Today is the first day of the rest of my financial life.
After battling credit card debt basically my entire adult life, I made the phone call to a company called Accredited Debt Relief.
Actually they called me after I did an online questionnaire.
I have had near perfect credit since the ripe old age of 20.
Thanks to a high school friend’s dad, I was able to obtain my first car loan with out a co-signer at the age of 20. After that, the credit cards came and a love-hate relationship began.
For 30 years I have played the balance transfer game, the “Rob Peter to pay Paul game” and other strategies.
In 2013 the mountain of debt was paid off and I had a zero balance. The goal was to keep it that way.
But life happens.
A sewer line collapse followed by two lung collapses in three years, and a job loss created a credit card wildfire.
For the last five years, no matter the strategy, the flames of debt burned brighter. It has been like battling a California wildfire with a garden hose. The small stream of payments can’t keep up with the flying embers of interest
So today I came across a website that listed the top debt relief companies.
At the top of the list was Accredited Debt Relief.
I clicked the link and answered the questions.
Within a couple minutes a representative named Dave called.
We chit chatted a bit and then he asked me to list my expenses so that he could create a budget.
At the conclusion, the numbers showed I was paying out $1,200 or more a month in credit card payments and getting no where, a fact I was well aware of.
After a few moments I was approved for debt consolidation on several thousand dollars worth of debt.
My monthly payment will be just over $700 if all goes to plan and I will be debt free in 55 months or less.
Here is how it works.
Once approved and you agree to do it, you stop paying the credit card bills and the team at accredited will negotiate a pay off with your creditors. They say that sometimes some of the savings can go towards your consolidation amount, therefore lowering your monthly payment to Accredited.
They say it can take six months to get an offer from one creditor.
In the meantime the credit card people will probably call and send mail.
Accredited has a phone number you can give them so that they can harass your team and not you. I will probably just let the phone ring with all the other spammers.
Another thing to expect is a decline in your credit score. This frightens me, but they say the score will climb within a few months.
While it is kind of scary, I’m not too worried as I have no plans to purchase anything requiring a credit check.
To sum it up, Accredited negotiates a reasonable amount to pay off your debt and keep the credit card companies from profiting anything else off your hard luck or lack of self discipline.
After a several months you are debt free and the credit cards will come crawling back begging to be used again.
I’m in the infant stages of this life change. But I will update as to how it all goes.
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