Need info on Debt Settlement Please !!

Hello Cutiebear - I just got your quick message you left me and I replied, also to answer a few more of your questions:

Some DS companies are good, some are bad, either way they all charge a fee for their services and I have found people are able to do this on their own without using a DS company. If you choose to use a DS company
you can check out this forum's ranking chart here:
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/ranking-chart/

Even if you enroll in a DS company the CC's might keep calling you until your DS company takes care of this. Interest and late fee's will continue to occur on your account and the DS company will NOT be making any payments, this is different than consolidation where they make monthly payments. With DS you put money into an account and when you have enough then they try and settle the account for you.

Keep in mind that with DS or doing it yourself there is always a possibility of being sued. And the DS company can't do much for when this happens. Usually this will affect your credit until it's settled and then after that it will show up on your Credit report but you will be able to rebuild. If you can settle all your accounts within 2 years say, then you can start rebuilding. If you read my blog, you'll see my score just jumped 59 points because one of my accounts is now showing settled/paid. So each time one is taken care of this also helps.

There is also more information on What debt settlement is at this link:
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/debt-settlement.html

Hope this helps!
Jen

Hi Cutiebear, It may also be helpful to check out the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators--www.iapda.org when deciding on a company. Also, take note of all the companies' response times and their levels of customer service and professionalism, which is usually a great indicator of a reputable company. They should also answer all of your above questions at length. Do not let them rush you through it. The fee percentage is usually 15% to 25% of the total amount of debt you bring into the program so try to go with a company whose fees are 15%. Be careful of a company who doesn't give you a clear and precise explanation of their fees. There is always the possibility of being sued but do realize that this is very costly and time consuming for the creditors????????a settlement is a much better offer and less work. If a law suit is threatened, the debt settlement company should make that particular account a priority and get it settled as soon as possible.

FYI, Debtxpert.com has an F rating with the BBB but so do all other companies in Southern California. I have looked into this extensively as I too questioned the F rating. James, aka debtxpert advised that the BBB owner of the southland is also part owner of a debt management company therefore, all debt settlement companies by default get a F rating. If you notice, there are no complaints against debtxpert, sifxpert or the debt help center yet, they are given an F rating. This doesnt seem very fair but if you look up any debt consolidation company in the southland, they all have A or triple A ratings with numerous complaints.

Here is a review someone posted about debtxpert just recently:


This board was where I started my research into debt options (I made a few guest posts as Cruithne), so I thought that now that I am debt-free I would come back and return the favor of sharing my experiences. If this is as much a review as a story, that is because I remember how starved for information I was when I was trying to research the different settlement companies. If you have any questions that my rather verbose post doesn't cover, I'll be happy to answer here or in PM.

Short Version:


Cards settled: BofA (20%), the dreaded Citibank (50%), and State Farm Bank aka Chase (55%), all of which were current before I started
Time it took: ~6 months (all pre-chargeoff)

Total debt at start of program: ~35.3k
Total debt right before charge off (because of yucky fees): ~38.5k
Total settlement amounts: ~12.2k (about 30%)
Total amount saved including fees paid: ~20-23k (depending on whether you count the interest and fees)

Company I used: debtxpert.com aka "sifxpert"
Fee structure: 20% of what you are saved for each settlement, with a $500 retainer fee at the start
My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Based on my experiences, I can recommend without reservations the settlement company I used. If I had to do it all over again and if he were no longer in business, I wouldn't even try settlement. Tooo many things that can go wrong. The fee structure of other companies is scary in comparison, and no one has impressed me with their skill and character as much as James Lombardo of debtxpert.com has.


Long Version

A year ago (fall 2006), I was a day late paying my BofA bill because of...well, I don't remember. Probably just busy or trying to juggle the in and out-flow of money down to the day like we often have to. Or maybe I was just too close to my limit. They've given me a hard time about that too. In any case, they took my apr up to the ungodly 30%+, making it impossible for me to pay my minimum balances. And nothing I could do would talk them down.

So I found myself here, and I learned about settlement. I had never been more than a day late in any payment, so as I learned more of the "dark side" of settlement (that I would have to stop paying bills, or no one would settle), I was pretty worried. I was originally talking to the company that was popular here at the time (I don't know if they still are), but their payment plan really worried me. Because of the up-front fees and because of my low income, it would take years to settle my debts through their setup.

At first I thought that was the only option, so I was this close to signing up, but then through my various googlings to find other opinions about them, I learned about the company now known as debtxpert.com (aka sifxpert aka James).

I was intrigued by the idea of working with someone who participated in the community he served (a different one, not this one), so after talking with James on the phone and sending countless emails (I'd gotten pretty jaded and suspicious of the whole debt correction industry by this time), my husband and I decided to enter his program. I was won over by how smart the guy was, and how very not-pushy he was. I knew that settlement was possible, but only if the person doing the negotiation was very clever and knowledgeable. I felt he was.

We stopped paying our bills in...March 2007 I think it was? And by September we were debt-free.

I can't say it was the easiest thing I've done. While he did what he could to stop phone calls, it wasn't foolproof. It helped that I had a cell phone as my main phone that could be set to only accept #s in my address book. And of course nothing can help the guilt if you are someone who has always paid your bills.

But it worked. All three of our cards were settled before charge-off. And I can now gladly give my wholehearted recommendation that James and his team at debtxpert.com can do the job.

