I’ve wanted to get some first hand information about why using debt settlement companies is such a bad idea. I was glad to discover that one of my previous articles “How to settle your debts on your own” was dead on regarding why consumers should avoid using debt settlement companies.
I’ve been exchanging emails with one of my readers who has gone through a lot of financial peril recently. But in particular, she has dealt with two different debt settlement companies. I asked her to describe her experiences with these companies and explain to me whether or not she still thinks they are a good idea. I’ll let you read for yourself what she says. Feel free to leave questions or comments at the end of this article.
Hey DP,
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. We are moving and I have been kind of busy lately.
My experience has not been a pleasant one at all. I guess when it comes to debt no ones is, but in particular I have found that these people are liars.
The first agency I used was Credit Solutions. I was trying to make a pro-active move, like when we claimed bankruptcy, taking care of the situation before the situation arises. Well, I signed up and they promised all sorts of crap. They promised that being enrolled in their program would prevent the collection agencies from obtaining a judgment against me, and it would give me protection. WELL, I signed up and soon found out that was a lie. After my first payment (the first 3 go right to their fee) I called to make sure the cease and desist letters went out. Well, they then informed me that I had to wait until the credit card debt went to collections before that company could deal with them.
They also informed me (after I signed up) that being in their program gives me NO protection – in fact it has been known to piss the creditors off when they find out that you are in a debt settlement company. In addition, their monthly payment was crap too, because they have a range that they figure they can settle your debts for like 60% to 40% lets say. Well, they base your monthly payment on being able to settle it down to the 40% to keep their quotes down. Well, basically that is great if all of your creditors agree to those terms – otherwise you are screwed (pardon the language) because you could find out after you have done this for 3 months that you dont have enough saved.
The second agency was GHS Solutions. This agency has pissed me off so much I am actually reporting them to TASC. They are a member of this group that regulates debt settlement companies. Well, they said all the right things right…..
1- They started out by giving me some crap about how they cannot send out the cease and desist letters. They said that because I have 3 Washington Mutual Cards, and bank with Washington Mutual they (Washington Mutual) can run in and cease my bank account when they see that I am dealing with a debt settlement company. In theory that would be great for the credit card companies but VERY – EXTREMELY ILLEGAL! In reality it doesnt matter if they see that I am working with a debt settlement company because they have to go through the proper channels to be able to freeze my bank account. First, a judgment, then a court hearing for discovery, then if need be writ of garnishment and\or bank freeze. The procedure is the same no matter whether it is a card through your bank or not.
2- I was begging them to send these letters out! My feeling was that I wanted them to see that I was in some kind of program and not just ignoring them. Every time I called GHS, I was telling them I was nervous, because by the time I got into their Company, ALL my credit cards had gone to collection agencies and had been there for months. I kept saying that because I havent been responding to the calls, letters (THE big rules of these companies is that you can not talk to the creditors or the collection agencies) like they told me not too, so now I have no idea what these companies are doing. They could be working towards a judgment against me or my husband as we speak. Well Dawn,( I get the same woman every time I call) she placates me and tells me that I am overly worried about my husbands wages being garnished, and that I am PROJECTING this whole situation on to myself.
Well, one night one of my husbands WAMU cards called and it was an attorney. She was actually a very decent woman, I explained to her that I was working with a debt settlement company. She said that there are two kinds of collections- 1- where the collection agency buys the debt and can then settle with a debt settlement company. OR 2- (her kind) where the agency doesnt buy the debt (the original creditor still owns the debt) – the agency just collects on it. She said when they (in this case WAMU) contracted her company they made her sign a contract giving her rules of how they want her to collect. For example, she can only try to collect the full payment at first, they after 30 days she can send me a settlement opportunity. BUT, she had to sign that she would only work with the debtor and NOT ANY debt settlement agencies.
She also told me that WAMU would never have worked with a debt settlement company most likely BUT had they only gotten a letter (perhaps the cease and desist letter I was begging for) she said it probably would never have gotten to her desk. They most likely would have just held back until they got a payment from me. Because at least they would have known I was trying to do something and not just ignoring them. But now that they paid for her there is not much I can do.
When I called GHS, Dawn, informed me that the woman was lying and wasnt really an attorney. I told her that I wanted out of the company, and that I am going to be claiming chapter 13. She then of course gave the speech as to how bad that is for your credit. I then explained we had claimed chapter 7 over 4 years ago, and it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We had no credit problems afterward. I told her I have no problems paying for my debts settled or in full. My problem is while I am working to pay everything off I want some kind of protection to assure me that these companies are not going behind my back and obtaining judgments. By the way it is against the law for a company to fire you for one wage garnishment BUT there is no precedent for multiple wage garnishments.
