Resolved Question: Apartment hunting with bad credit?

I am confused as to what to do - my husband and I recently reconciled and between the two of us, we have $40,000 in unsecured credit card debt. Although he makes very good money, approx. $3900 per month, we cannot keep up on all the minimum payments for these cards, let alone trying to pay the principal.

He has a car payment and we own our house (or we will in 27 years anyway :) - we have not been late on the mortgage as that is our top priority. We also have 4 kids...... should we file? We figure since we have the house and vehicles that we can deal with the bad, bad credit that this will result in but are we forgetting something?

We considered a debt consolidation but we heard this is more often then not a scam and ruins your credit as much as or more then a bankruptcy. Any advice is appreciated ~ thank you. Unfortunately all the late payments have resulted in a credit rating in the 500's which is too low to qualify for a re-fi.

Resolved Question: Debt Consolidation - Good or Bad Idea?

My mother is over $20,000 in debt due to impulse buys and necessary home repairs. She has 3 credit cards and had things paid off or nearly so until the repairs came up. She owns her own home but may lose it due to the debt.

What are the pros and cons of debt consolidation? Which places are legitimate if we decide to go that route? (I'm helping her look into various avenues.) Do they charge for their sevices or are they free? How do they work?

Any tips on preventing this kind of thing from happening in the future? She does cancel cards as she gets them paid off since she doesn't want to be more in debt. The mortgage on the house was paid off last year. It is the home repairs made since then and a buyout of one of the credit card companies by another bank that has her in financial straits. She has been paying above the minimum amount owed on all 3 cards for some time trying to get them paid down.

Resolved Question: Apartment hunting with bad credit?

I have a really low credit score but i want to rent my own apartment. I have a full time job making like 1200 a month and i am in debt consolidation with Credit Solutions. Anyone have any ideas on how I might get my own place. I mean I see so many people with their own places and I know their credit can't be that much better than mine.

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