Are there any good debt settlement companies?

If you are nervous about choosing a good settlement company look around for local attorneys in your area that offer debt settlement or you could just settle the debt your self.

There are programs that guide and assist you in settling your own debt, without having to pay a company 15-20% of your enrolled balances. You are in charge of your own negotiations, your own money, and where it's going. This is the safest route to take, given how many companies are out to scam you, or end up hurting your credit even worse!

This debt classroom charges 40 dollars a month and I still have to do all the dealing with all my creditors? Do they offer more information then I can get just from this forum? I can't believe with all the people who come here that no one can recommend a good settlement company that doesn't rip you off and does not take the first 10 months of payments as there fee before you start saving towards your settlements. Surely a lot of people here have found some success with a few of these companies?

amrulez1 - I don't want to get in trouble on here for promoting the company I work for (The Debt Classroom), but I will answer your specific questions, and if you have any further concerns, feel free to PM me here.

While we do charge a monthly fee, if you visit the Pricing page, you can enter the amount of debt you have and see an estimation of how much you will save versus enrolling with an actual company that does all the work for you. For some, the convenience of having others take care of all of that is worth the extra cost, but for others, they are hard-pressed for money as it is, which is why they're in the financial situation they're in. In addition, most people tend to prefer to have access to their money, should an emergency arise, and like to know that all money decisions are made by them, not a disconnected third party. We also offer tools for you to reference and customize for your own use, as well as a members-only forum that is moderated by people that have been in the settlement industry and know their stuff.

That all being said, if you decide going with a settlement company is the best choice for you, I wish you the best! I personally do not know of any that do not charge up front - they are not going to start working for you until they have some of your money in their pocket.

amrulez1:

We are in a similar situation as you, but you are 3 months more behind in your payments than we are...our last payments were in Nov '09. I have been reading this forum for the better part of 9 months. There are many people who have been documenting their experiences in their settlement processes, both those who are using settlement companies as well as those who are negotiating the settlement process themselves...in other words, going it alone. There is a TON of great information contained in this forum, you just need to spend some time reading all the threads, taking notes relavent to your situation and the CC's that you have. Reading what others have posted regarding their settlement process gave me the courage and confidence to go it alone.

I really haven't noticed that settlement companies are getting settlement amounts that are any better than those who are dealing directly with the CC's themselves. Additionally, the risks of working with a company that drops the ball at any given point, or is unscrupulous at best seem to be high enough that we chose not to take the risk.

You are far enough along that I would think that you might be able to start talking 'debt settlement' with your CC's. You might just start calling them and offering them 20% and see what happens. Let them each know that you don't have alot of money and the first companies to accept the offers may be the only ones to get anything, before they charge off and sell the debt to a collection agency. Seems you have nothing to loose. Signing up with a settlement company at this point means that you will have to start putting money away into an account to be available for settlements down the road. In my research, most settlement companies 'front load' the accumulation account with their fees, so in many cases, in 4 or 6 months, there isn't much money for settlements since most of the money goes to fees. It seemed to me that its only after about 12 months that you have accumulated enough money to start offering meaningful settlements. If you were to put that money away for yourself and 'open' the lines of communication with your CC's, you may be successful in getting similar results.

It might also be worthwhile to find an attorney in your area that specializes in debt settlement/bankruptcy to hire on an hourly basis to answer questions as they arise. We are talking to several in our area now so that as we speak to our CC's, we can say that we need to 'speak with our attorney' after each conversation...if the CC's think that you might be considering bankruptcy, they are more motivated to settle. The reality of this process is that its a game, and the better you play it, the better your chances of winning.

Should you get some reasonable settlement offers, there are 'protocals' for getting the offers in writing that you should follow, and again, those are outlined in numerous threads in this forum.

Best of Luck!

you can also look at http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/companies/ , but make sure you do thorough check before selecting