GreenPath Financial Wellness

It was a blessing to me because I was so frightened. I had the zero APR cards, and they all turned over at the same time. I've been being very responsible at the time. And my minimum payment for one of them was over $200 a month. I would have been paying that for a year. That was just to pay the interest. I went in there. Ther rep was so helpful that within 15 minutes, the guy was, "This is what we can do. And this is what your payment is going to be." After that, it was all done through emailing. It was honest. And I never had any problem until the end.

I had looked into it years ago. And they made me give up all my credit cards. But this, I didn't. Because you have to have a credit card in this world. And the interest rate was reduced extremely. One of the cards went from 22% down to 2%. The account was closed just for the debt consolidation. The highest interest that I was paying on one when it was all settled was 9%. Which they were all in the 25% range. He said, "Well, we have to have confirm it. I have to contact all your cards and make sure and make the deal. But this is what I think we can get. And this is what I think your payment will be." And it was exactly what he said.

GreenPath said it would take between four and a half to five years to pay it off. So, I came to understand recently that they couldn't tell because they charge a $10 per account fee when they pay it off. So once you pay one off, they start applying your money to the others that are left. But they take away the $10 fee every month. So, it frees up more money.

I felt secure because the guy from the city had said, "These are the companies that we recommend. We know they're honest." I had three credit cards that I was paying off. When I started, I was paying 250 a month and 30 of that was the maintenance fee for three cards. And once one card got paid off, my maintenance fee was only 20. That made up more money to be applied to the actual debt of the cards. One couldn't know for sure when you would end up paying it off.

I had trusted them well. And they were very good the whole time. But I was looking at my credit cards online, and I could still view this one credit card that I had been paying off through GreenPath. I noticed that there was a surplus of payment. So, I called them right away the next day. And I wasn't happy with the reply. The rep said that happens sometimes. And the reason why was because I was done. That was my last account, and it had been paid off. And they took another payment for a month, which was not necessary. And she said, "We don't always know when the accounts are paid off." I was disappointed.

She was very nice. And she said, "We're gonna refund the money. Don't worry about it. We just have to check it." It was okay because I applied it to another credit card from the same company. But I found that disturbing because I thought their software should be programmed that they would get a notice, "This person is paid off." I feel bad because they were perfect other than that thing at the end. If I hadn't seen it, I would have kept getting money taken out.

GreenPath has always led me to make the right decision. They told me what to expect and what to do after I finished paying the bill. They called the creditor and made sure that there was no residual money that has not been added on. So, in each creditor that I paid off, I called GreenPath, they told me if I had a couple of pennies or a couple of dollars. I just went on there and paid it. I would call them back and tell them what I had done. And it didn't take long for them to upgrade my account, stating what was paid off and submitted it to the credit bureaus. I've been out of debt a few times. But paying on time was always an issue because I always waited until the last minute. But with GreenPath, they paid it. The APRs were lower. So, I just paid off the last couple of ones last month. My credit score is excellent and I'm so pleased.

I was drowning in debt. This all happened as COVID happened and everything was shut down. Hours were cut back at work. I wasn't making the same amount of money. Neither was my husband. It was a big weight off our shoulders because we no longer were accruing any APR. They close down your account, but they work with what you have and what you can afford. That was a big stress reliever. Usually, when you have a high-interest credit card, most of it goes to interest and very little goes to your actual balance. It feels like you're never leaving that hole. So, when all that happened, it was a turnaround. I could start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It was great.

Their customer support was also great. They had a newsletter. They also had periodic emails that they would send out, reaching out, saying like, “We're here for you if you have ever have any questions or concerns about your program.” It was really nice. I also like the fact that it's a nonprofit. They're doing it to help the consumer. It was great to be a part of the program where they could help me, but at the same time, whatever small fee they charge goes towards helping someone else as needed. So, it was nice to come full circle.

I had to call and talk to one of their people on the phone. They pull the credit report. We also went over verbally what the different debts were and things that I had. They came up with a biweekly payment plan and we went from there. They immediately went and got all the agreements and everything set up. I was approved right away because it was not like a loan or anything like that. They're just calling your existing creditors and negotiating with them to lower your rates then getting all your creditors to agree to a payment plan.

Customer service was quite professional and my experience was fine. Once the payment plan was set up, I didn't have any need to interact with them on a regular basis. I just made my payment every two weeks and I checked my balances through their website. I called GreenPath mid-January and within two to three weeks, the collection calls from the creditors all stopped. I had begun my payment plan through them. That was the biggest impact to my life because they renegotiated everything with all the creditors. I could finally take a breath.

There was also getting the rate lowered. I had at least one car that was 23% and GreenPath got it negotiated to 0% for an interest rate. I still had to pay back all the principal. No balances were forgiven or reduced but just the rates being lowered enabled me to make some headway again. If you have a need for this type of a service, I would recommend GreenPath.

They didn't report anything to me as to how things were progressing. I had to call them. They also told me it would be a five-year program. But I found out it was going to be a six-year program. I've been looking forward to getting it all paid off in five years. But I guess I wasn't paying them quite enough to meet my balances. They were taking $50 a month for their services, and I was paying them $640 a month. So $590 was going to build. I didn't mind doing that. If I'd have had the discipline to do it myself, I'd have saved myself $50 a month, which isn't pocket change. But the program has been a success for me. I was with the program four years and paid off 80% of my debt in that time when I was able to not go into further debt. I was pleased with that. Would I do it again? Yes. At the same time, I might take a different route, save myself the $50, and figure out how to get the payments made and have the discipline to do that.

Other than that, the reps were very friendly. They asked the right questions to make sure I understood where I stand with my creditors. I was impressed by how knowledgeable they were and how helpful they were to get the process going. I didn't have to keep calling back and get everything set up 'cause they managed it for me. They've helped improve my credit history and credit score.