In 08/2021 I entered a Debt Management Program in which I included Navy Federal, Discover, Synchrony, Wells Fargo, Citi. I paid off all accounts on 04/2024.
- Navy Federal: CashRewards for $15,300 and a Platinum for $17,600. I was given 9.99% APR.
- Discover: $8000. 5.99% APR
- Synchrony: Old Navy Visa $4,200. 0% APR
- Wells Fargo: The old student Visa $1500. 0.99% APR.
- Citi: Best Buy Visa $4000. 9.99% APR
Consequences:
Navy Federal
While in the program I was not approved for any new credit products, no auto loans, pledge loans, credit cards, and even a mortgage. I was denied for all of those over the years citing "status of accounts w/ navy federal". On 06/2024 (two months after payoff) I applied and was approved for a cashrewards w/ SL $11,000 (I also got the sign up bonus again, first time was in 2018). Today I have the flagship and the cashrewards with $36K and $23K CL respectively.
Synchrony
I kept a Google Store Card during this period and applied for the Paypal Credit in 09/2023 and was approved for $1700 and then on 11/2023 I was approved for the Amazon Store Card w/ SL $1600. Today I have the Paypal Credit w/ $2600 CL, Amazon $10K CL, Verizon Visa $5K CL, Sam's Biz Mastercard $5K CL.
Citi
First Citi card I applied for was a Cotsco Biz Visa and was approved for $4K in 12/2025 and then approved for AAdvantage Platinum Select for $20.5K in 02/2026.
Wells Fargo
I applied for the Bilt 1.0 every 3 months since 04/2024 and was denied every time for various reasons. Maybe blacklisted?
Discover
I do the pre-approval religiously every 3 months and always get the same decision letter w/ only one reason listed "status or past performance of discover accounts." I think I am blacklisted since it's been two years.
American Express
While I did not include AmEx in the program and kept my card open and in good standing. My BCP that I opened in 03/2018 got stuck at the $5K CL. Every single CLI got the same response "delinquent performance and/or participation in credit counseling". I was approved for other cards such as Amazon Biz ($3K SL, 06/2024), Hilton Surpass ($1K SL, 06/2024), BBC ($2K, 09/2024), Hilton Aspire ($3.7K, 12/2024), Hilton ($1K 04/2025). Every single one of them ineligible for credit line increases. On 01/2026 I received an automatic 3X increase on my BCP (first CLI I have ever received from Amex) from $1.1K to $3.3K and when I applied for a BBP I was approved for $9K SL. I think credit counseling affects you negatively w/ Amex for about 2 years, even if you do not include them.
Since all my cards but a couple cards were closed. My utilization went over 100%. It went from 650 to 596. As soon as I added credit lines it went up to 680. Today is 750s
to be clear this was not one of those debt settlement programs. I still paid every cent I ever used on the cards, just less total interest. (About $47K on interest saved)
Congrats on completing your DMP and paying off around $50K of debt, that's great 
Interesting that Navy only lowered your APR down to 9.9%, that's not too much lower than their advertised best rate.
It makes sense that you'd generally be denied by other creditors whilst in the DMP payback period, as noted they can see your other accounts marked as being included in a hardship / DMP plan which is viewed negatively.
I used ACCC. Make sure whatever company you use is a non-profit. ACCC first did an interview with me for about an hour and made a budget. A requirement is that you are at least 1 dollar positive for you to be able to get into the program, if you are not positive then they refer you for BK. (Tip: you can say I receive x amount from x person for support). After that they pull your credit report and confirm with you your minimum payments. They charge a $30 enrollment fee + 5 dollars per account managed (enrollment fee can be waived and 5 dollars can drop to 1 if you ask).
After that they send a proposal to the creditors and then they receive payment from you on the 1st and distribute to the creditors by the 10th.
Two things I wish I would've known and done.
1) As part of the program all accounts enrolled will be closed. (I would recommend you reach out to the issuer of your best credit card and enroll that card in a hardship program yourself to avoid getting the account closed). I wish I would've called the banks and closed the cards myself instead of letting ACCC request closure. If you do it yourself your credit report will reflect "Closed at consumer's request" rather than "Closed by credit grantor".
2) Out of all the creditors only discover has given me issues. If you want to continue a relationship with discover do not enroll it in the program, even if you end up declining their offer they will close your account and ban you.
You can DIY this yourself but this is a nice way to have one monthly payment and all the agreements handled for you.
Amazing story.
My journey started in 2022 and I am no where near where you are in your 4-5 year mark.
I wish I went through the Credit Counseling / DMP route.
Instead I went through a paid Debt Settlement Company. They tell you to burn everyone. They handle the communication and negotiation. They hold your money for negotiations. They take a significant cut.
After going through that and seeing all the fees the Debt Settlement Company charged, I realized I could've settled several accounts in full, rather than settle for less.
Because of this, I'm still on Citi's bad list and I could be a lot further ahead. Synchrony let me back in, but I have a charge off on my report for 7 years. And as you can see in my profile, my TCL is moderate and my scores are being held back from 5 charge offs despite having 4% or less utilization.
If people are deciding between Ch.7, Debt Management Program and Debt Settlement Companies. I recommend exploring Debt Management programs and Ch.7 first.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I was overwhelemd and not able to think. But if I were to recommend advice, it's to explore different options.
@E36 those Debt Settlement companies are hounds. I realized that I was in deep trouble when I continue to receive letters and calls from these places, also seeing targeted ads for these companies as I desperately searched for a consolidation loan, as I "didn't have problems" meeting the minimums plus adding some to the payments. I used to tell myself that I just needed to have one monthly payment in order to have less stress. One night talking to one of the companies I tell the representative "is this one of those shady settlement companies? I am not looking to default on my creditors!", the person responded "for somebody that has over $50K on credit card debt at 21 is not like you have many options". Man, that was a BIG wake up call. $50,600 debt with an average 22.5% interest. My payments were about $1350 on a $4000/month salary.
Then I found about credit counseling from the good people of reddit and I saved $47K on interest payments and so many years of pain and suffering.
Credit Scores aren't that important as long as you are in a good and peaceful financial state. I see you have really good quality cards, so work on building those CLs. I didn't start getting high credit limits until this year, w/ citi surprising me with 22.5K followed by bofa with the same.