Question about debt settlement company..

First of all i've tried to signup and can't for some reason. I am somewhat in the same boat but not quite, only have 53k with the cards. I have 24k to settle with, liquidating my 401k cause cannot afford even the min anymore. If they take 10% that leaves you with 11k, you say to have to make monthly payments in the account, how much per month. How do they take their payments up front or montly. I find it a little amazing that they can settle for 20%, a little under you lump sum. If you had told them you had 30k would they have said 30% settlement. Maybe i'm just skeptical about the settlement co's. Also why does a person have to open a new account if they have no access to it. i know this seems to be the norm but can't figure out why. Maybe someone can shine some light on it. Can't you just open a savings acct. assc. with the checking, another thing that worries me about them. I've sent my hardshhip letter to my creditors and am waiting to see what happens. I offered them 45% up front to settle. If no one response do i send another letter stating offer is no longer available? Really need some input, thanks!

With Reliance, they have given me a spreadsheet exactly where the monthly payments are going, including their fees. My payment is 675/month for 36 months. That is quoted at a worst case scenario of .40/1. If they can settle for less, that will only help me. They get their fee paid over the first 15 months. My fee I was able to negotiate for 8%, so that works out to 7200 over 15 months. The reason you open an account at an institution that is not with any of your creditors, is so they can;'t see what you have in your account. If they know you have 5000 in an account, they may play hardball more. That's my thinking, anyway. Also, I really like that I control all the money. Once they get a settlement offer, I have to approve it, then I send the payment from MY account directly to the creditor. I really like the fact that I'm not sending a payment to Reliance. That way I know the creditor is getting the money, and there's no way Reliance can take my money and not pay it to the creditor, like we've all heard the horror stories. I can also cancel at any time, as stated in my contract. If I close the account because they are not performing, I only owe them for the months I used them. So if I give them 4 months to perform, and they don't, I'll close the account, and I will be out about 1,600. It's a chance I'm willing to take. I figure I'm not paying these cards anyway, so I'll see if they can do what they claim they can. Hope this helps.

Is their payment of 480 up and beyond the 675/month? Otherwise as you say you can cancel and walk away after 4 months. Isn't that about the time you would really need them, 2000 in 4 months with nothing to show for it, and 120 days in default. Is your payment based on the 20k you mentioned earlier. If you have a lump sum of 20k i would hope you get some reaction from some of the creditors. Nice to hear you can negotiate on the fees though, i still like the thought of payment on performance, the more you save me the more goes into your pockets. Keep us informed how things go for u i'll be waiting to hear as i'm looking for reliable company right now. Seems like 4 every one that has had success with someone 3 or 4 are screaming scam artist. Has any one ever heard of Fresh Start Financial out of NY.

Their fee of 475 is included in the 675 monthly fee. The person I have been talking to over the past few days (I've called him probably 15 times in the past 2 days, as I have had more questions come up!), said he is 99.9% sure they can get my debts settled for .20/1, but obviously he can't guarantee it. The reason he feels I can get that settlement rate is because of the lump sum.....the credit card companies will get their money right away, as opposed to waiting for it while I build up my account at 675/month to be able to pay them. I say I'll give them 3-4 months to perform, as he has told me it will take up to a month for the credit card companies to log the limited power of attorney in their computers, so they can start negotiating with Reliance. He also assured me that due to the lump sum available, it shouldn't take more than about 2 months to negotiate the settlements. I'm already 30-60 days behind on my cards, so we'll see how it goes. I've got no problem seeing how it turns out, as I am done paying these cards anyway, and will wait to settle on my own if Relaiance can't get the job done as they claim. I'm ok with losing upwards of 1500-2000 to see if they will perform. I am getting the Limited power of attorney notarized this morning, and then I am sending in all my paperwork to get the ball rolling with Reliance. I'll keep you posted!

After submitting my credit card info to Reliance, they noticed something that I never thought of....I have a Rooms To Go card, with a balance of about 4000. They said I need to read my contract with them, to see if they will repo the furniture I have with them if I don't keep paying on my card. That tells me Reliance is paying attention to my stuff, and I am very impressed with that. My guy there also told me that right now, Discover won't go below .70/1. That wasn't on my accounts, they haven't started negotiating yet...but on their other account holders with Discover, so I hope that changes. I'll keep you updated as the process continues!!