Maybe I am playing devil's advocate here but I just spent an hour on the phone with a certain company (Take Charge America) and was basically told things about how to reduce my personal expenses or get a second job in order to even qualify for a reduction in debt or smaller payments. Hello? My monthly payments are $1100, they tell me they can get them down to $800 but only after I find an additional $600/mnth in the way of reduced expenses or extra income. Whatever.

I have an account that has gone to collections. I also have enrolled in a debt settlement program as well because I di not want the stress of handling it myself, which I am doing regardless. Anyway an offer of 60% of total debt owed was laid out and said open until the end of March 2005. I called to make other offers that I was told would be "taken to the client", who is Hilco Receivables LLC. I have contacted Hilco and no offers were ever taken to Hilco at all and the 60% offer has somehow misterously been swept under the rug and denied being made. I am now being demanded to pay 80%.

dont know whats legit. so many claiming to be the miracle help out there.

In December of 2004 I got a call from my parents screaming at me that I owed Capital One $1,900. At first I was very confused as to how they knew that as they live in NH and I was living in AZ, which is where all of my bills were coming. They then told me that they spoke to some woman on the phone who told them that I owed this amount of money and would ruin their credit if they didn't pay it. Long story short--the woman disclosed my personal information (credit card company, amount owed etc) to my parents that I hadn't been living with for over 3 years...is this legal?

I have an old student loan I am paying on, I have been unemployed for a while, and am now a full-time student under TAA. A colleciton agency has been threatening that they can keep me from graduating this August if I don't pay this loan immediately. From what I have seen of the federal law, they cannot do this. Any thoughts? Can they really do this? Also, they have been threatening to contact me every 72 hours. What is my legal recourse? Thanks, Joe

Hello; I owe money in tuitiuon fees to the University. The University sent it to the collection agency. I called the agency, and they claim they do not work with debt consolidation agencies. Is it true? If not, is it possible for this agency to work with a debt consolidation agency? I want my payments reduced monthly in order to be able to pay off what I owe. That is $6,500. Help!! Thanks!

I have several credit cards with some pretty high interest rates. I am a full time student who just lost my steady income job. I have a marketing job but it is commission only. I dont own a house or a car, so what options are out there for me? I want to consolidate my debt and get rid of outrageous interest rates. Thanks so much!!!! Martha

You need two types of credit to quickly rebuild your credit score: Installment: Auto loans, student loans or mortgages Revolving: Credit cards or home equity lines of credit Look for the following: No application fee and reasonable annual fee. Reports to the major credit bureaus. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Converts to an unsecured card after 12-18 months of on-time payments. p.s. thanks L. Weston 05

Hello, I am 40 years old and met with a local attorney today who advised me my best option in resolving my credit woes is not too file for a Chapter 13. Since 1997 I have been a self employed insurance adjuster and my wife has owned and operated a hair salon for 20 years. Just after 9/11 my National Guard Unit was activated and I was forced too close my business and report for active duty in the military. While deployed I was stationed overseas and during this time my wife became very ill. Needless to say our savings vanished and our overall debt is approx. 150,000.00 dollars.

Hi, I am a grad student looking to repair some unbelievably immature undergrad credit mistakes. I have a difficult time reading my credit report, but I am pretty sure I have about 1600-1700 in non-school-related debt. Most or all of the sources have gone to credit agencies. I am very interested in what I think is debt consolidation, but I'm not sure. I hear of programs like this: you give all your credit info to a non-profit company, they talk to agencies, you pay a monthly payment to take care of them all.