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DIY Credit Counseling. You Can Do It.

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Facing money troubles and thinking about reaching out to a credit counseling program? It might be possible to create a DIY credit counseling program yourself.

Credit counseling repayment programs are called debt management plans (DMP). A DIY DMP is completely within your grasp.

In order to help you put together a repayment strategy I’m going to publish information in my DIY directory to help you get an idea about the types of terms and options may be available when you contact the creditors directly.

The guide is in the ballpark but may have changed since last updated. Creditor policies are somewhat fluid and dynamic. However this information will give you an idea of what may be possible.

There is so much free help and advice available on GetOutOfDebt.org that it can be overwhelming. But let me steer you to some important sections.

  1. DIY Credit Counseling and Creditor Index – Want to find a specific creditor and their DIY credit counseling terms, click here.
  2. DIY Debt Settlement – Want to see if settling your debt might make more sense for you in your situation. Visit the DIY debt settlement section of the forum and speak with an expert for free.
  3. Talk With a Debt Coach – Have a question you’d like to ask an experienced debt coach to get you headed in the right direction, just ask Damon Day here for free.
  4. Ask Steve Your Question – Do you have a debt related question you’d like to ask me directly? You can do it right here.

A Warning About the Negative Credit Impact of DIY Credit Counseling

Any time a creditor agrees to make a concession in the payment or terms, they generally want to lob out a little bit of credit pain as well. This may include reporting your account late for a number of months, they may close your account, and the closed account can negatively impact your credit score and credit report.

Generally creditors do not offer reductions in payments or interest rates to people who are current and on-time with their payments. Those folks have not shown they are struggling. But when people do fall behind that is negatively reported on their credit report, will reduce their credit score, collectors may/will call and creditors may avail themselves of any action to collect that is legally available.

Creditor DIY Terms

Steve Rhode
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Steve Rhode
Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.
Steve Rhode
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See also  How can I negotiate with a credit card company and get the same type of terms that a consumer credit counseling for fee service might get?

19 thoughts on “DIY Credit Counseling. You Can Do It.”

  1. Creditors are driven by policies and procedures depending upon the client account as it stands. Calling collections today is the quickest way to get you access to the hardship programs the creditor may have available and collections will know all of the programs available and not just those through the credit counseling department. If you want access to the credit counseling terms, call a credit counseling provider. If you want access to the internal hardship programs you have to go through collections and be vetted by them.

    Reply

  2. So the definition “Secret Phone Number to Reach Representative: This is the telephone number to reach a special payment representative.” should be rewritten to say “Secret Phone Number to Reach Representative: Same as the Customer Service number on your card, just ask them to connect you to any Yo-Yo in Collections.” 

    I was under the impression that “It’s taken us years to establish contacts and relationships with the right people at hundreds of lending institutions. If you want to save yourself an awful lot of time, effort and hassle, get in touch with me…(quoted from How to Eliminate Your Debt Like a Pro)” meant you could direct me to a particular individual, since “The only people with the means, authority and need tend to be fairly high up in lending institutions and can be frustratingly difficult to track down…(again, quoted from How to Eliminate Your Debt Like a Pro)”.  Have I misinterpreted this?

    Reply

  3. Maybe a missed a previous comment. My advice is to call the telephone number of the back of your credit card, ask for collections and see what internal programs they can offer you based on your history and transactions with that creditor.

    Reply

  4. Is this thread defunked?  It hasn’t been updated since March, the secret numbers aren’t here, in fact, the DIY tab has been renamed ‘Debt Help guide’.  It seems DIY questions are getting passed off to either Cambridge or Damon……

    Reply

  5. It’s not complicated, I just have not finished posting them. It takes a lot of hours to put all of this together. It’s coming.

    Reply

  6. What is the purpose of listing the company names that don’t have a links to their policies ?
    I can’t see any reasonable relationship to the content of the news or commentary presented.

    (Maybe my computer is on the fritz again, but I can’t click on links for any of these companies.)

    
    Marathon Petroleum Company
    Merrick Bank
    Metabank Affirm
    Metabank Blaze MasterCard
    Military Star
    Money Tree
    Monterey County Bank
    Navy Federal Credit Union
    NewEgg,com
    New Millenium Bank
    Nordstrom
    PNC Bank
    Park Dansan
    Pentagon Federal Credi Union
    Plains Commerce Bank
    Presidio
    RAI Credit
    RC Willey Home Furnishings
    RBS Credit Services
    RBS Commercial Accounts
    Resurgent Capital Services
    LVNV Funding
    Richland State Bank
    Rogers & Holland Jewelers
    Ross Simons Preferred
    SST Card Services
    Security Bankcard Center
    Seventh Avenue
    Simmons First National Bank
    Southeast Bankcard Associates SEBA
    Spirit of America
    Sprint / Nextel
    State Farm Bank
    Sterling Jewelers
    Suntrust Bank Lines of Credit
    Suntrust Bank MasterCard
    Suntrust Bank Business
    TD Retail Card Services
    Talbots
    Target National Bank
    Target Visa
    The Credit Store
    Town North Bank Card Services
    USAA Federal Savings Bank
    USAA Federal Savings Loans
    US Bank
    US Bank Business Card
    US Bank Corporate Card
    US Bank Installment Loan
    US Bank Loans
    US Bank Reserve Line
    United Missouri Bank
    Universal Savings Bank
    Valero Payment Services Company
    Wachovia Credit Cards
    Webbank
    Wells Fargo Business Credit Cards
    Wells Fargo Card Services
    Wells Fargo Dial Bank
    Wells Fargo Financial Bank & Retail Services
    Wells Fargo Financial
    Wells Fargo Education Loans
    World Financial Capital Bank (WFCB)
    Worlds Foremost Bank
    Wright Express
    Zions National Bank

    Reply

  7. What is the purpose of listing the company names that don’t have a links to their policies ?
    I can’t see any reasonable relationship to the content of the news or commentary presented.

