last payment with them, I have paid off $40,000 in a little less than 4 years, If I would have paid the way the credit card companies want you to pay it would have taken over 30 years. I went on the program because credit card companies, namely Bank of America, Wells Fargo kept raising my interest for being late on my Con Ed, atleast that is the way it was explained to me? God Bless, Take Charge America.

I was $31,000 in credit card debt when I had my first conversation with TCA. I was the defensive, rude person on the phone. They explained they were trying to help me. I finally listened. I had a total of 5 credit cards with that much credit. I will be 100% credit card debt free by the end of the year, first time in my adult life. And more importantly, I now know how to live without credit cards. They are the real deal, they will listen when no one else will. JUST DO IT! Because if your reading this, whatever you were doing wasn't working. Thank you TCA, for showing me the way!