Also, when your employer garnishes your wages (even if they do not initiate it) they have to pay a fee. I told Dawn that I thought everyone at GHS was a bunch of lazy people, and that I knew that they were just holding off on sending the letters out until all of their fees get paid (over 5 monthly installments) and that since time is of the essence for my particular case I didnt know if it could wait that long.
So, in the long of it, I would NEVER recommend a debt settlement company to anyone! I hope this helps. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thank you for all your effort on the subject, and trying to figures things out for people.
Thanks
Jennifer
Here’s a few comments from other people who claim they used Credit Solutions. You can read these comments from the source by clicking on this youtube video – which appears to be sponsored by Credit Solutions.
“DO NOT USE CREDIT SOLUTIONS!!! Credit Solution is the worst company!!! I signed up thinking that they would be able to help me and what they did is get my account in worst condition!! The collection company was able to sue me and put a lien on my account! Then I try to defer my payments with them and they continued to try to get their payment!! All this company wants is money!! They do not want to help you!! DO NOT USE CREDIT SOLUTIONS!!! ”
“DO NOT sign up with these people. This is such a hoax. I have been with them for over a year now and tryng to get out. This is a joke. Does you more harm than good. Trust me on this. ”
“the shadiest thing in the world…wake up people they DONT work with your creditors…they store your money in a escrow acct and wait to the accts are charged off and then they settle for pennies on the dollar, by then your credit is screwed..type in debt settlement in google ”
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First thanks for all the great information this site has given me alot of answers already. My situation is that I owe on an unsecured revolving account that has been charged off by the original creditor and was sold to someone else. I admit I owe the money and the new ‘creditor’ has offered me a settlement amount and the option to make payments to pay off the entire total owed. My issue is that in doing some research the new “creditor” is seemingly not the most honest to do business with and I am afraid to take their offers at face value. how do i get them to put everything in writing? I am sending out the limited cease and desist letter right away…what’s the next step?
Thanks, Tammy
I used a debt settlement company and they have done a good job in my situation. They settled $18,000 in debt for me and I’ve given them more work for them to do for me. I have no problem using them. It’s a good way to get the collectors back for their stupidity.
I am completely disgusted with GHS. They lure you in with promises and then fail to deliver. I followed their instructions to the letter and got nowhere. I received a subpoena for court after they failed to communicate with one of my creditors and upon calling, I was told the legal department would respond and handle the response to the court for me. I was very skeptical as they had not taken care of their job to that point so I called on day 15 of the 20 I had to reply to the court and low and behold; nothing had happened. I then took swift action as I was scared to death and negotiated a settlement of 40% on my own and within 5 days I was paid off on my major creditor. After negotiating my own settlement for one of my two accounts, I then turned my attention to my remaining debt. GHS transferred with my consent an additional sum which they were certain was enough to pay my remaining creditor. I was told they would be settled within 10 days. Now here I am one full month later, 25 phone calls, 10 disconnects (that’s what they say), and 2 hang ups by supervisor (Jason, who is located in Costa Rica along with their call center) with nothing. The phone reps can only assure me they are working on it and give me grief over demanding a supervisor. After speaking with a supervisor he tells me the collection agency was let go by my creditor and a new third party was not yet assigned. I asked why nobody else could tell me that as I spoke with 6 people since the debt recall had taken place. Of course Jason had no answer for my question and let me know all the reps are very well trained. I asked Jason to own my issue since they have the money to settle and could get rid of me forever, however Jason refused to do so as this would make him too busy. His exact words were, “imagine if all our clients asked me to do this.” What a joke! 25 calls and nobody wants to get this settled and done; then I realized I’m coming up on another monthly payment due. In order to avoid another payment, I called my credit card myself to negotiate as I knew they would certainly do whatever they could to get their money. I was promptly transferred to another area which ended up being the new debt collector. Here is where it gets really good! The new debt collector (ESA Processing) is actually a larger portion of the company which owns GHS! The debt which was to be settled was being managed in house with GHS!!! The kicker to all of this is the merger of GHS took place in August 2011 and here we are in November and GHS people (again in Costa Rica) had no idea! How could they even begin to help if they don’t even realize their parent company owns the debt! So after talking with ESA, I was ensured my account would be settled in 24 hours. I immediately received and offer via email and I called GHS back as the ESA rep stated I had to work through them. After 2 more phone cutoffs, I finally get a rep and state I have an