Comments on: 10 Things You Should Know About Debt Management Programs

By: Debtbytes

Debtbytes — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:35:16 +0000

With the current hammering to banks balance sheets, many of the major card issuers are offering 6, 12 & even 5 year hardship plans. These plans are offered direct to consumers without the need to seek outside assistance. The plans are often better than any CCCS company will be able to secure on your behalf.
Some banks offer anywhere from 0 to 8% for the life of the balance. They will close the account, just like they do when you enroll in a debt management plan.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:25:37 +0000

I entered a DMP (Money Management Intl) 4 years ago with a pile of debt and am now a month away from being debt free. I will say the service wasn’t exactly what I expected going into it – the DMP was very hands off and didn’t provide much in the way of real conselling. They don’t even explain the process very well, so it’s worth doing a little research on your own. That said, I’m not sure I could have tackled my debt without the reduced interest rates and the one-payment structure.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:30:58 +0000

We used CareOne for our debt management program. We chose to enroll in this program because our credit card companies unfairly increased our interest rates even though we paid on time every month and refused to lower them when we asked.
Our credit was pretty good, around 700-730 but we were in a never ending circle or debt, with high interest rates we never saw an end in sight. We’ve been making payment now for about 3 months (it takes awhile for your creditors to accept a negotiated rate/payment from CareOne) and now we feel so much more comfortable. We now have thousands of dollars in savings, lots of money in our checking, and most importantly we are finally putting a dent in our debt because it dropped our interest rates so much- some to 2%.
There are some downsides though that you have to weigh, our credit scores did drop down to 630-680’s and some creditors list our payments as “late” for some reason. But CareOne said that the late status should change after about 3 months of consistent payments. Some creditors also list that your payments are being made by debt management program which I can assume does not look very good on your credit report.
I believe a debt management program is good if you have a lot of debt with high interest rates that you never seem to be able to pay off. Just remember depending on the amount of debt you have, you really can’t take on new credit, sometimes for years.

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:38:41 +0000

I enrolled in Care One about six months ago not really knowing what to expect, but I was a month behind onall of my bills and needed to do something.

Care One did get better rates for me — I never had to talk directly to my creditors. I got a 22% APR dropped to 15% and a 19% dropped to 12%, and over $200 in late fees waived.

They do charge a monthly fee which I sucks because that could be going to my debt, but they did help me get out of scary time.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:47:23 +0000

CareONE does not actively engage creditors to lower your payments and/or APR. Call the credit cards agencies yourself you can negotiate with them without the fees associated with so called credit management agencies.