What are the first steps? PLease any "Guru" here?

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Whatever you do, don't ever deal with Fidelity Debt Solutions. It's a scam. If you aren't in default, they will tell you to go into default with your cards before they deal with the creditors. The problem is that while the money pot is being built up in the trust fund, interest in these accounts continue to accrue and calls from creditors will become more frequent. My wife and I made the mistake of hiring Fidelity and 7 months into the program we were taken to court by a collection agency, which informed us that they don't deal with debt settlement companies, which was quite surprising to me because Fidelity's rep told me that they have close relationships with credit card companies and collection agencies. The truth of the matter is that once the creditors charge off the accounts and sell them to collection agencies, the collection agencies have every right to collect on these account and will do everything they can to recover their money - most agencies won't deal with settlement companies either - when I informed one of the collection agencies that was calling me that they should talk to Fidelity, the rep just laughed at me and told me that settlement companies can't protect you from your lawsuits. Eventually we dropped from Fidelity's program and got 60% of our money back, but that was after I threatened to sue their asses for misrepresenting their services. The calls from creditors and collection agencies continued for months and we finally chose to file for Chapter 7, since we had no way to pay off nearly 49K in credit cards and loans after my wife became disabled and my hours were severely cut. Bottom line is, don't hire settlement companies, period. Try and reach your creditors if you are already in default and ask them to settle for a smaller ammount. Explain your circumstances - if they refuse, tell them you will have no choice but to file for Chapter 7. They may settle then, as they may fear not getting any money once you file for Chapter 7. And don't bother talking to these minimum wage earning customer service reps, they are about as useful as tits on a bull, but rather, ask to speak with a supervisor

Ive started my own settlement strategy after a lot of researching/lawyer consultations etc etc.

I have now gotten a little behind and am going to extend this in a month or 2 to total default.

Heres the "hope for you" part. When they jacked my rates and changed my terms leading to me deciding to default/settle. I called them and asked for help. Not the slightest hint of being willing to help on their part.

Now that im behind some of the calls are going much differently. Now they are willing to help. Have told me if I provide detailed budget info they might be willing to change things to help me (interest rates/terms etc etc).

I didnt take them up on it as my aim is to just completely settle, dont care about my credit score at all currently.

You however might want to talk to them and let them help you if they offer.

Just FYI

The original post was almost two years old.....

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