Debt Settlement on my own?

My husband settled a few small debts on his own a few years back. It worked out really well, and wasn't too bloody. I think you can do it just as well as any settlement company...You have access to most info you would need right here on this board, and it sure would be a ton cheaper, and probably quicker.

Like you said, you survived the PDL war, you can do it.

What company are you using?

I settled all of my internet pdl's on my own. I don't know how I would do with a legitimate creditor though.

I had a law firm contact me. I posted it & everyone was wonderful & said let the debt co handle it. I figure I'm paying the debt co(we have the same one)a fee for them to take care of things like that. I was going to settle with the credit co that had my husbands car. I gave the guy my checking info & told him not to process a check until 10/26. He assured me he would'nt. Well on Oct 11th, I got a bank notice for a bounced check with the # that I gave him! I immediately calle & left the guy a msg but of course he never got it. Now they have the car, & he wants my debit info to set up a repay plan in case the car doesn't sell for what we owe. Fool me once, shame onyou, fool me twice shame on me. The car hasn't even been auctioned off yet! So please be careful Mishele.

Mishele...Personal opinion,only because you asked! I would never,ever use a debt settlement,consolidation company,ever! I think you are intelligent enough to settle on your own...I would!

Polly...I believe you could have as well!!

You may go ahead and do the settlement with your creditor. If their deal sounds good, cheaper and genuine on paper, you don????????t need your settlement company to do the same negotiations for you and that may cost more. Perhaps you save some money there.

You must keep this in mind that once you start the negotiations for a particular account with your creditor, get everything sorted till you see your credit file updated. When you have the ???????paid in less than full??????? letter from the creditor, remove that account from your settlement company records.

In some cases, a creditor might not want to work with someone just when s/he is in the middle of the negotiations. Reason can be that they are not getting their costs recovered. So they will not accept your proposals until you agree for their plan. Now, you need to be careful if you go back to your settlement company. When they will call the creditor, your file will be recovered from the creditor????????s system and the negotiations done by you will be recalled. There may be a chance that the creditor won????????t accept even the settlement company????????s proposals unless you agree to their terms. This can be tricky but you need to be careful. My two cents based on real experience..

Go to debthelpcenter.net and post your questions. The person who runs the site has really good information for free and even provides you with contact info to settle with decent people instead of idiots we mostly have calling. You can do it on your own if you have it in you. The site owner also has a program you can pay for which is less than half of the fees most companies charge and no fees up front. If you read the posts on his site he really knows what he is talking about and the members rave about his results. He was on another forum and recently started his own. If you want to settle on your own he is the person to talk to. I settled almost 80k in debt on my own and hired him to settle a few accounts I couldn't handle and one was MBNA for 40k. He settled it for 20% and I was able to get 6 installments. I found him looking for a debt co. and chose to do on my own with his help.

I think that everyone is better off trying to settle debts. Most of these companies are just out for your $ and you can usually do the same thing that they do..Good luck....

Anyone can settle. I was getting letters sent to my house all the time for settlements. The only difference when hiring someone who knows what they are doing is the fact that you can get sued if you make one wrong move. Sifxpert is the guy on that forum I mentioned and he seems to know every creditor and how to prevent legal action, who to settle with first and what to send to who. For example, I nearly sent a validation letter to citibank but found out that they will sue immediatley once they get one of these letters. I learned this and also MBNA uses Arbitration which you will lsoe every time. Sifxpert settled this account since it was the highest dollar account I had and saved me a ton. He charged me only 10% of the amount I saved. Other companies charge way more than that and I paid nothing until it was resolved and had the letter in hand that MBNA would accept the amount Sif settled for. It does pay to hire in some cases but I would be too afraid to pay anyone without actually speaking to other clients or looking them up extensively with the BBB. This guy Sifxpert obviously hides nothing and what better proof can one offer when all of his clients are on his forum?

debt settlement does also hurt your credit but I would have been paying forever. Its certainly not for everyone. You have to ask yourself if paying someone to hurt your credit is what you want...it seems like a no brainer but it had to happen or else I would stay broke forever.

I wish you all the best.

