Will debt consolidation lower my credit score?
I have about $7,000 in credit card debt that I’ve aquired during the past 4 years of college. Now I’m graduated, can’t find a decent job, and going back to grad school. I’m having trouble even paying the minimum, and was wondering if I consolidated my debt if this would hurt my credit score. Oh yeah and I owe $30,000 in student loans, but those have already been consolidated.
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Gene B said,
May 9, 2010 @ 3:27 am
If consolidating lowers your interest rate and allows you to make the payments, it can only help.
Sara S said,
May 9, 2010 @ 4:19 am
It doesn’t necessarily make your score worse, but it does not help it either. I would contact a deb consolidation program and see if they feel you are eligible. A lot of people aren’t.
Karen K said,
May 9, 2010 @ 5:19 am
I have checked into consolidating my credit card debt and yes
if you use one of the credit counselors it will lowering your score
somewhat but if you pay late even get one month behind you
reduce your score as well. My advice if you are going to get
behind consolidate or get a part-time job even if its in a fast food
restaurant. It may seem below you right now but your striving
to make yourself a great future by going to school you will look
back on all this later and be so happy you have done what ever it
takes to be successful. Sacrifice whatever it takes now because
you will be grateful one day.
AB said,
May 9, 2010 @ 5:57 am
$7k really isn’t enough to go to a debt consolidator. They lower your score and really don’t help. First, call the cc companies and tell them to lower your interest rates. Go to http://www.oprah.com/ and look up “Debt Diet”. She has a script you can use. You can also apply for the 0% Introductory rate cc offers you receive in the mail. This will allow you to pay off principal rather than interest. Since you are going back to school, have you checked if your loans be deferred? The next thing is you need to do is evaluate your monthly expenses. Rent, utilities, cell phone, car loan, groceries, entertainment, etc. Cut out the unnecessary eating out, movies, bars, etc…since you just got out of college, I think you can find resourceful ways to entertain yourself for cheap. You will probably need to get a part-time job so you can pay off your cc bills and not go further into debt by waiing tables, tutoring., etc Many people go to grad school and work full-time, so I don’t think this would be too much to handle.
gabriel s said,
May 9, 2010 @ 6:55 am
Bad credit is one of the worst problems to have… however there exists a solution.
I will hereby talk from my personal experience.
I did debt consolidation a couple of years ago, however If I had to do it again I would pay to some minor details,
if someone wants to get out of debt today it is pretty easy with a debt consolidation plan, however it may get a bit tricky at times, I suggest you get as much information as possible online on this first,
a good place to start in my humble opinion is astraight to the point ebook with question and answer I found :
http://umgarticles.atspace.com/debt-consolidation.htm
if it helps kindly remember me in your voting!.. cheers!