The Good:

1) The fee structure ($500 retainer, then 20% of what he saves you from each settlement) is *sane*. It's what everyone should be doing. It meant we actually had the money to settle, since we hadn't paid most of our savings into fees to the settlement company.

2) He believes in settling before charge-off. Avoiding charge-off was very important to us, so we needed to know that the negotiator would fight for that.

3) He is not only smart and good at what he does, but he respects and cares about his clients. Yes, it is a business (and possibly a very lucrative one, given how many of these companies are out there), but I honestly think the guy gets a high from helping people.

The Bad:

Some things could have been improved on. In a perfect world the calls would have stopped completely. I don't know if it is possible or not these days.

And as others have mentioned, he can be hard to get ahold of. It is better than it was earlier this year and in the last 2-3 months he's always replied to emails within 24 hours. Still, when you are doing something like settlement you really want to be able to reach your negotiator quickly. With so many fraudulent and irresponsible companies out there, not being able to reach them by phone relatively quickly can make you start to imagine all sorts of terriying things.

Fortunately this doesn't appear to have hurt anyone yet besides generating some worry. I've read folks being frustrated that it took them a little too long to reach him, but I've never read anyone complain about settlement results. If he'd messed up or screwed someone over with a bad negotiation, we'd hear about it here or on one of the other debt settlement online communities.

So despite the above negatives, if I had to do it all over again, I'd still sign on with him.

P.S. Being debt-free and paying everthing with cash...is awesome. OMG. I randomly break out into a s#$%-eating grin at the oddest moments.

Hi Cutiebear -

My wife and I were almostin the exact same position as you in 2005. In fact we had more debt, about $35K! I convinced my wife we needed to go the debt settlement route and we are so happy we did. So happy in fact, that I decided I needed to start a website to tell the world. :D

We used a settlement company (Hoffman, Brinker & Roberts) that also ONLY works on a contingentcy basis (when they get a settlement) and charges a percentage of the money saved, so they have an incentive to get you the best settlement.

Good Luck to you in shedding your debt!

Brad

Brad and guest - thank you for your info, yes some debt settlement companies are great to work with but if you can deal with the calls this can be accomplished on your own and save the fee's. I settled my BoA card for 20% - original balance 17K with fee's 20,500K and settled for $4100. But the goal for all of us is to be debt free, so whatever is going to work best and get you out of debt is the way to go.

I decided to do DS on my own after reading this board,the internet and researching companies. I did not feel comfortable with all the mixed reviews out there. I will say that I really wanted to use debtxpert and emailed him that I was interested. He told me he would call but never did. That is fine because it gave me time to realize-I can do this! I hear awesome reviews about him-I do hear he is hard to reach. That is a no-no with me especially with something like this. I need communication. If you decide to use him and can reach him-great. From what I have read too-his fees are a lot better than most.
Best of luck!

Is there anywhere you can find the info and forms you need to do this yourself for free? Also has anyone ever heard of zipdebt.com?
Thanks

I haven't heard of zipdebt but you can find info/lettes etc on this site, at the top just below the ranking chart, Here is the link if you can't find it:
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/diy/

I purchased the zipdebt package and returned it because there was nothing in it that I hadn't read or seen on this site.

You have to be willing to take 10 steps back b4 you can take 5 steps forward.. it did not take overnight for you to have the debt, so it's going to take awhile to get out. you are financially I"ll and have to take your medicine to get better or if you don't then you get worse.. there is no magic wand or rainbow story to get you to happy land..
is my credit going to be damaged.. are we talking debt or credit
quick question would you want a million dollars or good credit. people want good credit to BUY things
can i be sued.. YES.. but highly unlikely this is a time consuming process
can you get a lien? yes but if you own property and the lien goes on that.. the banks can't get that until you sell
are creditor going to call. sure they are........but if your ds company sends out the cease and dissest then the calls will stop
you have to have the where with all to weather the storm.. and your financial mess your in.. if you can deal with all the static and noise in the backround then your good to go and on your way to financial recovery and building back your credit.. ds.. is the most aggressive way to get out of debt.. so you decide.. either you sit and complain about this and that.. or see it for what it is.. and you move on it.............
want more information email me
[email]debt.superstar@yahoo.com[/email]
thanks!!

cc companies would like you to settle because it's business 101 it makes sense......they get to to write it off as bad debt, debt is like a fine wine.. it gets better for negotiation as time goes by. companies cannot tell you to stop paying on your cards you make that decision and YOU don't use them once they get into the program.. that is considered fraud.........once your statements are submitted the ds company works off of that.. not the interest or penalties later......let's see 0 interest. ds companies need to tell you up front what they are and how things affect you.. if they dont it's lying by omission. bankruptcy chapter 13 is about a 5-7 year program.. once you miss one payment.. they throw you out of the program.. credit counseling.. is non-profit.. and it's designed by the credit card companies to re-coup 100% of the principle and a little of the interest.. and they will report on your credit.. and it's frowned upon like a bankruptcy.. if you use ds.......they do not report your credit.. they are 3rd party and cannot. we are a sue happy society and this is done to scare you......
if you have a spouse who is not in the program.. move the money to their account.. or get a load card.......this is the safest place for your money......also.........is your debt taxed what is forgiven? YES it can be but you will use form 982 to show your insolvent and were at the time of the debt so NO you would not owe.. so do you want to get back on the road to financial freedom? i have your answers and help you need.
let me know.
if they don't tell you upfront.. they are not looking out for your best interest.......
[email]debt.superstar@yahoo.com[/email]
xox