Researching an honest & scam-free co to settle my debts!

To either the left or the right, depending on how your page loads, under "Our Services," there is a do-it-yourself section. Please check that out before you pay anyone to settle your debts for you. There have been many people here who successfully settled their own debts. If you do decide to go with a company, please check them out with the BBB in addition to doing a google search. There are many companies that are just out to take your money and not settle your debts. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

Definitely check anyone out with the BBB that you intend to use to help you with your finances. I went to Debtadvice.org and read all the info and selected from the choices they had for my area. So far it is working well.

Have you called each of the creditor and know what kind of plan are they going to fix for you? If you can afford their plan, you don't have to look for any outside help. Keep negotiating with them until they are ready to work on your terms. Make sure that you have everything mentioned in the contract copy, because this will be the only proof in case any dispute takes place at the later stage.

Thanks guys for responding so quicky. :D

Great advice thanks sooooo much!!

I would like to hear from people that have settled their own debts. Does it take longer than being represented by a company? Do I need special skills?

In order to settle my own debt it will be better to call them to work things out or send them a offer by mail when I have the money ready?

It takes some time to get the settlement deal finalized with the creditor. Each company will sound different towards your proposal, but ultimately they want to get their money back. You have to give a call to each company and negotiate for a reduced balance. Draft your proposal letters and send it through CMRRR. This will be a written proof of your negotiations done with them.

The creditors will reply to you with their payment plan. You can speak to different settlement companies and compare their quotes. If the difference is not too much, you should always consider paying to the creditors directly, because you will save some money in fees charged by the settlement company.

Be careful with doing it on your own because if you don't know what you are doing, the creditors will make your life miserable. From what I've heard, they have become very aggressive recently and I imagine most people are not in a position to deal with them without the right knowledge.

I was reading a article yesterday about settleling your own debt I copy and paste it.


[quote]Can a person achieve these credit card debt settlements on their own or do they need to hire a debt reduction professional to get out of the credit card debt?

While it is certainly possible for someone to achieve a credit card debt settlement on their own I do not recommend it anymore than I would recommend somebody taking out their own appendix.

In the first place creditors do not take the situation nearly as seriously when a debtor calls to make a settlement as when a debt relief professional, such as a bankruptcy attorney or debt management firm calls to make a debt settlement. An individual would not know how to negotiate a debt settlement or what a proper debt settlement would be.

A debt management professional working in this field would know most individual creditors including what their standard acceptance offer would be. In order to achieve the proper credit card debt settlement it is important to understand the proper way to fill out certain financial forms, most individuals do not know how to do this properly.

A debt reduction professional also knows what to say, what not to say, what to ask for and what, to a creditor, would be a ridiculous request. Credit card debt settlements are best achieved when the creditors standard operating procedures and formats are followed. An individual would have no idea how to go about following such debt solution procedures. It is harder to negotiate one of your own credit card debt accounts because of the emotions involved when negotiating for yourself. Even amongst lawyers it is said that the lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client. This is the case for either a lawyer or non-lawyer negotiating debt settlements on their own behalf.

When someone else is negotiating for you the calls from the collector and letters end up going to the debt management professional you have hired to work for you making the entire debt settlement process less stressful.

It is disturbingly common for debt collectors to try and do things, which may be industry tricks or potentially fraud in order to get you to pay off debt in full. Some of these things may include getting you to reveal information about yourself you may have no obligation to reveal or having you to send money you have been told would be settlement of the debt in full only to find they have lied and simply taken the money on account.
[/quote]

I think I'm going with curadebt so they could handle everything for me.

Has anyone here had a good or bad experience with this company I checked them at bbb.com and they only have a couple of complains vs the others that have over 30. Would appreciate your suggestions in dealing with this company or do you know of a better one.


Thanks again,

Mary :)

Mary I would call the Attorney Generals office in your state and see if any complaints have been lodged against these companies. I know here the AG sued 2 of these companies and have gotten refunds for consumers. KYSIDE38

Quote:

JUst type in attorney general and your state in the google bar it will bring up the web site. You need the consumer division. KYSIDE38