For the millions of consumers who will enroll in a Debt Settlement program at some point after reading this article, I am about to give you the best explanation you will ever get about what to expect, and how to get the most out of the program.
First, and this is important, you do not belong in a debt settlement program unless you cannot pay the minimum payments on your credit cards. You should always try a non-profit credit card consolidation program first, to see if your payments will go down to an affordable level.The odds are
your interest rates will go down, but not your payments, unfortunately, this is just the way it is.
Once you have received a quote from a credit counselor, and determined that it will not work for you, then by all means move ahead with the settlement program, look at a bankruptcy. Since this article is about debt settlement, we will speak about bankruptcy in another article.
In October of 2011, the FTC changed the debt settlement rules to better protect consumers from rip off companies. Now, their is whats called no upfront fee debt settlement, which is where no one gets paid fees until each settlement is completed. If you drop out of the program before any settlements have been made then you get your money back. You should also be aware that if you hire an actual debt settlement attorney, and meet face to face with him, he is allowed to charge fees as an attorney, while he is working on your settlements.
OK, so, lets say you have selected a debt settlement company, and your program has started. You should have been made aware of some critical facts, by the counselor who enrolled you.
One, your creditors are not getting paid each month, and are not going to be happy. You will continue to receive negatives on your credit report, and the robot auto dialer calls from the equally robotic commissioned debt collectors will continue. So, take a deep breath,and know this is the norm for this type of program. While the calls are very annoying, you are under no legal obligation to speak with a debt collector. If you are represented by a debt settlement attorney, then he may be able to slow the calls, or even stop them.
How long it will take until your debts are settled, depends in large portion how long your settlement program is. Always, the shorter the better, in other words, a two year program is better than a three year program, etc. While you are in the program, be very careful who you take advice from. Generally, you do not want to listen to what I call, the "talking TV heads", of finance. They generally know absolutely nothing about any of the realities of these programs.
Now,what follows is very important for you to understand. I am not suggesting that you intentionally ran out and spent fifty thousand dollars on a credit card,</b> then went out and enrolled in a settlement program. But, just think how easy it is to take five credit cards, each with a total of ten thousand dollars of credit available, and spend to the max in, lets say, seven days. Yes, very easy, and wow, so much fun. The point is, it is very easy to get into debt. It is, however, not easy getting out. It
takes very hard work, and a new attitude. Unfortunately, we live in an instant society and I am not talking about coffee. We have an attitude problem, everything should be pain free. Well, using a structured debt settlement program is not easy, neither is any other debt relief program. These programs can be extremely beneficial, but will not work unless you know what you are in for at the outset.
Hopefully, once you have achieved debt freedom, the pain will have been well worth it.
As you will never want or allow yourself to be put in that situation again. You will have gained a new attitude and self empowerment that will serve you well in all areas of your life. Oh, yes, and one last thing, you should start rebuilding your credit, while the settlement program is going on. Yes, it actually is possible to do this. I will tell you how. You can purchase a pre paid credit card for twenty nine dollars that actually reports repeat monthly payments to all three credit bureaus. WOW! This is a new item, and has not been available previously. So, if you use the card to pay your monthly debt settlement payment and your cable bill, etc, you will be gaining unlimited new positive trade lines, so that by the time your settlements program is almost finished, you will be good to go.
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Written By
Steven Ciantro
Certified Credit Counselor
American Debt Enders
help@americandebtenders.com
877-766-2465
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