Thanks everyone for the input, I really appreciate it. I believe my debt settlement is reputable but I'm really upset right now. According to my payment worksheets with them, part of my first three payments are supposed to go into my escrow account. This did not happen and I was told by my debt counselor that the first three payments went to their fees. I understand they need time for the negotiations but if I settle each debt on my own and pull them out of the program, then it seems useless to me to pay them as well. I've sent my debt counselor a couple of e-mails and I will wait for her response. Thanks for the info on the other site. I will check it out soon. I settled the majority of my payday lenders on my own so I figure I have a good shot in doing this as well. We'll see what happens but I don't want to make any rash decisions either because I'm upset right now.

Roadwarrior,

Thanks for your vote of confidence. :-) My husband is working with our local CCCS office that has turned out to be a plus for him because they were able to include our second mortgage. That knocks off many years of payments for us plus a lot of interest. That is also a secured debt and I am working with all unsecured debt. I'm going to ask for all of my paperwork from my debt settlement company, also all notes and letters that my creditors have sent them. I think that will be a good place to start :-)

Mary Ann,

I don't plan on giving any creditor at this point my banking information. I was stupid enough to do that with payday lenders. They should be able to accept money orders and I'm willing to send them certified mail.

eatlove2001,

I wasn't able to pull up other website. What am I doing wrong?

Mishele,
I saw your post that your husband is working with someone about your secured debts. We have a home equity loan that I am behind in. Any suggestions?

I use a debt settlement company to settle my PDL's online. I am working with one by myself that I am trying to settle. So far, each method has worked out fine for me.

I saw your post Mishele.... his site is debthelpcenter.net or sifxpert.com The guy is great. His information is incredible and he is a sincere person. Of course, everyone is out to make money but his site is no pressure at all....if you want his help ask..otherwise you could post questions on his board and he will answer for you.

Yeah, I have posted on the other website. I can't wait to hear back from him regarding this situation. I've been looking through my current debt settlement paperwork and things don't seem to be adding up regarding payments that I have made to them. It seems they have taken out more in fees than they were supposed to. I'm waiting to hear back from my debt counselor now. I've paid over half in fees thus far and that just seems odd to me. I'm hoping that if I decided to cancel that I can get most of my money back.

Mary Ann,

My husband signed up with our local CCCS office and they were able to handle the second mortgage. It was a big relief to know that debt was cut in half basically :-) You can find them in the yellow pages.

Well I have e-mail sifxpert a couple of times and he's been very helpful. I'm very impressed and I am going to look over some papers he e-mailed me this evening. I can't print them at home because my printer is on the fritz again. I think it's time to get a new one. Anyway, he has a go getter attitude which I really like. So we'll see how this goes.

I have been working with a debt settle ment company for 4 months now and have sent three payments. I'm going to write a letter on Monday to get out of my contract. I settled with one of the companies on my own for about half of what I owe. I'm just waiting for the funding. I hope I get some of my money back.

Congrats on doing it on your own. I just started my journey and I am sure I have a long way to go. Seeing posts like this wiseteacher is all the reason I have decided to go at it on my own.

Best of luck to you!

im a bit confused here. i want to do it on my own. im already with a debt settlement but want out, one payment has been deducted. but its CLC. Do I contact the creditors again?

I don't know the answer to that one because I haven't used a DS company.

The only advice I could give is to read the contract you signed with the company that you are with. See if there are any penalties if you cancel.

it says i can cancel within 45 days if i am not satisfied.

I would cancel if you are not happy. Also make sure there are no hidden fees or cancellation costs before you do anything.

JNICE:
Write your DS company a letter telling them you want to cancel and that you will NOT authorize any more payments to be pulled from your checking account. Just tell them you no longer wish to be in their program. Make sure you get something in writing from them showing they have canceled/closed your account.

Then you can call your creditors and see what they say, how many months are you currently behind? The settlement offers are usually most aggressive when you are about 5-6 months behind. Once you agree to a settlement they might let you spread the payments out 90 - 120 days but the total settlement amount must be paid in this time and make sure you get a settlement offer from the Credit in writing before paying anything.

I have $50,000 in credit card debt. Should I try to settle these on my own or work with someone? Where do I begin?

Greetings "DAW",

You can settle cc debt yourself.

My advice is to read these forums, formulate a plan and stick to it.

Which ccc's do you owe and how much?
Some are easier to settle with than others.

Also, sign up/register for the forums.

Regards,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba