I just found this website, and I am totally not surprised to find the favorable reports here. I have been hounded by unsolicited phone calls from companies offering debt settlements for months now, but every single one, without exception, when you look them up on the web, have multiple websites with multiple people who have been ripped off, and generally screwed over, by them.
Then, last night, I found Charles' ebook and zipdebt website, and it was like a cool breeze in the Sahara. From everything I knew, the information was solid. Oh, and his blog contained lots more clearly valid, helpful information.
To make a long story slightly shorter, I just finished my introductory, FREE, consultation with Charles' assistant (I never quite got her name), who spoke with me for nearly an hour, answering every question. Between what I had read, and what she told me, I knew I had finally found the real deal, even without yet going through the CDs or starting the process. So, as I said, it was no surprise that this blog totally confirms this fact--not one person reporting a negative experience, and many with highly positive ones. She told me, and I am sure it's true, that they have a zero complaint record with BBB--not zero unresolved, but zero complaints, period.
As several people here have indicated, but just to make it absolutely clear to anyone looking at this site for the first time wondering if they should do this with zipdebt, there is one key to making this work, and this key can be a show stopper for some people--probably for many of them ultimately. And this factor is also the key reason why NONE of the debt settlement companies are on the level (Mrs. X from zipdebt told me she thought there might be 2 that are legit, out of the hundreds-thousands that exist)--because if they told you this, they couldn't promise what they promise to get your business.
The key thing is, you DO NEED to find some source of paying off the settlement amounts IN TOTO, generally within 6 months of your last payment on each account. Which means that no matter how much you save up from the moment you stop paying, you will not be remotely close to having enough accumulated by the time they start offering to settle. And here's a little secret she told me: your window to extract generous settlement terms is exactly 6 months. After 6 months, they must charge your loan off, at which point it is a loss on their books anyway, and they derive no advantage from making generous settlement offers (which evidently don't show as a loss in the same way). THAT'S why you must have a pot of money. But the debt settlement companies promise you they will use your money to pay off the first creditor, but they are silent on how they propose to pay off all the rest of them. They can't do it. They are ALL lying to you.
So, things like savings accounts, and yes, retirement accounts, may need to be borrowed from to make this work. But guess what? Once you are done, in 6-9 months, the entirety of what you were paying in useless debt service can be devoted to paying back your loan to yourself, you will restore your original funds in 1-2 years max, after which you will have the amount you used to pay as debt service as FREE MONEY to accelerate your savings. (Obviously, if you can borrow interest free from rich relatives, that works even better, but not all of us can do that.)
And zipdebt will not let you pay them until you can come up with, or be certain you will be able to come up with, the amount you will need to pay the settlements. They will say we can't help you. It's sad, because I'm sure many folks that need something real bad will be forced to bankruptcy, but the point is, zipdebt is just being honest about what it really takes. This is the only way it works, and I defy anyone to tell me about a debt settlement company that tells it like it is--and like zipdebt tells it.
And as people have pointed out, your credit record will go in the toilet, but only for a few months. As soon as you hit those zero balances, the R9's on your credit score will start to be counterbalanced by the zero balances, and your score will bounce back significantly pretty dern quickly. I have $55K, and will definitely do it myself.
And she told me, and I believe her, that no matter how much one of us lay people might read, even if we just purchased their CDs, there is no substitute for the specific advice they will provide as things come up, maybe even just that confirmation that we're doing fine and not to worry about a scary letter or something. Their prices are beyond reasonable for what they provide you, and what you will receive. And if you have any available credit, you can pay for it that way before beginning, and thereby pay only 40% of their fee at the end of the day.
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