I Have Some Debts - What's Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

I%26#039;m 20 years old, and circumstances beyond my control have resulted in a lot of debt. I have every intention of paying them off, but it%26#039;s so hard considering some won%26#039;t really work with me (just too difficult). Are these bills allowed in debt consolidation and do I have enough to call up one of these places? If so, which one should I call?

So far (all of these are approximate):

- $950 Verizon Bill

- $90 Gas Bill

- $150 Electric Bill

- $700 to a Collection Agency (these people are ruthless)

- $380 Medical Bill

- $100 American Eagle Credit Card Bill

Approx. debt $2,370.

Any advice would be really appreciated - I have nobody else to ask. Thanks!

I Have Some Debts - What%26#039;s Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

That%26#039;s actually less than my husband%26#039;s debt was, LOL. From a personal experience, he had several bills similar to yours. We managed, in the last year, to bring it down from $5000 to $2300. How we%26#039;ve been managing since we%26#039;re not exactly making top dollar is working at one bill at a time. No doubt a lot of them went to Collections, but the good thing was, no interest accrued on them while we went to pay them off to collections. Also, with high bills like that $700 or $950, save up a good chunk of money, cuz some companies will offer you a settlement amount less than what you owe and consider you paid in full if you pay that settlement amount up front. That%26#039;s what happened with us one of his. Sometimes, it%26#039;s okay to be sent to Collections while you%26#039;re paying everything off, as long as you%26#039;re getting it all paid off. You%26#039;re still very young and can still work on fixing your credit once everything is paid off. Work on a fixed payment each month that you want to use for these bills and start paying them off, preferably what you believe to be priority. We usually started with the lowest ones, only because that took more bills out of the way and left less risk of being sent to collections. It%26#039;s a slow process, but it%26#039;s worth the time in order to get the credit fixed. You really don%26#039;t want bad credit for the rest of your life.

If you really want to look into consolidation, a couple of my friends worked with Freedom Debt Relief. You can check them out for a free quote and see how it works for you.

http://www.FreedomDebtRelief.com

Good luck to you.

I Have Some Debts - What%26#039;s Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

You can visit http://www.cashguru.info and find very useful tips and several articles on debt consolidation. Report It

I Have Some Debts - What%26#039;s Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

I don%26#039;t know your income, nor your age, but I would not suggest a consolidation loan because people generally end up back in debt and the loan is just one more thing. I would like to see you go to a credit counseling service. Don%26#039;t just go with one on TV. Many are frauds. Check out American Credit Counseling on the Internet. They are for real.Get to them NOW!

This is directly from their Debt Management site:

%26quot;ACCC%26#039;s debt management program is individually designed to provide you with a unique solution for your financial situation. Professionally trained and independently certified counselors evaluate your financial situation, assist you in creating a budget, and work with creditors to negotiate a possible reduction in:

Finance charges

Late fees and/or over-limit charges

Monthly payment

Pay-off time

The debt management program will help you simplify your monthly financial commitments. We will consolidate your payments into one simple monthly payment and disperse to your creditors on your behalf.%26quot;

Good luck. I%26#039;ve been where you are.

I Have Some Debts - What%26#039;s Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

You could consolidate them however, since you%26#039;ve already been turned over to a collection agency on one of them, the likelihood of getting a consolidation loan at a reasonable interest rate is not good.

I know your debt seems overwhelming but you need to step back and take each of these one at a time.

The three that you%26#039;ll have the easiest time with are the gas bill, electric bill and medical. Call the two utilities (gas and electric) and explain your situation. Some utilities have low income help or some other type of help. Tell them that you are having a hard time with the bill and get yourself set up on a payment plan. Hopefully, they%26#039;ll work with you. Same with the doctor. Call them. You need to explain that you are really trying and want to pay the bill and will pay them $20 a month (or whatever you can afford) and will increase the payments as soon as you are able.

Pay the credit card bill off as soon as you can. You%26#039;re getting hit with interest on that one, but if you aren%26#039;t behind on it yet, you%26#039;re still okay. Just don%26#039;t charge any more on it until you can afford to pay it off at the end of every month.

The Verizon bill, again, you need to call them. Ask them if you can pay it $50 a month or something. If you call them and make a good faith effort to get this thing paid off, most of the time, they will work with you on payments. And don%26#039;t run up the cell phone like that again. You can%26#039;t afford it.

The collection agency - well, what can I say. They%26#039;re asses but unfortunately, you%26#039;re going to have to pay it. I don%26#039;t know what interest they are tacking on but call them and see what you can work out at a lower interest rate and get a payment plan from them too. Get theirs in writing because they are notorious at changing the rules if you don%26#039;t have it in writing.

Whatever you do, get the names of everyone you talk to. Get any deals you work out in writing, especially with the collection agency.

I know it%26#039;s tough going through this but hopefully, you%26#039;ve learned a valuable lesson in all of this and won%26#039;t do this again. You%26#039;re actually not in that bad of shape. I%26#039;ve heard of 20 year olds that have managed to go $20,000 in debt so at least you were smart enough not to do that.

I%26#039;ve posted some links to help you. Read everything you can get your hands on and try to do this by yourself if you can. there is no sense in paying a credit counselor and spending more money on that too but there is helpful info on some of these websites.

I Have Some Debts - What%26#039;s Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

Consolidate Debt: Consolidating debt is an ideal way to reduce your amount and tenure of debt. You make a single payment to one lender on a certain date and this will help you clear off the debts faster. But the fact remains that debt .

I Have Some Debts - What%26#039;s Needed On My End, and Am I Deep Enough In Debt to Consolidate?

A debt consolidation program helps to get out of all high interest debts. There are various types of debt consolidation loans.

Home equity loan is one such debt consolidation program where a person can use home to get a loan...