accumulate necessary funds

For debt settlement program, while you accumulate necessary funds, you shall not be paying to the creditors for months. So, creditors will report it as late payments or missed payments to the credit bureaus. This will drop down your credit score too some extent. However, once you pay off the debt, your score will gradually improve. Besides, regular on-time payments of other debts will definitely bring up you credit score in near future.

I was in the exact same boat. I signed on with a excellent settlement company. If you consider it your credit is probably already bad or suffering anyhow. During your process it will get worse. But my experience shows that like you i had a home that i paid regularly that helped. And even paying your utilities on time helps. But it will drop during the process. But after about a year of being out of the program and being responsible with your new accounts and existing accounts you will start to see improvements.

Debt settlement is a good option when you are in deep debts, the debt settlement company negotiates with the debt settlement company to reduce your debt levels, it does affect your credit report but you will be able to build it back again once you become debt free. I found Freedom Debt Relief very helpful.