Are there really government assisted debt consolidation services available to the public?

Question by mikeatx79: Are there really government assisted debt consolidation services available to the public?
My step-mother is a disabled vet, with a massive amount of credit card debt left over from my father passing away. She’s simply doesn’t have enough income from VA disability to pay for all the debt and has been waiting for almost 2 years to get her first Social Security hearing, which still isn’t until next month.

She doesn’t want to claim bankruptcy, she simply wants to consolidate a few credit cards and a small home equity loan into a single low interest account she can make large payments on. I believe in total, she has about 20k dollars worth of debt between all the accounts and is paying just over the minimum payments about $ 800 a month. She’s not really making progress with the current state of things.

Most of the debt consolidation sites seem to simply be bankruptcy attorneys, which is obviously not what she’s looking for.

We are in the Texas, so any state programs, federal programs or anything the VA might offer would be great. I’m looking for a non-profit or social service that can assist her, not just an attorney out to make some money off people who are already struggling.

Best answer:

Answer by Cold
There is an organization (non-profit) out there to help her at no charge.
NFCC.org
National Foundation for Credit Councelling.
She calls the 800 numbers and makes an appointment at a local office.

They are not a loan service. They just know how to deal with creditors.
They can work things out with them for lower payments, lower interest rates, etc.

They have a DMP program – cost about $ 30 a month.
Debt Management Program.
Reviews call them angels from above.
I first heard about NFCC.org on the Clark Howard Show (the cnn guy) years ago.
Amazing what NFCC.org seems to do for people in trouble…

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2 Responses to “Are there really government assisted debt consolidation services available to the public?”

  1. Common Sense says:
    06/01/2011 at 8:43 pm

    they’re scams…really. Bankruptcy is a good option.

  2. phxaz says:
    06/01/2011 at 8:45 pm

    If she can’t pay the credit card debt just simply do not pay them, there is nothing the credit card companies can do about it, they cannot garnish disability or social security payment. After two months of missing payments she can negotiate a lower payment and lower interest rate through the credit card companies or have a “not for profit” credit counseling service do the negotiating for her, which would be better because then, instead of paying multiple credit card companies every month, she would only pay the credit counseling service one payment per month and they will disperse the correct payments to the different credit card companies.

    You can read about other lowering debt options at http://www.besthelpfinancial.com

    You can also learn the best way to get out of debt on your own at
    http://www.get-out-of-creditcard-debt.com