Does anyone know a good credit counseling service? I know many are rip-offs and I would like my son to work with one that has been used by someone that knows how they work.
Let me give a little background here. My son just left a relationship of three years. His girlfriend has been in charge of all the money and hasn't been paying bills. They are so behind, and he doesn't even know what he owes!! He has to pull his head of out the sand, take charge and get this all straightened out. He is going without everything (meds, food, borrowing money for gas to get to work!) to try and get by. He moved home 2 nights ago, when it was found out that she was going to kick him out........
Jobs are so tight here, he has worked as many as three (part time) jobs at one time to try and make the bills. She refuses to get a job and it was her income that all this credit stuff was bought with. Now she refuses to work and will NOT help in any way. He has one part time job that he gets 32 hours a week with, and there just isn't anything more as far as jobs go. He is welcome to stay here at home as long as he needs to, that isn't a problem at all. I do plan on getting his meds today! He can't be without them.
Please if anyone knows of a good counseling service.......let me know what one you think is good!
Thanks for any help!
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The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching!
Here is one that we looked into several years back. Their main thing is pre-bankruptcy counseling, but that is not what we were looking for. We were looking for someone to help us get out of debt, help with budgeting, etc.
We didn't end up using credit counseling at all, as we got it under control ourselves, and we didn't feel we were behind enough to need their help. But they were really wonderful, when we were investigating them. They didn't push us or try to sell us their products and best of all, we were afraid they were going to try to talk us into bankruptcy, but they did not do that at all. Granted, they were trying to sell us their services, so of course they were nice...but they really were helpul in letting us know what services they had, without being pushy. So I can imagine their actual services should be pretty good.
Check with your local United Way and see if there are any credit counseling services available through that. We have one here that is great----you pay on a sliding pay scale, it's a not-for-profit organization, and its function is to help clients, not make money from them.
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The first step would be to determine what he owes and to whom.
Since this was a girlfriend and not a wife, what bills/ debts does he really have? They don't own things together do they? House? Cars?
Or is it just credit card debt?
Without knowing what he has obligated himself to, it hard to recommend the next step.
Credit card debt - I just snowballed it myself, but understand CCCS can help and are the best ones out there. Goggle cccs and your metro or state area.
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He does have a car that he signed for with her. Other than that everything else is credit card debt, and a damn cell phone bill. In order to get her name off that he will have to close her phone which will cost him and extra $175 just to get her name off and not be responsible for that. I swear she hadn't been paying on anything, and he didn't have a clue that so many bills were over due!
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The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching!
To be absolutely clear - did he sign up for the CC? Is it in his name legally?
By any chance, did SHE put his name down on it *without* his permission, maybe?
If not - if he signed up for it and just didn't know what was going on, then it doesn't matter that he didn't know, he's just as liable for it.
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If you could kick in the pants the person responsible for your problems, you wouldn't be able to sit for a month.
Did you know that a 4 year student paying $20,000/year who finances their education graduates with over $103,000 in debt to start? But a student who works and pays cash and takes 6 years to graduate ends with $6,300 in their pocket! So much for "getting a head start by financing!"
Greebo(Nerd Spender): Loving and extremely patiently tolerated husband of ceashels. WARNING: Y Chromosome behind the keyboard. Adjust your listening filters appropriately!
Three Two mortgages, twoone no car loans, one no credit cards, and a partridge in pear tree!
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have him go shut the phone off and set up payments he can use a track phone for awhile. so he has to pay they 175 it will save him more in the long run.
You said she was going to kick him out... is he on the lease ? I doubt she can do that if the lease is in his name. If it is and she is staying he needs to get his name off the lease or break the lease before she adds more debt .
The car may be real sticky if he cosigned her loan whose name is on the title.?
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Meg
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Some of this "fussing" about what he is legally responsible may sound like a bit of whining when they were living together when the bills were created.
But as part of the laying out of the bills he needs to make a list of:
What bills there are...in total.
What bills he is LEGALLY responsible for.
What bills he feels morally and ethically responsible for.
He needs to talk to her about how they will divide them.
I have a friend who got caught in a situation like this. He WAS responsible for much of the issues, but because of the "stick his head in the sand" attitude, she got a credit counselling loan "for him". With the lovely interest rates they offer. Then she threatened to take back the car he had paid for (in her name) if he was ever late on payments. Take the car back by reporting it stolen. It was a mess.
So this can get messy, and organization and communication will make it much better. Of course if those were natural skills in the relationship, I'm guessing he wouldn't be in this position. Good luck...
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