offer and I would like to accept the settlement and have them paid within 4 days. The offer was $189.95 more than what I had saved with GHS, which the rep was quick to let me know about. After confirming (for the second time as I let her know immediately upon answering) I wanted to have her draft the money out of my account and pay the creditor; I was placed on hold. Guess who answered? Jason, my supervisor who hung up on me just an hour earlier. I managed to do in 1 hour what they couldn’t do in a month. Jason informed me I didn’t have enough money and so for the 3rd time I once again explained what needed to happen (funny when I transferred a lump sum of 1000.00, I had no trouble). Jason asked to record the conversation, which is standard and I agreed. Jason agreed to take money from my account (his math was 60.00 off to the low side so we still wouldn’t be able to settle) and then they would settle by November 18 (which is the day after another payment would be drafted from me!). I let Jason know first his math was wrong and second the account needs to be settled in 4 days (in order to have enough time to cancel my direct draft they would take, which would leave me fighting them for 300.00 later). Jason got an immediate attitude and said he would take the money and process the payment. When I asked how much he was going to be drafted since his math was wrong I was given the response of, “Why don’t you tell me!”. As you can imagine, I was shocked as a company was going to take money and couldn’t / wouldn’t tell me how much. After demanding to know how much would be taken Jason told me he could do the math and then hung up on me! I know from experience by the previously mentioned draft of 1000.00, 24 hours could not happen as the promise of my money being taken in 24 hours is incorrect because it takes 48 hours to process (apparently he didn’t know or didn’t care as he assured me the money would be gone). So now I will have to follow up with 3 or 4 calls tomorrow to confirm amount and date for withdraw and when my settlement will be mailed. So to sum this up; I’ve paid GHS over 1000.00 in fees and they’ve done absolutely nothing! I almost went to court, I settled both debts myself (for the same % as they promise, and I may lose a very good job opportunity as I have this lingering debt which should be gone as of 2 weeks ago. To say I’m very unhappy is a severe understatement and I am now know all they desire is to get rich off of hurting people. The underlying question is why are we calling Costa Rica when Americans need jobs, but again we know it’s all about the mighty dollar!
Ok, so I would like to comment on a few things that have been said here. First I should state the I work in the collections department of a bank that finances retail credit. I understand both sides of this coin not only by working for in collections but also in regard to the debtors I deal with on a daily basis. My general advice is this, contact a non profit CCCS company before you deal with debt settlement. I say that because from my personal experience what I have found to be true is a majority of settlement companies are a scam. They make hollow promises that they will settle your debt at 40% of what you owe. Now is this true? In some cases yes. They can do that and in the long run it can save you money. What they neglect to mention is that during the time that it takes for a company to even feel that it is in their best interest to cut their losses and settle at that amount, much time has passed. Now most every lending institution will have to report to at least one credit reporting agency. Now if they are an institution that reports then the will do so every 30 days of delinquency. So if it takes a company 6 months to settle at 40% then that’s 5 (it takes 30 days of delinquency to negatively affect your credit) times that they will have reported on you for just one card. Now you take that and multiply it by however many cards you have you can see that real damage can be done to your credit.
Now I can understand that you may have the mindset that, well hey my credit is already ruined what is the worse that can happen. Let me first say that while yes, your credit is shot, you can rebuild it. It will take time and it wont happen overnight but you can fix that. Secondly I should mention that the worse that can happen is that you will get served and taken to small claims court and have a judgment put against you. At which point you will possibly have your wages garnished. In most states a garnishment can be up to 25% of your wages. So take into consideration that if you are hardly getting by then imagine trying to do that with a quarter of your income. Also a judgment will stay on your credit for 7 years, regardless of what you do to improve your score. You can pay off all your debt, but still have a judgment on there thats keeping you at a low score
I would like to touch on what Tatiana said when she states that when a bank calls you they are trying to be the good guy. Well arent they the good guy? What the people who have posted below me fail to mention is this, these so called “bad guys” financed you credit. They loaned you money on the premise that you would pay it back on their terms. In her example of a credit card with 20% APR that the majority of your payment will go to interest, she is correct. But you have to remember that it was YOU that agreed to that APR. Nothing is a scam and nobody is robbing you. Banks aren’t a charity, they’re a business. And they will take your money anyway they can. If they can get you to agree to 20+% APR then then will. Is it unethical for them to do so? I say yes. But remember, it was you who signed that contract.
