On my report it says "payments being made by credit counseling service" in the comments

[danny4l]

Several months ago, I enrolled in a debt retirement program so that I can pay off my credit card debt at lower APR's.  I make one payment to this organization and they pay the creditors.  Now I can pay this debt off by 2015 as opposed to 20 or 25 years.

I just checked my experian file via capitalone's creditinform service and under the comments section of the four accounts that I am paying off, it says "payments being made by credit counseling service."

Is this bad?  Does it affect my score or credit worthiness in any way?

[rckstrscott]

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@danny4l wrote:

Several months ago, I enrolled in a debt retirement program so that I can pay off my credit card debt at lower APR's.  I make one payment to this organization and they pay the creditors.  Now I can pay this debt off by 2015 as opposed to 20 or 25 years.

I just checked my experian file via capitalone's creditinform service and under the comments section of the four accounts that I am paying off, it says "payments being made by credit counseling service."

Is this bad?  Does it affect my score or credit worthiness in any way?

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In FICO terms, I am not sure, but if I was lending money or was a lender, I would be a little wary of someone with those kinds of remarks.

But ultimately, FICO is just one peice of the puzzle. If you are in a better financial spot because you decided to use this service, then it was the best choice regardless of a 3rd party credit score.

-scott

[taskforce971]

I agree with the above comment. It certainly beats being in default!

[marty56]

I successful completed a DMP program a few years ago and those comments have had zero effect on my FICO score and no lender has rejected me because f them.  That includes Mortgae, mortgage refi, auto loan and autoloan refi all at the best rates for what my scores were at the time.

LOL even some of the companies I was in DMP with send me pre-approvals from time to time but I have no interest in going down memory lane.

[rckstrscott]

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@marty56 wrote:

I successful completed a DMP program a few years ago and those comments have had zero effect on my FICO score and no lender has rejected me because f them.  That includes Mortgae, mortgage refi, auto loan and autoloan refi all at the best rates for what my scores were at the time.

LOL even some of the companies I was in DMP with send me pre-approvals from time to time but I have no interest in going down memory lane.

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YMMV. My sister had disasterous affects trying to apply for any form of credit afterwards.

-scott

[marty56]

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@rckstrscott wrote:

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@marty56 wrote:

I successful completed a DMP program a few years ago and those comments have had zero effect on my FICO score and no lender has rejected me because f them.  That includes Mortgae, mortgage refi, auto loan and autoloan refi all at the best rates for what my scores were at the time.

LOL even some of the companies I was in DMP with send me pre-approvals from time to time but I have no interest in going down memory lane.

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YMMV. My sister had disasterous affects trying to apply for any form of credit afterwards.

-scott

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If it helps, the companies I have delt with since DMP are my local CU (RBFCU), Chase , GE, PNC, BML.  None of those companies were in the program which may be a factor.  Also except for BofA, my report was clean and old.

[rckstrscott]

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@marty56 wrote:

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@rckstrscott wrote:

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@marty56 wrote:

I successful completed a DMP program a few years ago and those comments have had zero effect on my FICO score and no lender has rejected me because f them.  That includes Mortgae, mortgage refi, auto loan and autoloan refi all at the best rates for what my scores were at the time.

LOL even some of the companies I was in DMP with send me pre-approvals from time to time but I have no interest in going down memory lane.

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YMMV. My sister had disasterous affects trying to apply for any form of credit afterwards.

-scott

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If it helps, the companies I have delt with since DMP are my local CU (RBFCU), Chase , GE, PNC, BML.  None of those companies were in the program which may be a factor.  Also except for BofA, my report was clean and old.

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Yeah; I have heard mixed bag results, but I guess my intial point (to sorta go along with your point) is that if it makes sense, saves you money and gets you outta the hole, the FICO is pretty irrelevant compared to that.,

-scott

[danny4l]

Even though the comment appears on my report now, is it true that the comments are removed once I "graduate" from the program?

So if the debts are paid off by 2015, then the comments fall off?

[rckstrscott]

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@danny4l wrote:

Even though the comment appears on my report now, is it true that the comments are removed once I "graduate" from the program?

So if the debts are paid off by 2015, then the comments fall off?

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I am unsure, but once they are paid off, if they are still on there you could probably GW them away..

I don't have experience with it, hopefully Marty will chime back in..

-scott

[danny4l]

On paper, this program was too good to pass up. It's not like I am settling the debt.  I am paying the full debt just at a much lower APR.  How exactly do these credtit counseling companies ruin your credit?

If anything, I think they are only helping me to get out of the debt sooner than later.