[boogiesmash]

So another problem I had was spending. I spent and incurred a lot of debt. Recently my pdoc recommended that I don't work as much ot as I did in order to have some sort of social life. I didn't take into account how much I was in debt. After a month of no ot I had negative money and figured it out yesterday that it was that my debt exceeded my income. I broke down and had no idea what to do. I talked to my friend who recommended debt consolidation. I did some research and found a few companies that were reputable and had some good reviews. They took my info (no social security number was given) and they were able to find all my accounts and give me a quote. The quote given, has me having about 700 dollars left over a month, which is awesome. Has anyone done this before?

[Crazy Hitch]

Spending is something alot of BP ppl can relate to as it is unfortunately one of the symptoms of an episode.

I'm not experienced in the area of debt consolidation but I just wanted to say I'm thinking of you and I hope that this all turns out well in the end.

I'm sure someone will be able to come forward who has been in a similar situation to you and offer you some input

[boogiesmash]

It was a humongous relief when figured out if have 700 bucks left over a month

[Crazy Hitch]

Phewwwwwwwwwwww okay good yes that is some relief

Are they going to charge you a large fee to do this? And will they give you a competitive interest rate? If you pay the consolidated loan off on their schedule, how much will you end up paying in total as a percentage of the capital? 150%, etc?

If you consolidate your debt, will you keep your credit cards or line of credit or whatever financial instrument you used while accumulating your current debt?

Concerned,

Jo ~~~ Spending compulsively since 1975

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I think my brother and his wife did this. It helped them but I have no idea of the details, including any negatives. They were able to buy a house several years later so it must not have been too bad on the credit score (although when they bought their house the market was a lot different than now). But as far as interest and the like I have no idea. I think they did it when my SIL went on disability and their income dropped unexpectedly.

[~Christina]

I did it in the past..it was a huge relief ! I also decided to live credit card free which has kept me from retail therapy hell ever since !

Just make sure the company is legit

I'm a turnip....good luck.

[boogiesmash]

Originally Posted by jo_thorne

Are they going to charge you a large fee to do this? And will they give you a competitive interest rate? If you pay the consolidated loan off on their schedule, how much will you end up paying in total as a percentage of the capital? 150%, etc?

If you consolidate your debt, will you keep your credit cards or line of credit or whatever financial instrument you used while accumulating your current debt?

Concerned,

Jo ~~~ Spending compulsively since 1975

Hi Jo, as for the capital it is only 700 dollars (18246 total debt, 18953 with their plan, 22530 total in payments) more than what I owe now total. They lowered the interest rate on all the credit cards considerably and my cards line of credit that will be included in this plan will be closed. I am keeping my lowest apr credit card out of it just cause I would like a card in case of emergencies etc....

[boogiesmash]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I did it in the past..it was a huge relief ! I also decided to live credit card free which has kept me from retail therapy hell ever since !

Just make sure the company is legit

The company is called family credit, it seems like a good deal, they do make some money off of it which I expected. It has good reviews and is in the BBB. What do you think?

That does sound pretty good! That's terrific. I'm glad you found that. I'm sure it will be a great relief to be on a fixed payment plan and to be able to know that you don't have to work tons of overtime to make ends meet.

[Nix]

It sounds like you may have found a good solution to your problem. I don't have any financial expertise, but I thought I'd chime in because I do know some people who consolidated debt and regretted it later. They felt like putting everything into one lump sum was overwhelming and they'd never be able to pay it off or make much progress.

In terms of feeling encouraged about the debt and progress toward a solution, some people I've talked to prefer Dave Ramsey's approach, where they try to pay off the smallest debt first (without regard to interest rate), and then add the leftover money from that debt payment onto the next largest debt, and so on. (I think he calls this 'snowballing' or something.)

In your case, with working less, maybe consolidating is still the best decision… I know some credit card companies will settle for less than you owe if you're really in debt (though it's not good for your credit rating, of course.) Plenty of companies will also work with you to lower your payments if you're trying to continue paying. If you settle on one card or can lower payments, you might not have to close all the other cards, but I guess the best decision probably depends on each person and his/her individual situation…