CCCS questions

**Palooka** · 05-27-2008, 12:11 AM

I hear about this place all the time. Can someone explain it too me and how it works.

Specific questions:

Like if one spouse is upsidedown in debt and the other is not, but still has debt but only in their name and they pay for it because one is not working, can they show that? Not sure if that made sense..

Is this the closest and smartest step before someone considers bankruptcy or has no credit left for loans and such? Like last resort?

Do they pay your creditors and you pay them? Do they negotiate a smaller payment so the person in debt can still pay back all they owe, just in a smaller payment? Credit still ruined but at least you pay all your debt?

Do they just look at the income to debt/ratio and not take things into considerations like kids, the other spouse's car payment that is not upside down but still have to pay. So they would only look at the person that is in trouble of the debt in their name?

If you are upsidedown on the house but still make payments on time, can they take that into consideration? Like late fee's?

Doctor bills in your name and also your spouses name. I mean if I went to the hospital for something and my husband carried the insurance....do they go after him or me??? Both?

When would you advise a person to go there?

I know, I know, I know... I hope something of that made sorta sense.

TIA...

**kettlecorn** · 05-27-2008, 05:51 AM

DH and I are enrolled in CCCS so I will try to explain as much as I can from personal experience.

As far as I know, it is for consumer debt only (Such as credit cards). No wait I take that back. I had an old debt with Verizon too so I guess anything "consumer" related. Maybe doctors bills, student loans-no and car payments-no.
DH and I are enrolled together. Some of the cards are in his name and some are in mine. We have one account for the both of us. If you wanted to do just the cards in your name that is fine and vice versa I am sure.
They basically contact your creditors and have your interest rate lowered and try to have some fees dropped. You make one monthly payment to them and they distribute to the CC companies. Unlike some of the stories I have heard about settlement companies, you are responsible for calling CCCS to make your payment unless you sign an authorization to have them draft from your checking acct on certain days of the month. I prefer calling and giving my info for payment, but that's just me. Sometimes I do not have the $$ in the checking account on that specific day so this is what I have to do. Also know that just because CCCS contacts your creditor, this does not mean the CC company has to accept the proposal. GE Money Bank (we have 2 accts with them) is one of them. They accept the payments of course but will not lower the interest rate. Bummer. But all of our other cards did so that is good. You basically are paying it all back, just in smaller payments and lower interest rates. They do not do settlements. We have about 3 more years to go until we are completely paid off. It is rough but I really wanted to get it paid off w/o filing BK. Although I have heard of some people who contacted them and was told that their situation was too far gone and they should file BK. We are in a bad situation and we not told this, although if we were I still probably would do the counseling anyway. We have not had a problem with them and they are the only people I would trust. Hopefully that answered some of your questions. PM if you have anymore. GL!

**YankeeMom** · 05-27-2008, 07:42 AM

Dh is doing CCCS for his credit cards. As far as I know, they do do student loans and other kinds of loans. I don't think they do car loans unless you are in danger of being repo'd. Same for mortgage, they don't do mortgage unless you are behind. Dh's is all credit cards from his bachelor days.

The money is withdrawn every month from our joint checking. The only involvement I had with the whole process was signing permission for them to withdraw funds from our joint checking because my name is on that acct too.

Other than that, we have had similar experiences as the above poster. Even GE Money Bank being a PITA. Although Chase was the worst, which was a kick in the face considering dh had had that card in good standing for over 25yrs and the first sign of trouble (when he lost his job for the second time in 6 months) they wanted to sue sue sue.

**kettlecorn** · 05-27-2008, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by YankeeMom

Dh is doing CCCS for his credit cards. As far as I know, they do do student loans and other kinds of loans. I don't think they do car loans unless you are in danger of being repo'd. Same for mortgage, they don't do mortgage unless you are behind. Dh's is all credit cards from his bachelor days.

The money is withdrawn every month from our joint checking. The only involvement I had with the whole process was signing permission for them to withdraw funds from our joint checking because my name is on that acct too.

Other than that, we have had similar experiences as the above poster. Even GE Money Bank being a PITA. Although Chase was the worst, which was a kick in the face considering dh had had that card in good standing for over 25yrs and the first sign of trouble (when he lost his job for the second time in 6 months) they wanted to sue sue sue.

They do student loans??I was told not but I am going to check again with them. That would be great if they did!