GreenPath is a Credit and Debt Counseling Organization and operates under the same terms I described above. There is a big difference between debt consolidation with a Credit Counselor and a Debt Consolidation Loan. Anyone who is looking to consolidate their payments as a means to reduce their debt is kidding themselves. It MAY reduce your payments (for now) but it will not in any way reduce your debt. In fact, it will make your debt even larger and take much longer to pay off. The bottom line here is... YOU CAN'T BORROW YOUR WAY OUT OF DEBT! If you find yourself in this position then a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy (Reorganization) may be your best bet. It will include ALL your debts, secured and unsecured, into just one (usually) much smaller monthly payment for 36 to 60 months. Again, bankruptcy is easier to recover from than a credit counselor. What you should really be looking at is how you spend your money. Don't use a Budget, they're like Diets, they don't work. What you need is a good Spending Plan. A Spending Plan is not offered by any Credit Counselors I know of. Of course they will tell you different. If that is so then why do 75% of their clients fail? My Grandmother practiced the old Envelope Theory of Bill Paying and Money Management. What I did was digitized it for my own use. I'm not talking using MS-Money or Quicken. Those are Budgeting programs or After The Fact accounting systems. I created digital envelopes on a spreadsheet that even my kids can use. I divided it up into Alphanumonic Categories or Envelopes... A is for Auto / Transportation B is for Babysitting / Child Care C is for Contributions / Charity D is for Dining Out / Fast Food E is for Education F is for Food and Household Items G is also for Grooming H is for Housing I is for Insurance I is also for Income J is for Just for Fun K is for Kids L is for Leisure M is for Medical / Dental N is for Not Planned For O is for Other / Misc P is for Payments (all debts) Q is for Gifts / Holidays / B-Days etc. R is for Record Keeping / Postage S is for Savings / Investments T is for Taxes U is for Utilities V is for Vices W is for Wardrobe X is for Business Expenses Y is a Question I ask myself. The answer is Because it works. Z is for the sleep I get when Im on track and living comfortably within my means. Each "Category" has several sub-categories and each one has a monthly amount to spend. If I don't spend it all the remainder goes to my savings. Only a few categories will have money that forwards to the next months Spending Plan. I call this, Saving My Savings. What I found is that after just 90 to 120 days I had 10% to 20% of my Income left over at the end of the month, after ALL the bills were paid, to do anything I wanted with. I even found that by applying a Domino or Roll-up system to my P for Payments envelope, I could retire ALL my debt in approximately one-third the normal time period without ever having to change my payments, add more money to my payments or having to borrow to consolidate. My $185,000 in debts that would have taken me 26 more years to pay off will be completely gone in less than 7 years for not a dime more than I'm paying right now. Emergencies aren't a problem either because one of my envelopes is Savings. Within just a few months I had over $2500 in my Emergency Fund at the Credit Union. Everything over that goes to my Self Directed Roth IRA to grow Tax Free. When I started this my wife and I only made a combined income of less than $40,000 per year and we have 6 kids to boot. Anyone can do it, it just takes discipline. Oh. Yes, I have been asked many times if I would right a book about my system. The answer is yes, and Ive been working on it for about 15 years now. At this pace it should be done in about 10 more years. LOL You see Im really good about Spending my time doing other things like reading all your posts on Garden Web. Good Luck, Scotty

I was in terrible, about $30 K spread through five credit cards. Pay off the store cards first, because they have the highest interest rates, 22% or more. Then try to combine the remaining cards (visa and master) onto one card,check into credit union loans for debt consolidation, as a last resort use cash advances. Once you have all the debt tramsferred onto one card, decide how long you want to allow to repay the total. I got my debt down to $7000, and I paid it off at $500 per month. It took almost two years, but I was able to slowly climb out of the hole on my own. And, yes, I also cut up all my credit cards. You absolutely cannot keep adding to your debt. This year I got brave and I checked my credit score. I was satisfied that it was decent. And I have promised myself never,never,never, fall into the debt habit. If I really need something, like a car repair, I pay cash. Other than that,credit and debit cards are off-limits for me. I am fortunate that during this time, I had a good-paying job. I have a 17-year old daughter in high school who had jobs only the last two summers. She gets lots of credit card offers in the mail. I throw them out before she ever sees them. I had a friend whose son went away to college, took ski trips and lavished his family with expensive Christmas gifts. No one knew where he got the money. He graduated college with a $20,000 credit card bill.

