Debt consolidation?

I'm going to let you know something that Consolidation groups probaly don't tell you. I used to be a bill collector and I basically called people all day and bugged them to pay their debt, with that I dealt with people who would tell me they were consolidating their debt, and it was my job to talk to the consolidation group and find out what they were going to send on the debt on behalf of the consumer, a lot of these companies get about $300.00/month from a consumer and the Consolidation group will pocket $150.00 and pay off the creditors with about $30.00/month to each creditor the consumers owes a debt to, at that rate you'll never get out of debt....what a rip off! These consolidation groups just do what consumers can do themselves. That is order your credit report from the 3 major credit report agencies and then call the collection agency that now owns your debt, once you find the collection agency (on each debt) it is now time to negotiate, this is where you want to be very nice to the bill collector that ist you (even if they are very rude, they are trained to be like that to get payment), and I say this because that bill collector will be the one who makes the decision on what type of settlement offer they can give you which can be an amount that is up to 60% off the current balance of the debt. Most collection agencies will accept that in 3 payments within a 3 month period with a payment on the account every 30 days. Keep in mind that settling your account will get you a lower credit score than paying the current balance in full. The other thing to keep in mind is that these collectors work off a goal structure, no matter what they say!!!, so obviously they are not going to let you settle for the lowest amount off the back. (And watch for these collection tactics they use just remeber they have to meet a goal each month and their job depends on it) Another option you can go with is just contact the collection agency and set up a payment plan that is good for you .First thing you want to do is find out how much the interest is on the account and the current balance, figure what you can afford and make payments every month, bi weekly, or weekly. also keep in mind that a bill collector tactic when you are not willing to accept a settlement offer, is for the collector to tell you they require something like 10%-30% as a down payment on a monthly payment plan and then you can pay like $200.00/ month on the account until it is paid in full, this is a lie, check your collection laws(Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) for your state and more than likely you will find that if a consumers owes a debt and wants to make a payment on the account than the creditor by law cannot deny that payment even if it is just $1.00, Hence, do what you can afford and if interest is still occurring make sure that your monthly payment covers the interest occurring on the account every month. I know this is a lot of info, but I know a lot of people wonder the same question and if you don't use this info someone else probaly will, Hope it helps you and your boyfriend. Good Luck!