Question: Thanks for your advice. I have seen such programs but am not sure if >they are for me or not. My credit is not the greatest, but it is not >terrible either. I know that, like you said, it may leave a black mark >on your credit which is why I’m not sure if its for me since I’m not in >any real trouble with creditors or my finances.
>Overall, has your experience been positive? Which organization did you >go through?
Answer: Several years ago I approached Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS) b/c I was in the same situation that you are in now. This arrangement has been great for me. Usually they help you with your budget so that you will have your credit cards paid off within 4 years.
1. CCCS has you close your credit card accounts – then they negotiate your new (lower) APR & your monthly payment with your credit card issuer. By closing the account yourself, this ensures that on your credit report the account is listed as closed by consumer instead of closed by issuer (closed by issuer isn’t the best thing to have on your record). The CCCS officer can give you a form letter where you just fill in your name & the credit card name and send it off.
2. Each month you make your payment directly to CCCS – either in the form of a money order or an ATM/POS debit. They send the negotiated amount to each of your creditors. Personal checks aren’t accepted
My experience has been very positive on this program. It is great to receive my monthly statements from my creditors now that the balances are decreasing in noticable amounts 
Note – the services provided by CCCS used to be free – and still are if you started their debt payment program prior to this year. Now they charge some sort of monthly fee – pretty low, but I don’t know what it is offhand. IMHO, the fee is totally worth not having to worry about how your credit rating is taking a beating, or whether you’ll ever be able to pay off the cards.
In terms of how this affects your credit rating: you’ve taken the initiative to pay off the credit card balances – unlike many consumers, you aren’t declaring bankruptcy or just defaulting on the payments all together. Future creditors see that you are able to make the payments on what you owe. (that’s what my CCCS counselor told me at least). For those of you planning on purchasing a house within the next several years, being on this type of program does not prevent you from qualifying for home loans / mortgages either.
If you have anymore questions, I’d be happy to try and answer them.
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