    (Maybe my computer is on the fritz again, but I can’t click on links for any of these companies.)

    
     Marathon Petroleum Company
     Merrick Bank
     Metabank Affirm
     Metabank Blaze MasterCard
     Military Star
     Money Tree
     Monterey County Bank
     Navy Federal Credit Union
     NewEgg,com
     New Millenium Bank
     Nordstrom
     PNC Bank
     Park Dansan
     Pentagon Federal Credi Union
     Plains Commerce Bank
     Presidio
     RAI Credit
     RC Willey Home Furnishings
     RBS Credit Services
     RBS Commercial Accounts
     Resurgent Capital Services
     LVNV Funding
     Richland State Bank
     Rogers & Holland Jewelers
     Ross Simons Preferred
     SST Card Services
     Security Bankcard Center
     Seventh Avenue
     Simmons First National Bank
     Southeast Bankcard Associates SEBA
     Spirit of America
     Sprint / Nextel
     State Farm Bank
     Sterling Jewelers
     Suntrust Bank Lines of Credit
     Suntrust Bank MasterCard
     Suntrust Bank Business
     TD Retail Card Services
     Talbots
     Target National Bank
     Target Visa
     The Credit Store
     Town North Bank Card Services
     USAA Federal Savings Bank
     USAA Federal Savings Loans
     US Bank
     US Bank Business Card
     US Bank Corporate Card
     US Bank Installment Loan
     US Bank Loans
     US Bank Reserve Line
     United Missouri Bank
     Universal Savings Bank
     Valero Payment Services Company
     Wachovia Credit Cards
     Webbank
     Wells Fargo Business Credit Cards
     Wells Fargo Card Services
     Wells Fargo Dial Bank
     Wells Fargo Financial Bank & Retail Services
     Wells Fargo Financial
     Wells Fargo Education Loans
     World Financial Capital Bank (WFCB)
     Worlds Foremost Bank
     Wright Express
     Zions National Bank

    Reply

      • Is this thread defunked?  It hasn’t been updated since March, the secret numbers aren’t here, in fact, the DIY tab has been renamed ‘Debt Help guide’.  It seems DIY questions are getting passed off to either Cambridge or Damon……

        Reply

        • Maybe a missed a previous comment. My advice is to call the telephone number of the back of your credit card, ask for collections and see what internal programs they can offer you based on your history and transactions with that creditor.

          Reply

          • So the definition “Secret Phone Number to Reach Representative: This is the telephone number to reach a special payment representative.” should be rewritten to say “Secret Phone Number to Reach Representative: Same as the Customer Service number on your card, just ask them to connect you to any Yo-Yo in Collections.” 

            I was under the impression that “It’s taken us years to establish contacts and relationships with the right people at hundreds of lending institutions. If you want to save yourself an awful lot of time, effort and hassle, get in touch with me…(quoted from How to Eliminate Your Debt Like a Pro)” meant you could direct me to a particular individual, since “The only people with the means, authority and need tend to be fairly high up in lending institutions and can be frustratingly difficult to track down…(again, quoted from How to Eliminate Your Debt Like a Pro)”.  Have I misinterpreted this?

          • Creditors are driven by policies and procedures depending upon the client account as it stands. Calling collections today is the quickest way to get you access to the hardship programs the creditor may have available and collections will know all of the programs available and not just those through the credit counseling department. If you want access to the credit counseling terms, call a credit counseling provider. If you want access to the internal hardship programs you have to go through collections and be vetted by them.

  8. I prefer soda to water anyway…..

    I would assume most of what you publish here is not loved by those who would profit from the misfortune of others. I’ll bet the whole DIY section is loved even less (even by your supporters). Is it possible to get the numbers off line??

    Reply

  9. Yea, about the secret number, seems the fact I was publishing the “secret” number was not loved around the water cooler. Call collections or if you don’t know that number, start with customer service.

    Reply

  10. I’m sure this is a VERY time consuming process, and I’ve only checked a few links, but, the “secret number” information is missing…..

    Reply

  11. I’m sure this is a VERY time consuming process, and I’ve only checked a few links, but, the “secret number” information is missing…..

    Reply

    • Yea, about the secret number, seems the fact I was publishing the “secret” number was not loved around the water cooler. Call collections or if you don’t know that number, start with customer service.

      Reply

      • I prefer soda to water anyway…..

        I would assume most of what you publish here is not loved by those who would profit from the misfortune of others. I’ll bet the whole DIY section is loved even less (even by your supporters). Is it possible to get the numbers off line??

        Reply

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