[eastbay]

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Also, how much has bad credit affected your life? Does have alot of impact?

Do you guys think I should get help from those debt consolidation people? Or do you think just paying it off by myself is better?

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Do not use the debt consolidation services. They are arms of the credit card companies and exist simply to prevent you from declaring bankruptcy, which you should not do anyway.

The consequences can be serious. You may have trouble opening a checking account, renting an apartment, obtaining a car loan, and especially a mortgage when the time comes.

More importantly you may have trouble getting hired to many jobs which will do background checks and consider your credit score the most important component of the check.

If you can't get a job, open a checking account, or rent an apartment, you're in a world of hurt. So you need to start fixing things now. My roommate from college ran into all of these things, and it indeed made his life VERY difficult.

Get your credit score online from all three agencies. You can do this for free now in the US. Start getting everything current that you possibly can.

DO NOT MISS PAYMENTS AGAIN, EVER. Don't keep high balances. Don't open new lines of credit. Your score will improve steadily over time as your delinquencies move into the past, and in 7 years you could be perfect again when all currently derogatory information short of bankruptcy will be expunged (and can happen sooner if you're lucky and continue with perfect credit behavior.)

You can really help yourself to do this by using only accounts that offer automatic online payments, and be sure your account covers those expenses every month. And then there's the obvious: don't charge things you couldn't pay cash for. Use credit cards for convenience, not as loans. That's financial suicide.

eastbay