Posted on May 22, 2009 at 2:39 am The one time payment is attractive to me. As I understand it, I would apply for a one big loan right? And I would pay off that loan at an agreed upon pace ? Depending on how much I earn? I'll use that loan to pay off all my other debts. Then I just owe the debt consolidation company. Is it as easy as it sounds? I mean I really don't want to go the bankruptcy route. Somebody told me to try debt consolidation.

Posted on May 22, 2009 at 3:14 am You have to qualify for this loan.Almost all debt management/debt consolidation companies have a debt requirement of about $4,000. Some even $10,000. If your total debt is less than those figures, you might not qualify for this loan.Calculate your total debt.

Posted on May 22, 2009 at 3:19 am Try credit counseling too. They can answer all your questions and help you decide which way to go. Why did you say you are avoiding bankruptcy? Are the creditors going after your home?

Posted on May 22, 2009 at 3:29 am The thing with debt consolidation is that it just adds up to the years that you are to pay off your debts. You would be old and still be paying off all those debts. That's not at all attractive to me. I don't know, just saying. Try debt settlement instead. I think I saw a form at the welcome page.

Posted on May 25, 2009 at 4:01 am Yeah I saw that on top of this page.I have mostly credit card debts. I think I probably own close to $4k ..are debt consolidation companies legitimate? What are the chances of them scamming me?

Posted on May 25, 2009 at 8:26 am It's impossible to predict whether you'll be scammed.  A lot of it is media hype (pushed by the credit card companies), but you definitely want to be careful.  Just look closely at their BBB record and make sure they've been in business for a while and have been reported on and tracked by the BBB for at least a few years.  A lot of the scams change their company name every other year it seems like. With your debt amount, I'd go with credit counseling or try to pay it off on your own.  There's no point in hurting your credit for such a small amount owed.

Posted on June 2, 2009 at 9:33 pm Thank you for the replies, I have been reading the threads about debt settlement too, and I think that I'd like to make that my first option.  20% of $4k is not such a bad amount if the debt settlement companies claim that they can negotiate my debts to up to 60%

Posted on June 4, 2009 at 2:31 am Hi alreadygoneYou can also consider getting a Debt Consolidation Loan, where you'd be acquiring a loan to pay off your other loans. If you currently own a home, you can try going the route of getting a second mortgage. Most people opt to use what they've saved up in home equity to consolidate their debts. Using this method, you can borrow a fixed amount of money, depending on your mortgage lender--and your repayments can be done in equal monthly installments for a specific period of time.If you choose the home equity route, your mortgage lender first needs to determine how much your house's market value is. From there, he or she will figure out hhow much to lend to you (which is 50-80% of your house's market value), and after that, subtract what is still owed from the house. Your lender may also take into consideration other factors like your credit score and monthly income.

Posted on June 12, 2009 at 7:20 am I would be careful if you decide to take out a home equity loan. You would be in effect turning unsecured debt into secured debt. If you were to ever fall behind on your monthly payments, you run the risk of foreclosure on your home.

Posted on June 15, 2009 at 6:42 am Steven's right. Getting a home equity loan can get pretty risky especially if you default on your payments. Aside from that some home equity loans are merely "interest only," which means that no matter how many payments you make for a specific period of time, you may just end up making payments for the interest alone. In other words, just when you thought you were paying down your loan, you've been merely paying for interest all this time, and you'd still be owing the same amount of money that you borrowed in the first place.