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Hi,

this is another common sense question, but I haven't seen it addressed yet.

So, I am hearing that the best time to settle is in between 120-180 days late (4-6 months). My question is that most companies and information I have seen says it takes 1-2 years to settle debt. Is this because you do one or two credit cards at a time? If so, how do you choose which card to do first and if you are paying the minimum payments on cards you are not targeting, how do you have the ultimate sum to bargain with.

I am obviously missing a key point in debt settlement. Hopefully someone can explain this to me without being demeaning, i feel pretty silly for missing such a key point.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 1:45 am Subject:

Generally, a credit card debt settlement takes a time frame of anywhere between 3 to 9 months. You can either shorten the settlement period to 1-3 months or stretched to 12-18 months. In certain cases if you want to extend this settlement time period even further then there is also a provision to extend it to anywhere between 2 to 4 years.
Normally, this extended time period is applicable for those who are not able to make payment at one go.

There are two ways of prioritizing your debt repayment: -
1.You can select the credit card which has maximum rate of interest and make minimum payment for all other debt accounts.
2.You can select the smallest debt account over the larger ones. This will help you to acclimatize yourself with regular debt repayment habit and will roll the ball to set the momentum.

If you are not targeting any credit card for debt settlement then you may not include it into the settlement program. It's completely your prerogative to include a credit card debt in the settlement program.

You can get a fair idea on Debt Settlement from the following page: -
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/debt-settlement.html

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:16 am Subject:

phoenix, thanks AGAIN for all the info. the article was really straightforward and helpful in itself.

and also really good to know that it is our decision to decide to include a specific credit card or not. My husband and I have FOUR credit cards. 1 Capital One, 2 Wells Fargo and 1 American Express. It may be smart to find out the company which is hardest to deal with and keep that credit card for reasons of restoring credit history after the fact.

If you cannot sign up for any credit offers because your FICO score is shot, it will be harder to pay off debt. hmmm. we'll see. but thanks again!