Hi Katclaw~ I just wanted to say that I totally agree with Lindamarie. You should most definitely check out Dave Ramsey's site (link below). I honestly believe that through Dave Ramsey, God has TOTALLY changed our lives, saved our marriage and helped make our family's financial future brighter than ever. Now, while almost everyone else is looking around wondering what the heck they are possibly going to do, we are finally sitting back and breathing easy for the first time in our 18 1/2 years of marriage! It is such an incredible and liberating feeling! We are finally debt free except for our mortgage, which we just got last year when my husband finished building our dream home. However, we fully expect to have it paid off in just a few years!! Dave has an awesome book called 'The Total Money Makeover'. It is available at Amazon, Wal*Mart and on Dave's site. It is a super easy read and it is the very first step toward finding your financial peace and freedom! Dave also has a program called 'Financial Peace University'. This is a life-changing 13-week program/class that teaches you how to make the right decisions with your money. In addition to teaching you so many amazing ways to financial freedom, Dave has many, many resources available to you on his website, including what you are specifically looking for at this time, financial counselors. Plus, if you are like me and the website looks a bit overwhelming, you can call them toll-free at 1-888-227-3223 and explain your situation. One of their counselors will be happy to help you get on the right track and show you how to handle those creditors. (Just remember, FOOD, SHELTER, TRANSPORTATION and CLOTHING must come FIRST! Everyone else can wait, including credit cards. If that dings your credit, then so be it, but those 4 things must come before anything.) Also available through his website are what he refers to as 'Endorsed Local Providers' (ELPs). ELPs are providers such as Lenders, Real Estate Agents, CPAs, Insurance Agents, Tax Preparers, Attorneys, etc. who are all endorsed by Dave. They are only recommended after being very carefully screened by Dave and his staff. My husband and I have been very pleased with a couple of these who have been recommended to us. Remarkably, so far we have not had to pay one red cent for any of the advice they have provided! However, if we should need the type of service they provide in the future, we would not hesitate to use them or recommend them to our family and friends. I hope and pray this has helped you, or someone else, in some way. I'm telling you, my husband finding Dave on the radio is the best thing that ever happened to our finances and to our marriage. Just try it! What do you have to lose??? Here is a link that might be useful: DAVE RAMSEY

It sounds like with the number of credit cards you are currently holding, along with the large balance on the citibank card, you would be a great candidate for a REPUTABLE debt settlement program. I say reputable because it is well known that the majority of debt settlement companies have taken their fees first before they ever settle one of your accounts. However, new FTC legislation bans this practice, and as of October 27th, 2010, debt settlement companies must settle at least one of your debts before they can charge you for their services. You may genuinely benefit from working with an accredited debt settlement company. By doing so, the company will negotiate with your creditors on your behalf to help secure a settlement that is a percentage of what you originally owed. Great settlements are usually somewhere between 40-60% of the original debt. If you do choose to do this be aware that your credit will initially suffer, but that with more cash flow to go around because it is not being eaten up in minimum payments and interest, you can actually begin to repair your own credit by making solid financial decisions. In reality, you most likely already have poor credit due to your current situation, so you seem to have nothing to lose by seeking reputable, outside help. You can get ideas for repairing your credit from myfico.com. Further, I would be wary of going with a credit counseling agency. Though they may have a 'non-profit' status, they are in reality usually set up by the credit card companies themselves in order to recover as much of the original debt as possible. Nobody works for 'free.' Credit counseling works by contacting your creditors to lower the overall interest rate of a debt. Though this may save you some money, you would be better off finding an accredited debt settlement company to negotiate for you. Arm yourself with perseverance and a solid understanding of all your options. Once you set your mind on a plan, follow through- debt does not have to consume your entire life, and can be paid off in time.