Sassy,
I have 3 accounts enrolled in one as we speak. For a few months I could not make payments and by the time I was able to, my minimum payments were through the roof! And one account was even in collections....yikes! They worked out a plan to pay it off in 4.5 years. I've been in it for 25 or 26 months now, no lates and my balances are going down.
However.....infact big HOWEVER!
Couple things you should know before you enroll.
1) I would talk to you CC companies to find out the status of your accounts before you enroll i.e. how late, charged off, collections etc.
2) Try to work directly with them first because you may get a good deal with them if you explain your circumstances
3) MAKE SURE the CCS is reputable, don't go with anyone who does not have a good rep. do your research
4) Watch their fees, some try to get over on you. I pay $10 per month which to me isn't bad because direct debit from my bank account and forward payements and as I said before they always arrive on time.
5) Keep in mind that they may not be able to stop collections, chargeoffs, lawsuits etc. Which is why I said you should know exactly the status of your accounts before you enroll them
6) I did not close my accounts. That is sucky advice, IMHO. Well, 2 of them I had closed long before I started the DMP, but the other one is open and I intend to leave it so. Some CC companies will automatically close the account once you're enrolled in a DMP anyways. Some won't some will. I say if you can leave it open, then leave it open, the CCS does not have to know.
7) Be mindful that some companies will state on your credit report that your account is being managed by a DMP. While that is supposed to be neutral, I can tell you, because I used to work for a car dealership, they do not look favourably on you being in a DMP. So if you're planning on buying a car, watch that. I can't say how other lenders view it.
8) If you do enroll, read every line of that agreement, TWICE! And the proposal that they said the creditors agreed to....double check that, triple check it. I have one account that was charged off and although my agreement says the creditor agreed to re-age the account, they did not. And I have no idea how to deal with that, but that's another story for another time. You just call your creditors and verify that they agreed to the terms you have in your proposal docs.
Overall you have to match the DMP with your needs. If you can do it on your own, do it on your own. As I said there was no way I would have survived mimimum payments that were thousands of dollars. And although I do have some gripes, namely the charged off account, I am happy to see my balances going down drastically and I plan to be out of the program in the next few months.
Hope this helps.
Sorry it was a little long