Debt Settlement USA

[HopefulInOhio]

[Is there a catch to this agency that I don't see? Anyone go thru them and is there a fee I don't see on the website?

Thanks!

[ConnieS]

There is always a catch................There "fee" is usually a percentage of your total debt (12%) of which a large chunk usually must be paid upfront. You then make payments to them for so many months while "saving" for a settlement.

Trust me, these plans DO NOT WORK. Most cc's are not going to wait the 26 or more months it would take you to save up enough money for a pay off and your accounts will incur late fees, astronomical interest and so on. More than likely most of your accounts will end up being charged off or you will be sued in civil court.

All of this is what happened to us for putting our trust in one of these settlement accounts. All we wanted to do was pay our debts and avoid bk. Instead we are "THOUSANDS" more in debt and preparing to file our petition for Chapter 7.

If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is!

[Minnymouth]

Any and Most debt settlement places make 12% + off of you and many cc companies will not work with them....... not counting all their hidden fees they tac on.......

Will still affect your credit report like bankruptcy will if not worse, because some of the companies will end up suing etc........

Buyer Beware!!!!!!

[JeepMom]

We use a ccc for 9 months before filling. It didin't lower our bills it raised them! The first payment we gave them and they kept. Then they charged us $29/month as a "charitable contribution that is tax deductable".

I was in denial that we would ever file BK, I felt that moraly we had to pay back the debt. BUT then the hurican hit and sent gas prices through the roof. One day I had $.50 in the bank and needed to buy milk but payday was 2 days away. As a mother I decided enough was enough.

I went clothes shopping for my kids one last time on my sear card and bought them winter clothes.

The next week I called an attorney. We qualified for chap7(old law) so that's what we did.

You may as well file ch 13 rather than the ccc. Because the ccc still screws up your credit report just as bad. You still have negative items showing if you are in ccc. If you file chap 13 it will show "In chap 13" if you go with ccc it will say "in ccc plan". Both do about the same about of damage to your report. We didin't know that we signed up for our ccc plan. We also didin't know that ya, we were signed up for a 3 year plan but not all of the debt would neccessarily be gone in those three years. We would have to do a continuation for any remaining debt.

If you qualify for 7 you can start rebuilding today.

[bluflax]

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[bluflax]

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[anonymuse]

CCC's are different than debt settlement companies. CCC's have a very bad reputation and are currently under federal investigation because they keep people in debt. They work by negotiating a lower interest rate, but the principal remains the same. Debt settlement is a bit different in that the company negotiates a lower settlement amount, typically 50 cents on the dollar. There are many debt settlement companies that are very shady and one really needs to do their research. Personally, from what I have found, I'm filing Chapter 7 rather than dealing with any of these.

Plus you can work out a debt settlement on your own. I even got an offer to pay only $4K of a $10K cc directly from Discover.

[bluflax]

xxxx

[anonymuse]

I've read you can work it out on your own, but that the creditors then want payment in full. In your case, did you have to pay that $4K in full or did they work out a payment plan for you?

It was in full--they send me an offer to do it.

[Credit Hater]

Never EVER, EVER use a debt negotiation service. They don't work and will RIP YOU OFF. As long as you let enough time go by ( a year or more) most of the original creditors will send settlement offers. ive got a few, one was even at 50%, but that was including all late fees and the jacked up 30% interest rates and over the limit fees (which they put me over the limits themselves). Do they think I have that much money just laying around somewhere?

Its best to attempt debt neg yourself. Come up with an amount (say 30% of original debt) that you may be able to afford over a few years of payments.... and do not budge! Eventually they will give in, or keep playing hardball to get more money from you that you probably don't have, or take you to court in which you can file bk and they will probably not collect a dime.....actually lose more than what its worth. You just have to have the attitude to deal with them on the phone and don't give into them one bit. State what you can do, it's final and if they won't take it, try again a few weeks later. But in the end its best to just file bk and be done with it.

Good luck.