HELP needed: debt consolidation services

I *KNOW* i saw last night a link to use to go into debt consolidation from DU, and we just got a bill that is beyond our control and we barely make any money, and my wife is also upset. She is the bill payer, and she just informed me that she cannot afford to pay our bills based on our current income.

Damn credit cards. I cannot apply for any more credit cards because we have too many close-to-max credit cards, and we've been trying to balance transfer everything, but it's making it hard to do that at about 14.99% rate that we are getting, and two credit cards are charging us close to 30%.

And I spent over half an hour with a credit card company that's really stubborn in getting their payments (we didn't get the bill last month, and they BLAME us for it, and put us over the limit and late fee, which made our minimum payment to $197.00 which is way too much to pay at once - they even refused to take off the late fees and overlimit fees because they said we didn't pay last month)

Grr.

Hawkeye-X

I THINK it was called Consumer Credit or something like that. Hope you get your answer soon, but in the meantime, start looking for that.

www.creditboards.com

You will most likely be given advice that avoids the debt consolidation services (which will usually cause your credit scores to dive

http://www.consumercredit.com/

They're really good. I got into debt some years ago, and they helped me pay off my bills, get good credit and I've not gotten in trouble since. I'd highly recommend them.

http://www.prosper.com/

From what I've heard, it's kind of like an eBay for consumer debt - individuals offer to buy up bits of your debt at various interest rates, you pick the lowest ones, and you repay them with interest.

Haven't used it myself; their general info

http://www.prosper.com/welcome/how_it_works.aspx

http://www.prosper.com/help/tutorials/listing-1.aspx

NPR story (has transcript, not just audio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15876230

Within two years of filing bankruptcy, you can qualify for an FHA home loan.