Bad idea. You are better off doing it yourself. Cut spending. Cut spending. Cut spending. Pay for everything you can with cash. Get used to it. Get into the habit of using cash again. Figure out your monthly income and your expenses. This is called a budget. Spend within your means. No more fast food, no more movies, no more TV, no more junk food. No more joy rides. No more NetFlix. No more World of Warcraft. Get rid of that cell phone. Get a magicJack. Brown paper bag lunches. Buy food in bulk. Move in with your mother. Sell everything you don't need. Each month pay as much as you can toward your debt obligation with the highest interest rate. For all your other debt obligations, pay the minimum monthly payment only. Once your highest interest rate debt is paid off, repeat this process with your next-highest interest rate debt. This is the only honest and honorable way to get out of debt.
The lower rates that the debt consolidation company gets are through special hardship programs that the CC companies have set up. You can get to them yourself. If you have missed payments, they are are actually easier to get into.
You mean I should just contact a cc consolidation company on my own? I'm sure this will have a negative effect on my credit rating.
If you do it my way, your credit score will skyrocket the most. Initially, using a consolidation company will always take your credit score down somewhat because essentually you are creating more debt for yourself. These companies are making money off of you. But getting out of debt is always better than staying in debt. Good luck!
I defaulted when I got out of work. Three years later, made no payments at all, I have no bills, no debt, and a credit score of 695 [60th percentile]. When the single remaining item falls off the record I should have a stellar credit score. I just sort of personally hated the CC lenders. They could lend my wife tons of money that I didn't even know about, they could jack my rates to 31%, they could treat me like a school child... I just told them to shove it all sideways so far that they needed new glasses... Just something to consider, I'm not saying you should do that but I'm just saying...
Stay away from the consolidation companies. They are a scam, and will under deliver, after taking a nice chunk of money from you. Grow a pair and make the calls yourself (to creditors), assuming you are late on payments, etc. If you are, they will probably wheel and deal with you, but you'll need some cash to make settlement offers. Do as he other poster said and cut your lifestyle. Get a 2nd and a 3rd job. No discretionary spending. Cut out all restaurants. Buy cheap clothes. No cable. Look into dial up (I've hear it's much fast than it used to be). Move to a cheaper house/apt.
Being the nice guy I am, I offered to negotiate with cc, etc for someone else. Then the bastards were calling me day and night regarding this other persons problems, like I was going to be responsible for them paying. Not a good idea.