Also, I would like to comment on the whole cease and desist issue. You can send these in yourself. You dont need a company to do it for you. Send a letter in writing to your creditors stating to not contact you by phone and only by mail and they will oblige. Settlement companies send them for a different purpose. They tell you not to contact your creditors and in turn tell your creditors not to contact you. So essentially you are kept in the dark. You make a monthly payment to them and you think all is being handled and you are working your way towards becoming debt free. While you’re in the dark, the creditor can file all the paper work to take you to court and have a judgment issued against you. Now while you thought you were giving it a good faith effort to pay your bills, it still didn’t stop you from the judgment. Much against what Kari said about no black marks on your credit since a judgment will last for 7 years.
So in conclusion I want to say that nobody knows when they or their loved ones will lose their job, nobody expects to be in financial crisis. Try to limit the risk by not getting retail credit cards, as these usually have an APR of 20% and up. Also take responsibility, at the bank I work for we are more likely to help you pay what you owe and lower, or freeze, your interest and give you an affordable fixed payment should you be willing to ask. Nobody says getting out of debt will be easy. But you do have options. CCCS and the aforementioned snowball effect are both known to help you along the way. Should you choose to go with a settlement company just be sure to do your homework and not accept everything they say at face value.
To all of you (Tatiana if she is still out there)
PlEASE send me some recomendations to a settlememt companies that they are truly helping poeple with more than 10accounts! I am so exhausted and still dont want to file bancruptcy.Help!
Julianna,
Here’s what I would do. I’d try the debt snowball. I’d start with the smallest debt and pay it off first. Then continue on to the next one. If you are trying to pay everyone at once… and you’re barely (or not) making the minimum payments.. then you are not getting ahead. I’d inform all creditors (via U.S. Mail registered) that I cannot afford to pay them at this time and will pay them later when you can. Meanwhile I’d continue paying on the smallest. If someone takes you to court then I’d explain to the judge your situation and that you are trying to satisfy your debts. If you get a judgment against you then get the notes as low as you can per month and continue the debt snowball.
You can also go talk with a lawyer at least to get some advice. I always think that is a good idea.
It’s pretty simple… you owe debts that you cannot pay. So figure out what path makes the most sense and act on it. There’s no easy way out.
Barry
Hi
I need some advice I am drowning in bills. I tried going using a debt solutions program. I was told told to let my bank(Chase) know of my intensions since the payments were coming out of my account. I was told by the bank there was nothing they could do for me this was on 12-6-2010 they told me since I signed a contract with them I needed to contact the creditors to ask them to stop pulling payments. It took two months and my account being over drafted to $1500.00 before they finally closed it down I only had maybe $1.50 in my account when this nightmare started. I am now in collections. I am finding harder and harder to make ends meet every month. I have managed to get myself in deeper debt and I am trying to work with the creditors to pay off my bill but at lower payments. I don’t know how much luck I am going to have since I just got an e-mail from one of my creditors stating I need to send them not only my payment but a late fee with 15 days or they are going to start court proceedings. I let them know of my situation and requested a more affortable payment so I can get some of my bills under control. I don’t want to file bankrupacy again it just cleared my credit report after 10 years. I am really trying to pay back my bills I just don’t know how. Please any advice would help.
thank you
I would suggest you get all details from them in writing before signing the agreement or giving them your banking information. Remember that working with a debt settlement company does not prevent you from being sued from by the creditor or bill collector. They can still sue you.
Hey Linda,
Yes a collector can get a lien on your property. But you really should hire an attorney to investigate this for you and help you out. Or you can try and see who you technically owe the money to and pay them, thus removing the lien. I’d contact the court and ask them how to go about satisfying this lien.
