Real Consumer Reviews and Ratings
Consolidated Credit Counseling Reviews and Ratings
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Manufacturer
Credit Counseling Services, Inc.
Product Description
Once you join the Debt Consolidation program they will immediately go to work on your behalf. Through years of building solid relationships with hundreds of creditors throughout the country, they have the bargaining power to, get your interest rates significantly reduced and many times even eliminated, get late and over limit fees waived in most cases as well, enable you to send in one low monthly payment, get you out of debt in literally 1/5th the time it might ordinarily take, and get your credit back on track. Once in the Program you send one easy monthly payment and they are deposited into a trust and security account. Every month we pay each of your individual creditors. You'll continue to receive statements from your creditors. These are NOT bills. These are simply to show you that your debts are being paid. We're sure that you will be pleasantly surprised as these statements begin to reflect your vanishing debts!
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Consumer Ratings
Guess I'm the only praiser...
12/30/2008 - Tamara of Colorado, USA writes:
I guess I'm the only one who has had a good experience with Consolidated. I don't know about every one else's experience, but I was told up front that all of the accounts I wanted to add to the program would have to be closed... I'll admit, getting started was a bit stressful because of the payment schedule, but you do need to put forth some effort... Like changing your payment due dates on all of your accounts beforehand... This solves the issue of your creditors receiving late payments. I didn't think to do this beforehand of course, but CCCS suggested it and then all of my creditors were willing to refund the late fees since I told them I was joining a debt management program. I also got written responses from each of my creditors confirming my new (lowered) APRs, so obviously CCCS did their job. The woman I worked with to get started was extremely helpful and was quick to answer my questions. After begin a part of the program, I haven't had any major issues with their main customer service department either. I've also been monitoring my credit score and it's actually increased by a few points since my balances are shrinking. Since I haven't paid off my balanced completely, I can't say how easy it will be when I try to re-establish my credit, but I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I get there. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but so far this program is working well for me. I don't think it would work well for people with 1 or 2 credit cards who have minimal debt. Those types of situations could probably be dealt with just by working with the creditor directly. But if you have several lines of credit with high balances and you can barely pay the minimum payment, I would definitely suggest this program.
Don't Do It!!
7/20/2008 - Reagina of IL, USA writes:
I can't believe this company is still offering service. I enrolled with CCCS in the 90s. My payment was higher than what I was already paying. After the first couple of months, I started to receive late fee bills from all my creditors. When I called CCCS, they told me there were some late payments made on their accounts. No apology. No offer to pay the late fees. Nothing. Funny, I thought the purpose of there service was to get you back on track and avoid further negative impact on your credit history. This company was a nightmare. You are better off calling your creditors yourself to arrange a structured payoff.
AWFUL!!!!
5/10/2008 - Karem of CA, United States writes:
This product is really a lie!!!! Be aware!!! Firts of all I consolidated 7 cards which they even sent me the letter saying these cards were been consolidated. Well guess what 2 of those cards never never received payment. After that they said they didn't receive my money order, so I went to my bank and asked for a copy of that money order cashed and of course they had cashed it!!!!! So more and more lies!!!!! I now arenged with my lawyer to declare myself in bankrupcy because for several months 2 credit cards never received payments and now I am in a terrible debt situation. They say they will help, that is one more lie!!!!!! Please don't do it!!!!
NO HONEST
11/28/2006 - Luis of Florida, USA writes:
Consolidated service, not honest, they promise that they will call your credit card holders to reduce the rate. well they lie, i had a 14% APR in my credit card, i pay the consolidated company and now they say i was late and my APR is 32%, my creditcard was not aware about me being under consolidation. they just receive late payments.
Not an honest business
4/29/2006 - Betty of Arizona, USA writes:
Read your contract carefully. When they negotiated the interest rates with the card companies, they settled at 10% interest. When I received the contract, it was written for 10% interest. When I checked the credit card statements, the interest rates remained at 14%. When I called to speak with the credit counselors, they denied the 10% was negotiated. I asked for a supervisor and was told no supervisor was available. Couldn't get past the guy I was talking to. I called the corporate office and was transferred right back to the first guy I spoke with. Once I threatened to turn the contract over to a contract attorney, suddenly they remembered the 10% and fixed the problem. The many lies I was told and the run around I got, don't waste your time. They are not honest.
STOP AND READ
3/16/2006 - Myesha of Georgia, USA writes:
What they don't tell you is that using CCCS is just like a bankruptcy. They CLOSE the accounts so you can no longer use them and then the company is reluctant to give you the card back. My banker of 9 years said that i couldnt get a credit increas bc of it. My score is a 720 so I was appalled. NOt only that they charge 15$ per month to d what a regular person can for FREE!!! They won't stop the calls if they've started and worst of all some creditors won't work with them. Two of my creditors would take MORE time if I used CCCS. Ask questions!!!
