Comments on: How to Tell if a Credit Counseling Service is Legit

By: Arlene Johnson

Arlene Johnson — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:37:40 +0000

In 2000 I was pretty desperate. My CC’s were maxed out & while I was never past due, I was making minimum payments & my cards were all over 22%, so I was never able to get ahead. I thought I owed about &35000. I saw an ad on TV for credit counseling services & met with the people there. When I sat & summarized my debts they were in excess of $55,000. For a monthly fee of $25 they handled the negotations & subsequent payments for me. I had to mail a cashiers ck or MO monthly. After a few months I had them EFT it out of my account. After 60 months paying $990 a month I was debt free. I was NEVER late or did not pay. True one of the bi-products of setting up any kind of interest reduction plan, most issuers will close your account. Another condition that you agree to is not open or incur any NEW debt. That too makes sense to me. It has been 5 years & I have a CC with a $10,000 limit by one of the CC companies who I owed the most too. Ironically they had bought 3 of the companies I had cards to, so that is how I ended having so much outstanding with them. And a year ago they even bought the bank I have my accounts with. So now my total entire banking relationship is with them.

By: Shelley Keenan

Shelley Keenan — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:33:35 +0000

Are the credit counselors at CCCS at 206 4th Street in Wilmington,NC legitimate? Please advise. Thanks, S. Keenan Consumer Credit Counselors is their name.

By: Shelley Keenan

Shelley Keenan — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:32:26 +0000

Is the Consumer Credit Counselors at 206 4th St. in Wilmington, NC legitimate? I have an appointment there next week. Please advise. Thank you, S. Keenan

By: Elissa

Elissa — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:54:54 +0000

Anyone heard of Beneficial Services? They called and said due to my outstanding payment history they would like to help me lower the interest rates on my credit cards as long as I had 4,000 or more in debt. They gave me a phone number and contact person which I called to verify but wouldn’t give me a website.

Anyone know if its legite or not?

By: Credit Resurrection

Credit Resurrection — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:50:06 +0000

That is what good true information means.Thanks jenna,real good post hopeful many people will read it and know after that what they have to look for when they are choosing this kind of services so they will have satisfactions after

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:40:52 +0000

I highly agree that you call on your own behalf! If they give you a hard time ask for there manager immedialty! It either resolves the sitiation real fast and they start working with you or you get the higher up. Call daily if you are having a hard time getting any where.;) I have done that.yes it stinks we would rather be doing something else! Make it easy if you have multiple cards do one a day…well worth your effort! I will tell you once you make a good deal,always pay it on time!

By: Polly Poorhouse

Polly Poorhouse — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:46:27 +0000

This post represents great advice. So many organizations are poised to part debtors from what little money they still have.

I would add that even among the legitimate credit counselors, it may be more beneficial to work with your creditors directly. I found that one of the big agencies could only offer to lower rates on two credit card companies. Rates from two more issuers would actually have gone UP under their plan.

I did better on my own. Maybe you can too.

To take a stab at answering Sharon’s question, I think that when you agree to work with a credit counselor you must close all your credit accounts, and that can negatively affect your credit score, especially if it is marked as closed by lender. Even if it isn’t, closing multiple accounts can change your debt to available credit ratio, which, again, can hurt your score. As I understand it.

I even had a lender offer NOT to report they had closed the account if I would agree to pay an additional fee. Doesn’t that sound like hush money?

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:32:34 +0000

I am considering credit couseling services. Someone told me if I decided to go through with the program, it could impact my credit – making it worse than bankruptcy. Is this true? I’m having a hard time believing it is, but I’d like to get another opinion. Thanks