Engaging A Debt Settlement Firm Can Bring Debt Collectors Down On You.

November 10th, 2009

Debt settlement firms want you to have at least $10,000 in credit card debt. They want $1500-2000 of that $10,000 in fees paid first before they begin working on settling your debt. They tell you to stop paying your credit card and to send those payments to them for their fees and to save for a lump-sum settlement.

If the debt settlement firm says they can get a $5000 settlement for that $10,000 of debt, how long will it take you to saves $7000, which includes $2000 in fees? What happens if they cannot settle with your credit card company? What happens to the account that has not been paid? What happens to the money paid to the debt settlement firm, and what about your credit rating?

Saving $500 a month for– months will yield $7000. At that rate of savings it will take more than a year to effect the lump-sum settlement with $5000 after $2000 in fees is taken. After six months the banks write off bad credit card debts, and within the year they sell those bad debts in bulk purchases.

That means your debt is owned by a junk debt buyer before the debt settlement firm has settled it. It also means the bank has no motivation to remove that debt’s bad mark on your credit report and that the negative listing will be there for seven years.

According to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide, you will need to be ready for the junk debt buyer?s attempts to collect the debt. If you are not ready, if you are counting on the debt settlement firm and unaware of the debt?s charge-off and sale, you could be ambushed by a debt collector or collection attorney.

So, the debt collectors are at the door. That debt is obviously not settled. The settlement fee is used up. Your credit is tarnished. But, you still have $5000, if, and a big if it is, the settlement firm put the money in a third-party escrow account.

Matt Highlander did research for Credit Card Debt Survival Guide for consumers seeking to educate themselves about credit card debt relief.

Entry Filed under: Personal Finance