Debt

They helped me get rid of all my credit card debt. Thank you BillsAndDebt.com and this great forum!

Debt Management and Debt Settlement are two completely different programs. Neither program is better than the other. It depends on your situation. If you can afford your minimum payments and just want one payment with much lower interest rates so you can get out of debt faster than you would be an excellent candidate for debt management plan or dmp. If you can't afford the minimums , can't afford a DMP ,and see your self about to start falling behind on your bills or already are than you are likely a better candidate for debt settlement. It will get you one low payment " usually around half of what your minimums where " and get you out of debt fast.

By the way I couldn't find BillsAndDebt on the BBB. Did they refer you to another company or do they provide the settlement or dmp themselves ?

They referred me to 2 companies but I decided to go with The credit counseling Foundation. Its been working great so far. Do you have any feedback on that company?

My brother referred me to billsanddebt and they cut my $30,000 debt in half. It took about 3 years but it was worth it.
I saw this post and thought that that the least I can do is give them a positive feedback. :lol:

I too cannot find anything on billsanddebt.com. Their website shows they are not a member of anything Tasc, BBB, nothing. If they are just a referral house, then that worries me too.

Debt Management is pretty straight forward as these companies are funded by the CC companies. Your interest rates are negotiated lower and you only pay one monthly payment to the DM company. The only thing to watch out for is any up front fees and their monthly service fee. Try to work with a non-profit as they are much more regulated.

Debt Settlement is another animal. Many of the DS companies are not legit and will take your money, leave you broke and your credit destroyed. You really need to do as much research as possible before choosing to go with a DS company.

I also worked with billsanddebt.com and they offered me a great debt management program. They have an A rating with the BBB so I'm not sure what the last post was talking about.

I searched for them on the BBB's website and found nothing. Their website claims no affiliation with any organization. So I am not sure what you are talking about. If you can show me their BBB report, I would love to see it.

The difference between debt management and debt settlement is that debt management does not reduce the principal balance that you owe your creditor. It just lowers the interest rate. Debt settlement does reduce the principal balance by up to 60%.

The credit card companies fund the debt management programs because they would rather you pay the full amount you owe, of course. They know that if you enroll into a reputable debt settlement program that they will not get paid in full. That is why the credit card companies would rather you did not have the option to enroll in debt settlement. My opinion is, that if you can't afford to pay the debt as agreed, you are much better off enrolling in a debt settlement program then a debt management program. Atleast then, you will settle your debts at a payment you can afford. Both debt management and debt settlement adversly effects your credit. So, if you are going to have your credit effected either way, why wouldn't you want to reduce your payments to the lowest amount. Once your debts are settled, your credit score will begin to go back up.

There are many thing you can ask the debt settlement company to make sure you are signing up with a reputable company. See my post: How do you choose the right debt settlement company. Click link below.
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/settlement/right-company.html