debt consolidation

[afterbk]

I havent filed for bankruptcy YET, but I have a bad credit score. I was wondering if consolidating credit card debt helps or hurts your credit

[Boscoe]

It depends on alot of factors. But the mere act of filing may actually improve your scores, as all your cc debt should fall to zero.

You should look up "credit forums" and find one that talks about credit issues, how the fico scoring works and how to repair credit. But take care of filing your bk first........if that is what you determine is the required next step.

[6ftladycop]

I havent filed for bankruptcy YET, but I have a bad credit score. I was wondering if consolidating credit card debt helps or hurts your credit

I have a different response than the others. Before filing bankruptcy, I asked this question a number of times. I had not gotten on this website and was not familiar with it prior to my debt consolidation days. I was in debt consolidation for a solid year April 06 to April 07. I can only speak for my situation but once I entered the debt consolidation, my accounts were closed and balances did read zero on my credit report, but because I was having problems and had to consolidate in the first place, one thing I noticed immediately was that my credit score remained the same through out the consolidation. I never used the credit cards or loan accounts anymore from 06 to 07 and yet, no improvement on my score. I started an investigation into this issue and found out from several reliable sources that all my debt involving loans and credit cards with the consolidation services although reported to the major credit bureaus did nothing to improve or damage it more. I can only speak for my situation.

[tinroofrusted]

I depends.

If you do it yourself, then it probably wouldn't hurt so bad.

If you go with a company that is unscrupulous, and just takes your money, you will be shooting yourself in the foot, and will have to file BK anyway.

Do your research.

[afterbk]

I would go through a non-profit company that was directly referred from my credit card company, i think it might be ok.