Asking makes things worse

[Anonymous]

Try not to get discouraged ..

If you reach out to the CCCs personally and enroll in their "Hardship" program (if they have one .. that info is not online, you must call them) they may very well close or suspend your account, BUT they do want you to succeed (otherwise, why have the program in the first place ..right).  You can explain to the CCC you have your oldest account with and ask them not to close, they might just suspend until your balances are under control. 

Many "Hardship" programs freeze the interest or lower quite a bit and then they set a payment that you agree to (can live with) and might require it to be on auto pay.  However, should you fail to pay on time,have payment returned,  lower payment or fail to honor full agreement, they can consider it "null & void" and come after the full bal or reinstate (and back date) your full interest rate.  When your enrolled some CCCs will send you a "normal" CC statement and once you get it paid down and show your min payment much lower (such as min due $14 when you pay $40) .. WARNING .. Whatever you do, do not lower your payment ... this can cancel the "hardship" program agreement.

You don't need to pay a company to do this for you, these are things you can do yourself, but that is your choice.  But I really beg that you don't go "quiet" on your lenders and don't ask for their help, that is one of the worst things you can do besides not paying.

I can give the advice on the "Hardship" programs because I had to use them in my past and they really do work if your willing to work with them.

Best of luck to you!

[Reighn9]

I've only gotten one CCC to work with me on a hardship program or any plan of paying down my accounts.  Some CCCs that I talked to about making a few regular large payments to bring the balances down (when I got a large refund) just lowered my credit lines accordingly to match the new balance.  I talked to one credit officer about this.  He said he would keep lowering my CL when I made a large enough payment.  The ways I've asked for help is to try to get credit lines increased, a loan on my home (100% equity) to cover losses from theft, vandalism and weather not covered by insurance that got me in to this.  The other "help" request came about from a survey a CCC sent me asking about daily stressors, financial stressors, and other issues that might be impacting my life and well being. The survey asked what I thought would solve these problems and what role the bank would play.  After submitting the survey, I questioned if the bank was really willing to help since they had asked for all that information. I got answer back to explain my issuee so they could look into the matter further.  Ten days later  I received a letter in the mail saying my CC was closed, my automatic was not paid due to post day of closing.  No prior warning.  Letter just said please continue to make your minimum payment each month.  Can't reach anyone that knows anything and they haven't answered my letters.  Never late on any account. One more question-why are debt settlement and consolidation companies so pushy and harassing about fixing your debt?  What's in it for them? I'm hoping I can turn things around.  I have a possibilty of more coming in, it's just not real soon, but I have paperwork filed.