Dumping CCCS and paying myself

[Anonymous]

Hi!  About 14 months ago my score was in the 560s, was having some serious issues and decided to go to CCCS for my 2 high (10k) balance cards.  They set me up on a 5 year plan and auto-draft the payment each month.   I'm paying $40 a month for this.  I'm in a much better place now, I've gotten all my other cards paid off and score is 670s now.  I  want to take over these payments myself and save the $40 each month.   

I called Discover Card and they said they didn't care where the payment was coming from as long as they got it each month.   Barclays, after much back and forth with a rep said I have to stay with CCCS.   My question is, how do they know?  If a payment is applied each month will they really care if it was from Entity X or entity Y?     Will the CCCS notify Barclay if I "fire" them?  

Thanks in advance! 

[Anonymous]

Congrats on your score jump! I was thinking about using a CCCS myself. Did you find that your monthly payments decresed significantly by using them? Were the benefits worth it? 

[Anonymous]

Was it worth it?  Yes and no.    I was 30 days late on each of the cards but nothing had reported late yet.   I was barely keeping my head above water and the interest was a killer.   The payments went down about $150/month but the interest decrease was the biggest thing.  However, there was some kind of screw up with Barclays and CCCS didn't make sure the late amount was covered/discussed/etc.  So, unbeknowst to me, the account had a small late amount carried over each month for 4 months - so I went from no lates to 4 consecutive lates.  UGH!!   I hindsight, I should have beem more vigilent but I was in a bad place, distracted with some serious problems and mentally put those 2 accounts on auto-pilot.   

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Was it worth it?  Yes and no.    I was 30 days late on each of the cards but nothing had reported late yet.   I was barely keeping my head above water and the interest was a killer.   The payments went down about $150/month but the interest decrease was the biggest thing.  However, there was some kind of screw up with Barclays and CCCS didn't make sure the late amount was covered/discussed/etc.  So, unbeknowst to me, the account had a small late amount carried over each month for 4 months - so I went from no lates to 4 consecutive lates.  UGH!!   I hindsight, I should have beem more vigilent but I was in a bad place, distracted with some serious problems and mentally put those 2 accounts on auto-pilot.   

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One more question. Sorry! What the total number of cards the CCCS helped you with? Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

I only put in those 2.  I had 3 other cards but the total balance of those was about $2100.  I sold some stuff and checked the couch cushions for money and paid them off over 3 months.   Having said that - I would not have been able to pay the small cards had I not gotten some relief with the 2 big ones. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@I only put in those 2.  I had 3 other cards but the total balance of those was about @2100k.  I sold some stuff and checked the couch cushions for money and paid them off over 3 months.   Having said that - I would not have been able to pay the small cards had I not gotten some relief with the 2 big ones. 

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Makes total sense! Thank you. 

[RobertEG]

Did you sign/enter into a valid contract with them that obligates you to continue payments until a specified point/time?

[Anonymous]

No contract with CCCS - just an authorization for auto-draft.   This is the United Way version of CCCS      I have no memory or recod of signing an agreemebnt with either card. 

I am more concerned that CCCS will tell the creditors I am no longer going through them.    When I asked about it Discover didn't seem to care but Barclays acted wierd about it.