i am trying to sell property that i had a house on that burned down. i find out through an attorney that i have a juddment against me from 1992 when i had gone bankrupt on some medical bills and this one i happened to have got served for the amount of 3 bills in the amount of 1190.54 and with interest it is now $2884.54 which i am trying to buy a house its not and hasn’t been on my credit report and wasn’t aware of this bill. the attorney that called said since i was served by a sheriff bank in 1992 that the attorney did not handle this one medical ctr. bill correctly when i had went bankrupt due to being served papers for collection and they can put a lien on the property. is this correct and is there not any limitation on this many years ago and the interest owed. should i call the medical ctr. that i owe and ask for a lower payoff without interest or can i do this since it is in attorneys hand now. i was really surprized since this was not even on my credit reports. thank you linda woolley
Tatiana is right in so many ways. I work for a debt settlement company as well. I am also just on here to read what people are saying. I am not here to advertise my company in any way. I work for a debt settlement company that doesn’t charge any monthly fees or even a set up fee. Our fee is based on our performance, and we charge you for the fee once we obtain a settlement for you. So you don’t even pay us one single penny to work on your behalf until we get you the results. We also have a guarantee that if we cannot save you atleast 30% off from what you owe your creditor, we will still obtain whatever the settlement amount is, and we will not charge you a fee. It is only people in severe cases that are already very far in default before they enroll that will ever cash in on this guarantee. Since we wait for our fee at the end, this goes to show my company is getting the job done right. We have been settling debts for people for 10 years now, and that’s triple the experience most companies in this industry has. Just ask, most companies have been in business 2-3yrs doing debt settlement on average. With the company I work for, every single monthly payment that you make goes directly into the FDIC insured reserve account that we set you up with, that is set up in our client’s name only. We set you up with a user name and password, so that you cam monitor the balance in this acct. at any given time. We also send out monthly statements to our clients in the mail. Again, I am not going to mention our name, as again I am not here to advertise for business I just want to let it be known how a legit settlement company goes about business. My company tells consumers the pros and the cons of doing debt settlement. The first thing that I want to touch on from here, is that TASC (The Association For Settlement Companies) is run by a man that owns a debt settlement company that is not legit. If you look up DEBT SETTLEMENT AMERICA under google, you will see how many complaints that this company has. The president of TASC is running DSA. Also from what I have heard, they may be in a world of legal trouble soon, but still keep pursuing consumers to enroll into their company’s program. So for the lady with the WAMU accts. it will do you no good to complain to TASC. TASC is just another way for this man that runs DSA to obtain further money to accredit companies that need an accreditation with someone to seem more legit. Also, I assume that he created TASC so that he could accredit his own company, since no one else wanted to accredit them after all of the problems that they have created for people. My company cannot send out cease and desist letters for anyone either. It will actually affect the amount that we can reduce your debts by. If one of our clients are getting really frustrated by their creditors calling, we tell them that we can give them a sample letter to send out to each of their creditors, but they have to write it themselves. We suggest to our clients that if the creditors call, just let them know that you are dealing with a financial hardship, and you need about 60-90days to resolve the matter. That your intentions are to resolve the debt, but you will just need this time. Also, it isn’t good to tell your creditors that you are doing settlement, as this will affect the results that we get for you as well. This will give the creditors time to prepare, and will not settle for as much as they would if we waited. Our company, and I am sure that there are others, want to maximize the clients savings,because that’s what we are here for, and also any company that is in business, is in business to make money. So if we do what we promise our clients, it gives us a good reputation, and creates more business. (This should be no surprise to anyone.) We tell our clients upfront before they enroll what debt settlement does to your credit. Though it does not destroy your credit. It actually improves your credit after you exit the program. I tell consumers that if you’re going to do debt settlement it is a sure thing that your score will decline because of defaulting on your payments, and especially within the first 4-6mths. As that is the length of time it takes before any of the creditors will consider negotiating on the amount that you owe them. My company on average obtains 2 settlements in the first six months because we allow your funds to build as quickly as they can, because we never take any portion out monthly for the fee. We also let people know that we will not be able to contact their creditors to let them know that we are working on their behalf to settle the debts, until that window of time 4-6mths has expired. That is when we start contacting our clients creditors. We can obtain installment settlements, meaning we may be able to negotiate a settlement amount right away after 6 months, and the creditor will ask for it in monthly installments. Installment settlements allow us to work at obtaining settlements for more than one account at a time. The other kind of settlement is a lump sum settlement. Once we obtain a settlement for our clients, we then get paid for our services, and our fee is based on the results that we obtain for you. So my company does have a lot of incentive to get the job done to the very best of our ability, since we get paid based on how much we save you, and because we do not get paid until we get you the results. I think that every settlement company should run this way. This also allows our clients money to build in their reserve account as much as it possibly can, since we never take any portion of the monthly payment out as a fee, we are able to pay off the creditors sooner, and the sooner that we can offer them something, the lesser the amount that they will settle for. No one likes to pay upfront fees, or monthly fees. People want to see results first. We are members of the U.S.O.B.A.& our arbitrators are licensed with IAPDA. As Tatiana had mentioned above, this is very important. The main reason that people do not get good results with a settlement company is #1 they do not do enough research on the companies they enroll with. Another thing Tatiana is right about is there are a lot of scam companies out there. a LOT. It’s not something anyone should jump right into in the first phone call made. You MUST do your research and know the right questions to ask. #2 People cancel out because they get too nervous when the creditor calls and lies to them telling them that they do not settle with debt settlement companies. It’s a lie. They don’t want you to think that they do, or they will lose out. Stay strong and keep going in your program, but for goodness sake, make sure this company is legit.
