Basic Question

Review their ratings with the Better Business Bureau,any licensing division regulating them,& their attorney general. By checking out the company you should be able to find one that fits your needs.

but i mean which one is actually better for your credit in the long run....they both say that their program is better than the other. The settlement people told me that a debt management plan is like a soft bankruptcy and that I should definately go the settlement route. Then the credit counselours told me I should definately stay away from settlement companys. i mean im not good with decisions i just want some advice on which route to go. If i knew settlement would work I would do it i think. But then again i want my credit to be good 5 to 10 years down the road.

any advice

Any debt plan can be hard on your credit.The trick is to see if the company has guidelines in place to assist with this at completion of plan.You have now exhausted my knowledge of these plans.Perhaps one of our other members knows more.

debt settlement companies charge fees, average is 15% and it does get recorded in your credit history. Also it is possible that the settled amount could be taxed by the IRS.

the credit counseling agency may be able to reduce the interest rates and reduce the principal debt amount by eliminating late fees and other financial penalties and lower your interest rate and payments. I don????????t think it affects your credit.

so which one are you saying is better for me to do?

does anyone have an opinion on which way is best to go....overall is it a smart thing to do debt settlement. Is bankruptcy much worse then the other options?

Yes I would imagine bk would be much worse on your credit report then credit counseling or debt settlement. Have you tried calling the number listed to the right of the screen. They offer a free no obligation consultation and they may be able to discuss with you what they feel would work best for you. I'm sure they could also answer your questions as to which would have the least affect on your credit. Also I have a question have you tried calling your credit card companies yourself and just asking for a reduced interest rate sometimes this actually works and you can do what the credit counseling could do for you. Just a thought you might want to give that option a try the worst they can say is they're not willing to do it.


Johnita

yes i tried calling them and they basically straight up said no. I also have pretty good interest rates on my cards already. I just dont know what route to go at all

is a debt management plan through credit counseling the best way to deal with debt if it is affordable??