Beware of credit counselors.

[Deja Q]

When i entered, they took my net balance and divided it into 3 years' worth of payments.

However, they dod NOT account for the interest rate.

What i thought would be paid off by Dec 2006 is nowhere near even close.

My first card will be done in 23 months.

At the same pay rate, my larger card will be nixed in 28 months (after adjusting for the money carried over from the other one).

This is more than the 15 months using their own calculation.

People have told me they are proud of me for fighting it out.

But why did i bother fighting? The job market is now gone. The world is overpopulated. Bankruptcy "reform". Corporations are greedy. Global warming. Whathefuckever. A multitude of things we liberals whine and rant about that won't change.

So, whatever.

If I get extra money, I will not put it toward the debt. I'm already dead and I'm damn tired of worrying in nervousness and fear every fuckin' damn day of the week. I'm going to live, smile, and enjoy what precious little time I've got left because, once you think outside of the box, we are ALL nothing and OUR time is going to run out. So enjoy it. Stip nitpicking and shoveling up the spurious morality.

:cry: :rant:

:D = my new attitude for what time remains to me.

[Lars39]

1. Here's info on a Rapid Debt Repayment Plan Calculator:

http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com//member_tools_rdrpdemo.asp

I think you can get access to it for the Basic $18 subscription. We've used this calculator before.
Can't stress enough how valuable it was to us at the time.
Mary Hunt advocates planning for expenses and emergencies while paying off debt;
her theory being that if you throw everything you've got at debt,
the first "emergency" will throw you that much further into debt.

On edit: shouldn't really say "theory" 'cause she worked and managed her way out of about $100,000 worth of debt.

[Lisa0825]

2. Credit Counseling companies can give you worse credit

than a bankruptcy.

You can do everything they do yourself, and there are lots of books out there to show you how.

Great info can be found at these sites:

http://www.artofcredit.com
and
http://www.creditinfocenter.com

[Deja Q]

3. An independent financial advisor said otherwise.

And that, because I had been on my plan for over 2 years making stable payments, my credit rating should have INCREASED.

So, I don't know who to believe.

And I don't fuckin' care anymore. Especially since doing the "big B" is no longer possible. I can only try to pay it off. Maybe I got scammed again. With capitalist pigs, scamming is all we get.

So we have to like it or lump it. I'm tired of being a lump.


Oh, I tried to get them to lower the rates. They played the role of bully. A role I easily succomb to. You can call me a wimp or pansy or anything else too. I'm used to it.

[Lisa0825]

4. check out the links...

especially art of credit. Lots of folks there, professionals and people who have cleaned up their own credit, who can advise you.