Debt Management Program

[Anonymous]

I've been in a DMP for several years now.Looking at my report, I still see the creditors as not being paid on the report. Is it left to me to contact the credit agencies about the DMP I'm in? This is really hurting my credit scores.

[demi]

I have been in a dmp for several years as well.  Although I have to be honest that I only started checking a few months ago, and I can't say for certain the numbers are exactly correct (just cause I don't know the reporting date vs everything getting paid around the first), they are definately being reported.  My Scores have increased over 150 from the first time I had the nerve to check 2 years ago.  One account recently didn't show a payments since may....but I think that was the creditor, not the dma.

[marty56]

I just graduated from a DMP after 4.5 years.  I only started monitoring my CR recently.  I was getting statements from all the CCC on balances and the payments and there were no problems on my CR during the time I was in the program except for the fact the there were 2 late payments when I started caused since my plan would sometimes take almost 10 days to pay an account after they were paid by me.

As a side note Wells Fargo would report a payment as 30 days late if it wasnt received by the next statement date.  I dont know if this was common or not.

Your first line of information is to contact your CCC's to make sure they are getting paid.  Even though you are in a DMP, your payments can still be marked as late.

Who is your DMP?  I used Harbor Credit www.40debts.com.  I had no problems with them.

Remember it is still your job to monitor your accounts.  Dont rely on your DMP to do that for you.

I can't describe the feeling when I made my last payment to them.

[demi]

Have to totally agree.  My dmp is thru take charge america...and one of the things they totally stress is that you check your statements every month to make sure they were paid.  The concept only works if you are an active participant.  What I didn't do was check my balances against the credit reports until recently...but then they would be the first to tell me not to pay for a report, just get your free ones yearly and check to make sure things are getting reported.

Also, my payment comes out on the last day of the month....and is usually paid withing 4 working days.  One of my cards had a due date usually around the 10th, but would fluctuate, so one month it was late...fortuneately it was one we were paying more than the minimum, so it wasn't a big deal to fix....but I did call the card company and ask them to move my payment date to later in the month to prevent that from happening again...simple solution !

[Tuscani]

http://www.nfcc.org/ is the only DMP endorsed by the FTC.

[demi]

Interesting...I can say nothing bad about Take Charge America, I think they have done a fabulous job.  The $35 I  pay a month is worth every penny in no late fees, reduced credit rates.

[Anonymous]

I know it depends on the DMP you are in, but usually they send the letter to your creditors that you have joined the DMP program. I do know that initially when you first join your payments may show as a late payments on your report, but after 6 months of paying on time they should be able to bring your account back to a current status and remove the late payments on your report. You also should still be getting a bill every month from your creditors showing your payments being applied depending on what type of DMP you joined. I know there are some who settle your debts and they pay off your debts and your monthly check goes to repaying them back and then there are others who negotiate your interest rates and payments with the creditors and send your payment to them. You should find a DMP who sends out your payment the day they receive it from you. I used to work for a DMP so I do know the way it should work... : )But you should always stay on top of your credit and make sure your payments are being applied, if not i would speak to your DMP first to see what's going on and find out how and when they send out there payments and how it's applied to your account.

[Anonymous]

I just saw this thread and have a question...I was in a debt management plan a few years ago, and recently when I started pulling my credit I noticed that Wells Fargo Finance had reported 18 late payments for an account I had enrolled in the debt management plan at the time (it was paid off a few years ago).

I never monitored my credit report at the time because I naively believed the debt management company would make my payments on time!!

My question is:  Now that I have noticed this, I was going to write a letter to the DMP company stating that they need to correct this erroneous information on my credit report (by having Wells Fargo correct their reporting).  Since I paid them on time, they needed to pay my creditors on time!  Do you think this is worth the effort or am I stuck waiting until these late payments fall of my CR?

P.S. I already tried a GW letter to WF Finance and their response was that they were "reporting correctly" blah blah...

Message Edited by Elexi21 on 12-04-2007 01:33 PM

[demi]

Check and make sure if they were reported....I had one (Spiegel) that was in collection, and they were reported 90 days late every month, even though they were being paid.  I didn't catch it until recently...it was not the debt management plan, its either how they reported (in theory, it was 90 days late every time because it was in collection).  This was only on Experian (I think its experian) reported correctly to the others.  So make sure to check all three, and see if they are incorrect on all of them.  Its a bummer, because at quick glance I show 33 over 90 day lates, when in fact almost all are on this account, and it was being paid every month.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad to see others talking about DMPs.  I'm very interested in how it worked out for you.  We've been in ours (CCCS) for 27 months now.  Our fee is only $20 per month.  We've had good experiences so far.  I would be interested in knowing if it was harder to get a PFD once you are in the program.  I know it's not a guarantee, but they know that while you are on the program they're going to receive payments.