How do I get rid of my credit card debt?

I am a college student that had poor money management skills early in college. I am in about $9,000 worth of debt from the past 3 years (much is late fees) and the collectors have been calling me. Are there any good steps to take to get me on the road back to debt free? I've heard about loan consolidation and stuff but I don't know if thats just a scam.

For debit consolidation you must have over $10K in debt, some even more.

The best thing to do is call the debtors and make an arrangement with them. Make your payment proposal as much as you can afford monthly.

Good luck, the collectors must call, you do owe them.

Debt relief companies and debt consolidation companies are largely scams. They will take money up front (illegal) for settling debt you owe, then many of them do nothing or let it get really bad before they help you--which ruins your credit anyway. For the most part they cannot do what they say they do--and it's nothing you can't do for free on your own anyway!

But--for good solid financial management and help, you CAN go to Consumer Credit Counseling services (CCCS) who can and will help you for either free or a very MINIMAL fee. I urge you to look in the phone book in the yellow pages under "credit" or in the business listings.

Each CCCS office operates locally and it's a NON-Profit agency--if they don't say that, don't use them--a lot of these bad companies use names that are very similiar to CCCS's name and they are NOT non-profit.

Dont' call and threaten your creditors. They are far more powerful than you are, and you owe THEM money. If you threaten, you will be asked to close your account and pay it up in full--and they can STILL enforce that by wage-garnishment, or lawsuit. When you talk to them, be very polite and ASK for lower interest rates or whatever--and ASK for help paying off the bills. And don't use the cards while you're doing it.

There are plenty of ways to pay off the debt without bankruptcy, closing your accounts or threats and lawsuits. CCCS can really help you.

Suze ormond had a whole show on those debt consolidation companies.

They take your money and they say they will take care of everything.

They tell you to ignore the phone calls and bills.

They let the bills pile up for 6 months without paying anything. In the meantime you are racking up late fees and interest.

The thinking is that the cc companies will get nervous and settle.

Most of the times they don't (depending on the amounts), and you end up in court anyway.

There is a company nfcc.org (i think) its called consumer credit counceling. In some places its free if not its a $24/month charge. They tell you how to manange your finances.

And, of course you can call the cc companies yourself and threaten to close the accounts if they don't reduce the interest rates. You can settle (for your purchases), but be ready to send them a check for payment in full.

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The first thing to do is to call your credit card companies. Try to work out a plan with them. If that doesn't work, try to cut out some expenses that you know you don't need to be spending money on and use what you save to pay down your credit balance.

Try to come up with a budget. I have been using a budget for the past several years and I am happy to say that within a couple of months the only debt I will have is student loans (which is the next thing I plan to pay off).

Also check out bankrate.com. That site has tons of useful information for all things financial. Let me know if you need more specifics!