YOUR BIGGEST QUESTIONS ANSWERED
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There could be a couple of reasons for this. If you are in the beginning of your program (the first few months), your creditor(s) in question most likely have not started your program as of yet. Some creditors elect to wait until the third payment from you, after a proposal has been approved, to begin offering you their concessions. They do this because they want to be sure you going to follow through with the debt management program.

If you are outside the first few months, this could be due to the nature of your debt management program. Your creditor(s) may have agreed to a payment amount that does not cover the interest being applied to your account. Understand that the nature of the program will still allow for this account to be paid off. Once you begin to pay off accounts, the payments going to those creditors will be directed to other accounts enabling them to be paid off faster. You can change this by increasing your payment with us now, enough to cover the interest, and you will notice the balances on all accounts going down. We strive to have all account balances decrease through the life of your program.
In some cases, creditors agree to accept lower than your normal scheduled payment amount but do not provide that information on your statements. Rest assured, that if we have an approved proposal from this/these creditors, everything is working as it should. Many creditors choose to not change their reporting while you are on a credit counseling program so that should you default or withdraw, they have less to do to get you back on a normal program. However, we do ask that you contact one of our credit counselors should you see this as it could be an indication that something is not working correctly with your debt management program.
It can take creditors up to 3 months from enrollment (approving a proposal) or from your first payment before they begin offering their concessions to you. They do this because they want to be sure that you are going to follow through with the program before they concede to the lower interest rates.
If you cannot afford a payment, we suggest you call us immediately upon determining this. There are things you can do depending on why you cannot afford the payment. If you are not budgeting so that you can afford your debt and non-debt payments, we strongly suggest you begin this process now. Either way, please contact one of our credit counselors immediately so we can begin offering you all the assistance we can.
Upon making payment to Lighthouse, we will make payment to your creditor(s) within 10 days. It can take your creditor(s) up to 10 days from Lighthouse making payment to them for your payment to post to your account. To ensure that all payments post on time, please check that your due dates with your creditors are at least 20 days out from your draft or due date with Lighthouse. I.e.: if your payment is due with Lighthouse on the 10th of the month or if we draft you on the 10th, you will want your due date with your creditors to be the 30th.
You can notify us by calling us, sending a letter or sending an email to us. If you do not call us, we may contact you to verify the information before actually making the change.
This means that either your creditor(s) do not participate in a debt management program or you have not been put on their debt management program yet. Many creditors do not participate in debt management programs, but that does not mean we will not include them in your program. You still receive the benefit of only having to make one payment. It can take up to three (3) months to get your debt management program started. In some rare cases, it can take longer if there is a history of missed payments or recent transactions on your account(s) just prior to enrolling into our debt management program. Be patient and stay in communication with us to ensure that it does get set up.
A proposal is our primary way of negotiating with your creditors to start your debt management program. We will only send proposals to your creditors if we have a signed agreement for you. A proposal notifies your creditors that you have enrolled into a debt management program and asks them to reduce your payment amount and interest rate if they are willing to do so. In some cases, we must call your creditor(s) to receive any benefit for you, which does require some negotiating between you and your creditor. Assuming you do not miss a single payment while in our program, your account will only have to be set up once.
This can be very detrimental to the success of your program and we strongly suggest that you not miss a single payment. However, we do understand that situations arise that are out of your control. Therefore, if you must miss a payment please call us no later than 24 hours prior to needing to miss a payment to allow us to skip this payment for you. We do suggest that when you skip a payment, you schedule a make-up payment. Please remember, your creditor(s) are expecting a payment within every 30-day cycle. If you fail to make a payment, your program may be stopped and become ineligible for re-enrollment for up to 12 months. Please understand that there are things you can do to prevent from having to miss a payment to your creditors, so please call one of our credit counselors immediately upon determining that you may need to miss a payment to discuss your options.
If you want to payoff a creditor you will need to call us, send a letter or send an email stating your desire, who you want to payoff and when you will want to do a payoff. Please understand that payoff amounts provided from your creditor(s) do have expiration dates (usually within 30 days), so it is important that you follow through with your intent to payoff one or more creditors. Upon requesting your payoff, our payoffs department will determine the amount required for payoff and provide that amount to you. It will be your responsibility at that point to contact one of our credit counselors to schedule the date of this payment for payoff.
Lighthouse asks for a monthly contribution so that we may continue to operate and administer your debt management program. In addition, your contributions allow us to provide education and educational materials to you and many other individuals that can prevent you and them from becoming overwhelmed in debt ever again.
Yes, your revolving accounts will need to be closed in order for the program to work. In most cases, your accounts will be closed upon receipt of a proposal from us. Your creditors need your accounts to be closed so that the balance can be reduced. Understand that if you have an open account, you will be tempted to use it and by using it you will be defeating the purpose of a debt management program. By rule, all debt management programs must be completed within a 60 month period.
