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| Using A Debt Settlement Firm Can Cause You To Be Blindsided By Debt Collectors. |
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| Written by Matthew Highlander |
| Thursday, 29 October 2009 09:07 |
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Debt settlement firms call for a minimum of $10,000 in credit card debt. Of that $10,000 you have to give them $1500-2000 in upfront fees for them to settle your debt. To save money for a lump sum settlement and their fees, they tell you to stop making credit card payments and to give that money to them for their fees and for an eventual 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 14 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. What that could mean for you is a junk debt buyer has purchased your account for 10 cents on the dollar before it has been settled. Now, the bank has no incentive to remove their bad-debt listing from your credit report, a mark that will be on your report 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, your settlement fee is gone. Your debt is not settled. Your credit is bruised. And, you are fighting debt collectors. If you are lucky you still have $5000, but only if the settlement firm put it in a third-party escrow account. About the Author: Matt Highlander writes about the many strategies for eliminating credit card debt; some for those who can pay, some for those who cannot pay. Read all about them in the 230-page Credit Card Debt Survival Guide Kindly provided by LJ-Marketing.dk You are welcome to use this article on your own website, if you include the link just before this text. |
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