2009-06-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

How Does a Debt Settlement Company Reduce My Debt?

There are a number of people looking for debt relief that are hesitant to contact a debt settlement company because they are unsure of what the company would be able to do to reduce their debt. There have been many stories on the news about the few debt settlement companies that have decided that it was easier to scam their customer than help them with their problems and these news stories have made many people wary about contacting a debt settlement company. The truth is that there are a number of different things that a debt settlement company can do to reduce your debt and because the people that work for these companies are trained to get results, they may be more effective at reducing your debt than you may think.

The main focus of a debt settlement company is to contact lenders and creditors on their client’s behalf and try to negotiate a deal where the person will pay a portion of the amount that they owe the creditor and in return, the creditor will stop going after the person for the rest of the amount that is owed on the account. In many cases, the creditor may be reluctant to deal with the debtor directly but may be more willing to listen to the professional representative of a debt settlement company that they have a good relationship with.

The amount that the debt settlement company will be able to reduce a person’s debts will depend on each person’s personal situation. In some cases, the creditors may not be willing to do anything for the debtor, so the debt settlement company will not be able to do much at all when it comes to a particular person’s debts. On the other hand, if the creditors have a good relationship with the debt settlement company and are willing to cut a deal for the repayment of the debt, then the debt settlement company may be able to reduce the amount that the person owes to their creditors by up to 35%.

Because each case is different, the representative of the debt settlement company will need to find out personal and financial information about the person that they are trying to help. Although these questions may seem excessive at the time, the answers are needed to determine how much a person owes to all of their creditors, what the interest rates that they are being charged are, and what their ability to repay their debts may be. A debt settlement company will try to help the person in any way that they can, but the results will vary from situation to situation.

How to Recognize Debt Settlement Scams

As people across the nation find that they are deeply in debt, they begin to search for a simple and easy solution to their financial problems. In many cases, this means that the person will contact debt settlement companies that promise to eliminate their debt and give them a clean slate to start fresh. In recent years, some of these companies have become very good at taking advantage of people in difficult financial situations, causing many people to become more deeply mired in debt and owing more money than they did before contacting the debt settlement company.

There are some indicators that will tell you whether the debt settlement company can really help you or whether the company is basically a scam to steal the money that the person has left. By keeping these things in mind, the risk of being taken advantage of by a bad debt settlement company will be greatly reduced.

Some of the companies that offer debt settlement services tell their customers that charges, interest payments, or fees that have been charged to their account are illegal or that there are flaws in the credit agreement that make the entire debt amount illegal for collection. With all of the lawyers that companies that extend credit hire to work for their firms, the chance of this actually happening would be slim to none and even if there was a small mistake in the credit agreement, it would not invalidate the purchases that have been charged on the account.

A debt settlement company may offer to contact the creditor on the person’s behalf and, after time has passed, the company will tell the person that the creditor is discharging the debt or a lawsuit against the creditor has been filed on their behalf. People that rely on these statements often find that their debt has increased due to finance charges and late payment fees. The person may even be sued by the creditor for the balance of the account.

Some debt settlement companies may offer to eliminate the total amount of debt by creating a new credit profile for the person so the person can start accumulating fresh with a new credit history. This process is accomplished by creating a fake social security number and creating a new credit profile under the person’s name and linked to the new social security number. This is illegal and, if you are caught using this social security number and credit profile; you could be prosecuted and could be facing felony charges of fraud and identity theft that could result in going to prison for years.

Although there are many debt settlement companies that can help a person reduce the amount that they owe, choosing a bad debt settlement company can lead to increased debt, being sued for large amounts of money, or even facing criminal charges. The best solution is to do some research on the company you are thinking about doing business with to make sure that they are reputable and being on the lookout for any of these debt settlement scams.

How to Create a Debt Management Plan

The number of people that are facing massive amounts of debt increases each month and the amount of people that find themselves in this situation will only continue to grow as the economy continues to slow. Many people depended on credit cards and loans to maintain their lifestyle and now owe a large amount of money to numerous creditors. In the past, a person may have been able to obtain a home equity loan to pay down their credit card debt but with home values plummeting, this is now longer an option for many people across the country.

People are finding that they must now live on the amount that they are paid in each paycheck, which typically results in a large reduction in the spending capital that they have each month. The only way that these people will be able to keep themselves from getting deeper into debt is to create a debt management plan to ensure that they are able to begin paying off their debts and to make sure that they are not spending more than they can afford each month. While this may be a difficult adjustment to make, the reality is that people are going to have to stop living beyond their means when they are carrying a great deal of credit card debt.

The first step in creating a debt management plan is determining how much the person actually spends each month. For a period of at least two months the person should keep track of all expenses and all receipts. This will show the person what their financial needs are and shows them all the things that they spend money on each month. Keeping the receipts will provide the person with a record of what items they are wasting money on each month.

Once the spending patterns have been determined, it is time to create the debt management plan. The goal is to spend less money each month than you are receiving from your paycheck and any other sources during the month. The bigger the gap between intake and spending, the better it will be for the person’s financial future. By detailing each expense that you must pay each month and the amount of money it will take to satisfy that expense, you can create a complete debt management plan that accounts for all of your necessary monthly spending.

The most important part of creating a debt management plan is sticking to the plan and applying any money that is saved by using the plan to paying down debt to eventually become debt free. Completing the debt elimination process will be hard, especially for people that are lacking in financial responsibility, but it is possible to create a debt management plan and stick with it until all debts have been repaid.

Please contact us at (866) 783-3317 for a FREE, no obligation review of your current credit situation to see how we can help.

Neighborhood Debt Relief