You need to ensure that all due dates are at least 20 days out from the day your payment is due with Lighthouse. This will help to ensure that we have sufficient time to make payment to your creditors and for those payments to post to your account without having penalty fees applied to your accounts.
We strongly recommend that you continue to pay by ACH as it is the easiest and most efficient means to make payment to Lighthouse. However, for your convenience, we offer the ability to pay by Western Union, Bill Pay, Money Order and Cashiers Check. To change to one of these other options, call one of our credit counselors so we can get this started for you. You may also send a letter or email to state your desire, but be advised that we will need to speak with you to verify all information before making the change effective.
We offer the ability for you to pay by ACH, Western Union, Bill Pay or Cashiers Check in addition to Money Order. We strongly recommend you pay by ACH or Bill Pay as these are the easiest and most efficient means of making payment to us. To switch to one of these options, call one of our credit counselors so we can get this started for you. You may also send a letter or email to state your desire, but be advised that we will need to speak with you to verify all information before making the change effective.
Understand that your accounts are still active accounts with your creditors. They have every right to call you, but do not have the right to violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You may want to look over your rights under this act to determine if they are in violation. If they are not in violation, let them know that you are working with Lighthouse Credit Foundation (assuming you have enrolled that creditor’s account into the program) and to contact us for all needs they have. The fact that they are calling you is an indication that something with your program could be wrong and ask that you call us immediately so that we can begin calling them to determine if something needs to be done.
This is a tricky question and there really is no one answer to cover it. Please understand that Lighthouse Credit Foundation does not and will not ever report anything on your credit report. Your creditors however can and will most likely report you as being enrolled into a credit counseling program. This is noted by be a CC next to the account on your credit report. In addition, understand that this notation does not have a quantitative impact on you. However, it can be viewed as negative depending on the guidelines of individual creditors and lenders. Some view being enrolled into a credit counseling program as negative whereas some view it as something positive. Our recommendation is that if you are shopping for a loan; talk with as many lenders as possible as you will get differing views and opinions from lenders. Please understand that by being enrolled into a debt management program, your accounts will be closed. Because of this, your score may reduce depending on the length and value of your credit history and how much available credit you had on your cards prior to enrolling them. The impact is different for every individual based on these elements. Also, understand that upon completion of your debt management program, your credit score should be equal if not greater than what it was prior to enrolling into our program.
We provide you estimated balances as we do not own your account nor do we receive regular reporting from your creditors on your accounts. Your creditors are the only ones that can provide you actual balances. We do ask in our agreement with you that you keep us updated regularly so that we can be as close as possible. As your accounts near payoff, we will make regular contact with you and your creditors so that we know exactly when to make payoff and the amount of the payoff.
Re-age is a term developed by your creditors. Technically, it means to bring your account current. However, what is involved with your re-age depends on your creditors and their rules and guidelines. Some creditors choose to waive late and over limit fees when doing a re-age whereas others only bring your account current and report that on your credit report. Some creditors require that you pay any past due payments prior to doing a re-age. It is important to know that your account(s) cannot be re-aged more than once in a 12 month period and no more than twice in a 5 year period.
Remember that we can only provide estimated balances as we do not own your account nor do we receive regular reporting from your creditors on your accounts. The balances with your creditors will at times vary greatly from the balances we provide you, as we are dependent on the information we receive from you and your creditors. The balances we have are only as accurate as the last time we were updated. Therefore, if we go several months without an update, we will have very inaccurate balances. If we are updated regularly, say monthly, we will have very close estimates. As your accounts near payoff, we will make regular contact with you and your creditors so that we know exactly when to make payoff and the amount of the payoff.
Each state has differing laws governing your participation in a debt management program. However, rest assured that if you move from a state that allows us to service your debt management program to a state that does not allow it, we will still be able to service your account. This move may change a few elements of your program and we do ask that you notify us that you are planning to move or that you have moved so that we can take any necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition. If you are intending on or have already moved out of the country, rest assured that we can still service your account, as long as you have payment to us on time or allow us to draft your payment from a U.S. bank account.
In most cases, this means that your due dates have not been changed. Please check with the creditor(s) in question to ensure that your due date(s) have been changed to 20 days out from your due date with Lighthouse. If you have already done this, it could be due to you having missed a payment to Lighthouse or skipped a payment but made it up at a later time. If you are within your first 3 months of enrollment, it could be an indication that the proposal we sent has not been approved yet. If you have already checked that your due dates have been changed and have not missed a payment, please call one of our credit counselors immediately so we can determine what is wrong and correct it.