You know, the creditors want you to be afraid of your credit dropping, they have spent millions of dollars on advertising and brain washing us to think that your credit score is the #1 thing that gives you status. Come on people! If you have a good credit score, it only enables you to get further in debt. So if you are in a situation where you are struggling with your minimum payments on your cards, don’t let your credit be the only reason that you wouldn’t do settlement. In the long run when you eliminate a good portion of your debt, your debt to income ratio will go down, come back into place, and this alone will help your credit score. Your debt to income ratio makes up 1/3 of what your credit score actually consists of. It is also the #1 thing that lenders look at when considering a loan that you may have applied for. It will take awhile once you are done doing settlement for your score to get back to where you would like it to be. it all depends though on the term that you are in a debt settlement program how long this will be. If you are in a debt settlement program for 36mths, it may take up to 2 years before you are completely at where you would like to be with your credit. It takes between 7-10 yrs to completely recover from a bankruptcy. There are no black marks on your credit that show up once you are done with settlement like a bankruptcy either. If you are in a debt settlement program for 24mths, it’s only going to take about a year to get your credit looking good again. There are simple things that you can do to help it along as well. Like getting yourself a couple secured credit cards, which will update to your bureau every month. This will greatly accelerate the time it takes to whip your credit back into shape. Also, when looking into a company that offers debt settlement, make sure that they have a really good customer service department. My company assigns a personal account adviser to our clients, and we contact them about 4 times a month to keep them up to date on the progress of the accounts, and this is the person that our clients will contact if they have any questions about anything in regards to their settlements. We would prefer it this way, to give a more personalized experience so that our clients feel more comfortable. We don’t want someone calling and getting transferred to 8 different reps that have no idea whats going on with a particular persons accounts. Communication is also key in the success of getting through a program like this. I know one thing, I will be working in debt settlement for a long time, as I have already been employed at my company since Oct. of 2005. We aren’t going anywhere either, and that’s because we are a legit company that follows the laws in the industry. Good luck to all of you, and remember not all debt settlement companies are out to screw you, there are ones out there that help people drastically reduce their debt. I know from experience!
i want to add to what tatiana wrote; which seems to be right on the mark. in my opinion, a lot of debt settlement companies DO NOT explain their program correctly. what i mean by correctly; they do not tell the client all the ‘cons’ that come with the program. first, debt settlement is NOT for everyone. depending on ones situation, i would usually suggest debt settlement over any bankruptcy. the cons are as follows: you’ll get those annoying phone calls from either first party creditors (the actual company that gave credit) or third party (collection co’s) creditors. some DS companies do offer a device called the DAAN that does help (not completely) with those calls; most DS companies have a monthly maintenance fee up to $49; your first three payments/installments go directly to the DS fees before any goes into your trust/reserve account; any one creditor will not be approached for ‘settlement’ until you have in your trust/reserve account 50% of what you owe (most DS companies will approach the creditor you owe the least to first) – that means the other creditors will not be talked with regarding ‘settlement’; DS is going to hit your credit profile; during this process, there may be a judgement filed against you (if this happens, most DS companies will work with that creditor to have the judgement dismissed); there are tax ramifications that can happen if a debt has been settled for less than what is owed – the IRS may tax the difference as income – there’s loopholes and exemptions… thats all i can think of at this time. what are the pros… here you go: there are no out of pocket upfront fees; you will settle your total debt for less (50%) than what you owe – that includes the DS fee; you’ll have an affordable monthly payment (interest free); you’ll be debt free within 36-60 months. if someone is considering DS, look at your other options. if you have, DS in most cases is a far better choice than consumer credit counseling (CCCS), debt consoliation and BK. it (DS) should hit your credit profile less than any of the other options. understand this, any option other than paying your debt on time and in full is going to have some ‘cons’. with DS, the first 4-6 months is ALWAYS the hardest and most frusturating. once you get pass that hump and you see possibly one creditor paid, you’ll have more confidence in the program. in any program, you must keep with the program for you to be successful. if you are talking with a consultant and he explains A-Z and you’re completely aware of everything, you should be fine. in a lot cases, the client hears only what they want to hear; even if the consultant explains everything. in most cases, DS is the program that best fits the person that is in a true hardship, doesnt want to walk away from their obligation entirely, needs less monthly out-go (lower payment), and wants to get debt free; without paying their total debt in full. i hope this has shed more light than tatiana did.
