Ask:
I have been lurking here for several months and learning alot of great things. Please tell me if I am doing the right thing.
Last year my husband lost his job 3 times. I went back to work in December after having been a sahm for 6 years. Hubby now works for my dad making a third of what he use to make. I handle all of the family finances. Last year we pretty much lived off our credit cards(bad I know). Well, dh has no idea what bills are due when or how much. I don't tell him because I don't want to make his health problems worse. Last month he told me to contact CCCS to help with the credit cards. I did and was told that it was okay to not make monthly payments for now. Well last week I found out that I should have been making the payments. His Visa was shut off. Which was a blessing in disguise, because the bank made an offer to me to lower the interest rate another 10% from the CCCS for his card. I took it. Today dh tried to use the card and it was declined. He called me very mad wanting to know why. I explained to him about the CCCS and the deal I had made with the bank. He was still furious, so now I have put everything on paper for him to see when he gets home.
I have a plan to get rid of the rest of our debts also, but I am not sure what to do.
Any suggestions or criticism are welcome.
Answer:
We did CCCS when I lost my job, and it was a blessing and a curse. We were able to pay almost $8,000 in 6months, but it really hurts your credit. You have to decide which is worse, being behind and having that on your credit or the CCCS on your credit. As far as your dh goes, I was in the same boat until last week. I was terrified of telling him how bad off we were. He sat down with me looked at everything, we decided who to pay off w/ our tax refund, who to make bigger payments to, etc. It is such a relief to have the burden off of my shoulders and not feeling like I have to hide everything from him.
Answer:
That sucks... so stressful! I would just tell him your plan.. and try to get him involved... where you both know where you are financially so you can work harder to make it better. Good luck!
Answer:
We talked some this morning. He seemed to understand the situation we are in. I think I have decided not to do cccs at all. I want to try and contact my creditors myself first. Has anyone had any luck with this? I am interested in closing all the accounts.
Thanks for the help.
Answer:
I think they are more helpful when u are still an active card holder. most creditors want payment in full if u cancel the card. I just cut mine up and then continued to pay them off. I had no card to charge. even if they say no continue to pay some amount, b/c they will accept it and if they accept it they cannot put u in collections. at least that was what is was back when I was in college. I was successful in getting my payments either lowered or rates lowered. I would start with medical bills. they usually don't have accure interest and are more than willing to work with u. then ask longest standing cc to lower rates b/c u have been a valued customer. as I start to pay off, I pay off smallest ones first and then as they are paid off i take all the money that was going to pay off small cc and now apply to larger cc. HTH
allgirls