I would not use one of those credit counseling services that you make one monthly payment to each month and they pay the bills for you. You can’t get new credit while using them and they look horrible on your credit report.

I was in quite a bit of debt when I was going through my divorce. I simply called the companies that I wanted to pay off and they worked with me to settle the debt for less, stopping the interest, and worked with me on payments I could afford.

It looks much better to pay them off on your own then to deal with those companies. In the end, your credit will look much better and you’ll save even more money than using a counseling agency.

Good luck!! I’ve been in your shoes. You can come out of debt way ahead!!!

I have worked for both companies in the past, and yes, we dealt with Credit Counsilling,
I imagine you are in the States, but its the same up here in Canada. If we were a secured creditor (meaning secured to a car, or Household Goods for example) we had special circumstances, where we would not necessarily agree to the suggested payment that the counsiliing service would recommend, we would demand higher monthly amount or we had rights to your security. If you and the agency agreed to the higher remittance, we would agree to the program.
Here is a heads up, if you were to ever miss a payment to the agency, the creditor could deem you in default of the arrangement, which makes it void, and the original agreement of the loan terms would resume.