Dear readers! All of you that need help with their credit card debt, please read carefully. And I want to apologizez upfront for typos, i usually type fast=) I dedicate 12-15 hours of my time almost every day to debt settlement, and I know quite a bit! First of all lets start with Cease and Desist letters….If you read a semple of that letter carefully, you will notice that those are intended for collection attorneys or companies, and reason is because when you get a line of credit with the bank, you sign or verbally agree to a contract for that credit line, when you and the bank are first parties, you debt settlement agency is the third party in this case, so they can not prohibit the original account owner from contacting you. They can sent any type of letters all they want, but if the bank wants to call you, they have all legal rights. Sometimes though I have to admit that those letters work with an original bank, but mostly when your account is in internal collections already, which will not happen untill after you are 60-90 days late. The Power of Attorney that you signed gives a debt settlement company a right to communicate on your behalf on the account, but not to prohibit the first party from calling you. Now the collection company where the account goes after charge off is a third party in this case as well, so thats why Cease and Desist letters can stop their calls. Its like if someone owes you money, and here comes Joe Shmoe and tells you not to call that person anymore, will you really stop calling for YOUR money??? same with the banks.
Now about the WaMu story….If your line of credit is attached to your account (for example, you opened a bank account and then got a credit card with them also at the same time or a loan) or if you had automatic payments set up with them, they CAN and most likely WILL go into your bank acount and deduct your monthly payment if you miss it. They are allowed to do that, so your debt settlement company was not misleading you. Now if it was some other bank trying t deduct from your checking that is not with them, and you never had automatic payments set up with this account for that card, it would be pretty illegal for them to do so, but not in the ase discribed above. Also, there is no way the debt settlement company can protect you from being served summons or a creditor obtaining a judgement, unless they settle this account. Same thing is also true if you settle on your own. If your account goes to the collection attorney (and only the attorney that practices law in your state can sue you on the debt), they have a period of time to try and collect on your account, doesnt matter what promises you gonna give them to come up with some money in few months, if that period of time for collecting payment is up, they will forward your account to their litigation department, unless you make a payment of course. Third, it is illegal for any vompany to tell you not to pay your creditors or not to talk to them. They can suggest it in undirect manner, but they cant just tell you to do so. The reason they suggest that is because once you miss a payment, most of the poeple you will talk to from the banks will tell you nothing but lies.
Let me tell you a story about my own case. I work for a debt settlement company, (and No, I am not here to advertise our business, that is why you will not find a name of our company in any of my articles or any contact info. the only reason I am writing this is to make sure that people KNOW THE TRUTH) I have enrlled my own debt into the program with they company I started working for. Sure enough i sent out engagement letter for my accounts, POA, etc. Few days later I called as a representative from my company, not the account holder, to confirm they processes the paperwork and it has posted on file.Cinfirmed, great!!! sure enough shortly after that i get a call from one of the creditors stating that debt settlement is not a good option, most of the companies are scam, i said–hey, they sent you paperwork! She replied–no, we never got anything from them ! :-0 shortly after they feed you that bunch of crap (excuse my language, but I have no other word for what they say), you will notice that they will try to scare you first and then pretend like they are actually the good guys and they can put you into this great affordable payment plan!!! Ha, my point exactly! THEY JUST WANT THEIR MONEY!!! no matter how many lies it takes to get them….see, when your account becomes delinquent, it goes to the department where there is a bunch of people sitting in their cubicals with a list of poelle who didnt make a payment this month on their creen, and the actual computer dialing those numbers for them.
If they get someone on the phone, they have a script to say, simple as that. Thats why you might notice that you might have different creditors, but when you talk to them, all say the same thing. Banks will do their best to persuade you that the debt settlement company is a bad guy, and they are the good guy, wanna know why????Cause they inderstand that not only will they not get paid 100% of what you owe them, but they also know that they are loosing lots of money in potential interest that they can collect from you. Wanna know exactly how much interest they are taking from each payment that you make? take your ttal balance, multiply by your interest rate percentage, devide by 12, and here is what you pay in INTEREST ONLY every month. So lets say you owe $10,000 and its with 20% interest. 10000×20%=2000. devide by 12=$166.66, so out of every payment that you make, which is probable 2 or 2.5% of your total, which is around $200 in this case, $167 is going towards interest only, and only $33 is going towards paying that debt off. so do you think they are the god guys???? did it really cost you that much whatever you bought with that $10000???So if they shamelessly taking your money like that and profiting big time, why do you think they shouldnt keep on feeding you stories to keep you on board??? ghm ghm, if they keep n losing customers like you and me to debt settlement, someone’s daugfhter might not get her BMW on her sweet 16, terrible! excuse my sarcasm of course, but talking to those people every day makes me angry, cause nobody can forsee a financial hardship of a job loss, and they cant just go left and right increasing APRs and lowering credit lines cause everyone is doing it.
