CCCS..AMEX..did he do the right thing?

[Anonymous]

My son just out of divorce signed up with CCCS, which I understand to be a repual DMS last Thursday. He had just two cc's they could help him with the other is a an AMEX which won't work with him so I'm going to help him with that. He hasn't made payments to any of them since January( due to getting mixed up with some bad debt services). He has no other debt except rent and utility. I'm a newbie just finding this site and have a couple of questions. The AMEX is in collection. Should we deal with the collection agency or should we just pay whats owed to AMEX directly? I've heard AMEX doesn't make deals and we want to do whats least hurtful to his already damaged credit. I thought dealing directly with AMEX best but should we try and get a deal with collector? Was doing the CCCS a smart thing? His debt isn't crazy astronomical(around 15k give or take) and I may be able to get a loan to help him or should he stick with this? They say it'll take like 55 months to get payed up though I'd say he'll clean it up faster. If I got a loan I doubt I could still get the other two creditors to lower what he owes due to CCCS contacting them already could I? Does them lowering it hurt anything credit score wise? Would the CCCS payments show up on his credit report in a good way? How long would he be able to start building his credit back up again? Sorry about the length of the post and hope it doesn't sound too stupid, just wondering if he/we did the right thing. Thank you so much!

[Anonymous]

Most legitimate CCCS's require that you sign an agreement that you will not seek additional credit while on the plan. Therefore there is no rebuilding going on while on the plan. Also, CC companies will lower interest rate but will also usually close the accounts. They will show as closed by grantor on his credit reports. If Amex is in the hands of a CA they will probably not deal with you directly and either way at this point (no payments since January) they might have already charged off and closed the account. His score has probably already bottomed out so as he makes payments to the CCCC's and time elapses, his scores will start inching up slowly. Make sure that he stays on top of the CCCS payments and that they pay on time, otherwise if they pay late, that'll further hurt his credit. I speak from experience.....

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lostindaozone wrote:
My son just out of divorce signed up with CCCS, which I understand to be a repual DMS last Thursday. He had just two cc's they could help him with the other is a an AMEX which won't work with him so I'm going to help him with that. He hasn't made payments to any of them since January( due to getting mixed up with some bad debt services). He has no other debt except rent and utility. I'm a newbie just finding this site and have a couple of questions. The AMEX is in collection. Should we deal with the collection agency or should we just pay whats owed to AMEX directly? I've heard AMEX doesn't make deals and we want to do whats least hurtful to his already damaged credit. I thought dealing directly with AMEX best but should we try and get a deal with collector? Was doing the CCCS a smart thing? His debt isn't crazy astronomical(around 15k give or take) and I may be able to get a loan to help him or should he stick with this? They say it'll take like 55 months to get payed up though I'd say he'll clean it up faster. If I got a loan I doubt I could still get the other two creditors to lower what he owes due to CCCS contacting them already could I? Does them lowering it hurt anything credit score wise? Would the CCCS payments show up on his credit report in a good way? How long would he be able to start building his credit back up again? Sorry about the length of the post and hope it doesn't sound too stupid, just wondering if he/we did the right thing. Thank you so much!

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