Some places do report on your credit report that you are on a credit counseling plan. Do alot of research beofre you decide what you're going to do. I've heard horro stories. payments not getting credited with the credit card companies, or credit card payments being listed as last every month on their credit report because it wasn't a full payment, etc. We had to take a class through one to put 3% down on our house instead of 5%. I asked them about help with our credit cards, we were told our interest rates were lower then they could get us, and it would look bad on our credit report.

Research and see what you can do on your own. Call credit card companies and ask for lower interest rates. A couple of my credit cards will let me skip a couple payments a year (still charge interest). By skipping a couple credit card payments it freed up a little money to let us catch up. The bank we have our car loan through is always sending us offers to skip a payment for a small fee. Tax time is also coming up, if you file right away you'll have your refund (if you get one) by the end of Feb/first part of March.


If your credit is already messed up, it's not going to make that much of a difference. Just check the company out before you go with them. If your credit is good, you might not want to risk it and see what you can do on your own.