Your stepson should
Posted By: (sm) on 2007-03-05
In Reply to: How much is the fee? - mtlearner
first call his credit card companies himself and request a lower rate. If they do not lower his rate, then perhaps he could get a loan from a bank, credit union, etc. that is large enough to consolidate his debt and also has a lower rate.
I have no personal experience with credit counseling services, but have always, always heard to steer clear of them. I am happy for the OP that she was able to clear her debt, but as another poster mentioned, the monthly payment made to the credit counseling could go towards the existing debt. My husband has one card that, at a time when we had some financial hard times, he called and they made an arrangement where they did lower his interest rate by several points and they set a $200/mo payment (same every month), but they also will not allow him to use the card anymore and will close the account once it is paid off. His credit rating, however, will remain in good standing. Others we have transferred to lower rate cards where we have received either 0% for a set amount of time and then a *reasonable* (at least comparatively) rate afterwards, or in some cases we have received lower rates (1.99, 3.99, 5.99, 6.90, and 8.99) and the rate stays the same until the balance is paid.
We have a lot of debt, but now we are actually finally starting to see our debt evaporating. One final thought about the credit counseling services: I have heard too that using them will affect your credit rating, so I would just advise that anyone considering that route verify the implications of it prior to making a decision.
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