Even though I work for a company that you are all so against, I am not here to advertise the business, believe me, there are companies out there that know what they are doing and do not mislead clients, but I am here to mostly share what i know. Yes, again, there are scammers in this industry, and before you sign up, you have to make sure that the company is a member of USOBA (United States Organization for Bankruptcy Alternatives) this organization makes sure that the company is acting in compliance with the federal and state laws. Make sure that their arbitrators are licensed with IAPDA. Do some research on them. Make sure that your funds go to the account that is on your name ONLY and you have 24/7 access to it. DO NO SIGN anything, unless you see a detailed breakdown of all the fees they charge, like the actual payment schedule and how much of each payment is going where exactly. Make sure that they dont keep first 3,6,7, pmts on the row at any point during the program. There is a way for those companies to break down their fees throughout the life of the program, so you are accumulating funds at all time. I work for a debt settlement company, and i am enrolled with one because:
A) i have 13 accounts and communicating with all of them will be a second full time job.
B) Like most people I feel responsible for not being able to make future payments, and I understand that i might take the offer that is not lowest.
For example, when the debt settlement is dealing with your creditors, they know its debt settlement company, if they are not able to get a hold f you, they have no choice but to negotiate with the person that will pay them at least something, cause its still money we are talking about. But let me ask you when you do it yourself, what will you answer when you offer your bank lets say 35% settlement which is lets say 700, and they come back with an offer to put you in a program at $40/month. What will you answer when they ask you—hey, so you wanna tell me that you can pay me $700, but you cant afford $40/month?
C) With the emotional responsibility envolved, you will rpobable average all your deals at the same range that what your debt settlement company quoted you including their fees, cause by the time you settle at 40-45% of current ballance, that will come out to be 55-65% of the ballance when you stopped paying (or which would be when the debt settlement company would have quoted you)
If you have time on your hands to negotiate and do research and learn about debt settlement process and laws, I have nothing against do-it-yourself approach, but Ill tell you one thing–it has many factors to it. I personally got my lowest settlement for the client at 14.5%, when I tried settling my own accounts, the lowest i got was 37%, which is still not bad, cause i know thetricks and tactics they use on people. Now about that very “descent” attorney woman who called ylou for your Chase account, she called to get a payment out of you, and when she noticed that she could talk to you and you were upset with your debt settlement company, she figured that getting YOU to work with her will be no problem, she just has to pretend to be a good guy, thats all. Poeople react better to requests when they are done in a nice way, especially if you has million calls from nesty collectors, whom will you trust—the next nasty one who calls you or the one that will be very polite and pretend to care? thats exactly what this lady did. Chase does not contarct attorneys, they keep their accounts in the house for up to 180-210 days, after that there is a charge-off, and then they sell it.
The only banks I know of that contract collectors are Citi and Target Nstional Bank. And btw, even though Citi might tell you they will hnot work with third parties, today i got a settlement on their account with a collection agency for 35% on almost $20000 account. Thats why its important that thecompany sets you up with an escrow account that is on your name only, cause the company i spoke to today didnt care, they knew Citi would never find out who they made arrangements with cause the name on the account is client’s name and ours is not there….so they would rather take my offer and get paid than be left with nothing…In general, settlement amount depends on many things like how long the account has been opened for, how much interest bank made on it, how many payments client made, if there were any purchases or cash advances, etc. If any of you want t know more about negotiation, or how low some of the banks can go, you may chose to contact me, I provided my personal, work unrelated email to the page owner, if not, then j8ust write me here. There are just so many details to this business, and i know that some of you have been burned with debt settlement companies, cause there are scumbags everywhere, but i just come to work every day and I love it there, causer i know that we are actually helping people and will not be sued or closed down next month for misleading clients…. there are descent people out there, you just need to do your research. and again, if there is anything I can answer, please feel free to ask, I would be more than happy to share my knowladge, since I see how many people have been fooled and dont really know the whole picture….
Best regards to all,
Tatiana