Debt Settlement & Credit Counseling Companies

[savelikedave]

I thought you could pretty much settle debts yourself. So long as you let them go past due a few months and you have enough money to pay the settlement amounts. Make sure you get any creditor agreements in writing.

[cjscully]

To be honest, I know many companies that do actually charge you for the service upfront. I always advise my friends to look into the T&C-s before they sign up. Also self-help is available if you are determined, as well said: you have to set up a debt consolidation plan based on your income and expenditure.

I actually created some spreadsheets for that, if anyone interested, and admin allows I can post them in here for review.

There were many companies that charged upfront fees. However, upfront fees are illegal nationwide as of Oct 27, 2010. This change was part of an amendment to the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

[solvemybadcredit]

To be honest, I know many companies that do actually charge you for the service upfront. I always advise my friends to look into the T&C-s before they sign up. Also self-help is available if you are determined, as well said: you have to set up a debt consolidation plan based on your income and expenditure.

I actually created some spreadsheets for that, if anyone interested, and admin allows I can post them in here for review.

[thefamilyfinanceguide]

Great post! I would also say if you are trying to get out of debt, get enough income to at least make all the minimum payments, use all extra money to kill the smallest debt first. Basically we need to stop being lazy and if a second job is needed, go get one until the debt is gone. DO NOT INCUR MORE DEBT! It seems that once a credit card is paid off people think we can charge again. STOP IT! Pay in cash. Maybe you need to sell some stuff on eBay or Craiglist, but please work to get rid of your debt. No settelement companies are needed. Work directly with the credit card companies to settle. Get it in writing and SAVE THAT DOCUMENT!

These are great forums, come back here constantly for the good advice.

Sincerely,
The Family Finance Guide

[cjscully]

It's unfortunate that honest people who are truly trying to provide good and needed service to the public (such as myself) are painted with the same brush as those who seek to rip people off.

Just as there are (a few) honest lawyers and some slimy ones, there are also honest debt settlement providers and credit counselors.

Neither service is right for everyone. There is no such thing as one size fits all. Neither is a magic pill to eliminate your debt painlessly. If someone is sold a service that isn't appropriate for their situation, they will not get the intended result.

Sadly, most of us who provide honest debt settlement services don't spend the ridiculous amounts of money on over-hyped advertising that the more shady operations do, so you've never heard of us.

[whitewater30]

Debt Settlement Companies

Stay away from these. I have heard nothing but horror stories about people who hire these companies and get stiffed on upfront fees with no results. You are better off trying to settle credit card debt on your own.

[april10]

i need a advice

Today, i had to start from some place to get my financial situation clean up and i need a advice.Last couple years i got myself into debt and trying to get out of it while i think my credit score is going down.
here is the my plan and please help me with it.
*first i have to get my credit score from big 3, but they dont include my credit score and they charge fee last time when i did try to get it, so what is the free way to get it?
*Gather all my credit card debt, and interest rates which has been going up even though i have been paying on time and getting letter from them to reduce my credit limit? what is good way to stop it? yes indeed i did call them and ask them nicely to reduce my interest rate, they didnt even try.
*I was thinking to use one of those credit card counselling services to make one monthy payment but here i am reading here that i have tobe really careful with them or not use them at all and what is the debtadvice.org do? anyone try them and how it works, i didnt check them out yet.
*I have been really living on a budget and i am not a big spender but since the recent job cuts and all i m really trying hard, please if you have any advice let me learn, thank you to all

[fe2o3ez]

Thought I would piggy back on the clapping icon...

Nonetheless, it was about time somebody mentioned the annoying posts, and I thank you all for doing so. Although, I hope that for those that read the posts, they take some time and read other posts that demonstrate the harm that can be caused by such "quick fixes". Nothing in life comes (completely) free, and it is through hard work and discipline that people can truly get themselves out of debt.

[creditcardfree]

Oops! boosami, I replied to that other thread and if I had known it was a duplicate I would have never done so. I see these posts are a bit sneaky! I will refrain from future such questions. Again, sorry.

[Broken Arrow]

Again, CCF beat me to it. I nominate to make this thread sticky.

[creditcardfree]

Can we make this thread a sticky?

I agree with Steve to ignore the ones that appear not to be legit.

[disneysteve]

That works.

Of course, the other thing would be if all the regulars just ignore these threads. Don't post to them, even to say it is a rip-off, because that just keeps moving it back to the top. Ignore them completely and they'll fade away.

[jeffrey]

Thank you. I'm tired of it all, too. Jeffrey, can't the moderators have the authority to just delete these threads when they start. They all seem to be from new users making their first post. Just delete them.

It's a tough call that I struggle with on a daily basis - I understand the frustration, but at the same time I don't want to delete a post from someone that really is looking for information because some of are legit (I have accidentally deleted ones in the past I thought were spam to find out they were not). If the post is within our basic forum rules and isn't promoting a specific site, then I tend to leave them live.

This thread should be very helpful - we can now simply post this url for any questions like that

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Indeed!

[disneysteve]

I am tired of the fake users posting spam about the topic

Thank you. I'm tired of it all, too. Jeffrey, can't the moderators have the authority to just delete these threads when they start. They all seem to be from new users making their first post. Just delete them.