Debt relief services

I was curious what the deal is with these places. My gf wants to enroll (whatever you call it) in one to lower her CC bills. I know nothing really about debt as far as bankrupcy or any of that. Thankfully the only debt I have is $200 to a bank long ago. I also have no credit cards. She talked to one place called Clear One Advantage (MI debt relief).

Now this place is going to cut her monthly payments to around $250 a month, where right now her total monthly payments for all her CC's is aprox. $500. That extra $250 a month would be extremely helpful. How it works is, hypothetically say the debt is $12,500. They negotiated with the CC companies to settle for half the money. So that puts our 12.5k debt to roughly 6.2k. Now their fee's are about $3000, which brings the total amount to roughly 9.5k.

Even though she has to end up paying them $3000, her total debt is still lowered by $3.5k AND the total monthly payments cut in half. So has anyone ever done this before, and is there anything hidden she should look out for? I did not see anything when I read the quotes they gave her, as far as "fine print". What are your experiences? Thanks!

Settling the debt like this can absolutely destroy your credit for a while, that's the worst thing.

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

You are better off just declaring bankruptcy.

It has the same affect on your credit rating (as if you really need credit if you have trouble managing debt) and you can stick the predatory lenders that gave her the loans with the bill instead of repaying them.

Depending on her situation you can go chapter 7 which is liquidation. If she doesn't have assets of significance this is ideal. You simply discharge existing debt and you get to keep your home, your car (reasonable value) and many other assets.

Chapter 13 keeps you in the system for maybe 5 years or so and you repay some of the money for pennies on the dollar. You can keep more investments and assets this way.

A lot of the debt relief scammers were started by credit card companies to mitigate their losses from bankruptcy. I would just say screw 'em and get rid of the debt.

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

13 years ago...mom owed $20,000 credit cards, reg. bills etc. Paid lawyer 1 time fee (I think $250) and he had her pay $120 per month without missing for 24 months (2 years) and those went thru him to her creditors.

$2500.00 aprox wiped nearly $20k....I believe it was Chapter 7 Bankruptcy...lasted only the 2 years until the agreed debt was paid...and then credit returned to normal. And she got a few minor cards for emergency. She never used the cards either again.

Most of her bills were medical related, and she passed a year or so later. I'd suggest Debt Relief.

Good luck

Make sure she gets a real one, there are some out there that take your monthly payment as their fee and try to settle the credit cards by letting them go into collection. Then they make a deal and you have to pay the whole amount at once.

There are a few legit ones, but even with these, the savings seems to get eaten up by the lawyers fees and handling fees.

The scam places build a network of information on the net, just like other scammers do, that makes what they are doing look legit. They have a Christian one that charges nothing to handle it. Like I said beware. You could wind up paying for a year, wind up with a terrible credit score then still wind up into bankruptsy. Even the legit companies drop your credit score down a lot, none can guarantee how much you will save either from the start.

originally posted by: Atsbhct
Settling the debt like this can absolutely destroy your credit for a while, that's the worst thing.

Ah yes I forgot about that part this is very true.

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: iTruthSeeker

You are better off just declaring bankruptcy.

It has the same affect on your credit rating (as if you really need credit if you have trouble managing debt) and you can stick the predatory lenders that gave her the loans with the bill instead of repaying them.

Depending on her situation you can go chapter 7 which is liquidation. If she doesn't have assets of significance this is ideal. You simply discharge existing debt and you get to keep your home, your car (reasonable value) and many other assets.

Chapter 13 keeps you in the system for maybe 5 years or so and you repay some of the money for pennies on the dollar. You can keep more investments and assets this way.

A lot of the debt relief scammers were started by credit card companies to mitigate their losses from bankruptcy. I would just say screw 'em and get rid of the debt.

Well we rent and her only asset is her truck, which just got payed off a couple years ago. Now for this chapter 7, do you need a lawyer or any other significant $$ to get one done?

Thanks fellas for the replies!

originally posted by: Atsbhct
Settling the debt like this can absolutely destroy your credit for a while, that's the worst thing.

I simply don't agree and I would know since I used one to pay off $26k in CC debt.

The idea that using a CC service can hurt your credit rating is sort of a moot point since your credit rating has already taken a hit..

I'm not a fan of bankruptcy as I feel, assuming no uncontrollable elements, its sort of asking for a reset when chances are debt was self accrued.

During my time in debt management I paid $600 a month and coming out of it my credit score jumped..that was 5 years ago and ill put my current FICO or other scores up against anyone here at this point..

The idea that debt management is detrimental to your financial viability is an older way of thinking. The truth is CC debt is the problem of the person that accumulated it.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: iTruthSeeker

13 years ago...mom owed $20,000 credit cards, reg. bills etc. Paid lawyer 1 time fee (I think $250) and he had her pay $120 per month without missing for 24 months (2 years) and those went thru him to her creditors.

$2500.00 aprox wiped nearly $20k....I believe it was Chapter 7 Bankruptcy...lasted only the 2 years until the agreed debt was paid...and then credit returned to normal. And she got a few minor cards for emergency. She never used the cards either again.

Most of her bills were medical related, and she passed a year or so later. I'd suggest Debt Relief.

Good luck

Yea I am not sure yet I want her to do the debt relief but rather chapter 7 sounds better if she can swing it.


a reply to: rickymouse

Definitely going to do more research on everything in general.

a reply to: opethPA

The truth is CC debt is the problem of the person that accumulated it.

Very true!

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

I am going through it now. It is different state to state.
You don't have to have a lawyer but you should. You need # to be right. I'm my state it is 1300 to file for my wife and I. Credit counseling is like 50 bucks. That's it. Lots of credit # to get together. Get an allowance for my car so I can keep it. Go to court and it's discharged right away. Zero debt. Look into it. Way cheaper than debt management and all debt gone

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker

...They negotiated with the CC companies to settle for half the money...

you can do this too, you can "request a settlement" over the phone with your cc company/bank/lender etc, usually they will agree to something like 80% of the debt, you maybe can talk em further down quite a bit depending on what type of debt it is, like its always easier to convince them to forget fee's and interest then it is actual dollars lost on product purchases.

but if you try to settle the debt for a lower amount like that it will also usual mean your account will then be closed and you probably would also have to pay most if not all of the amount in one lump sum, rather then payments.

thats how it was when i worked at the bank anyhow.

I agree with the previous sentiments.

If you qualify to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy, by all means do it.

Make absolutely sure you include all debts.

You will be getting credit card offers within 2-3 weeks.

Sure it is a hit on your credit score, and you will suffer through a couple of years of high interest rate credit cards, but the relief of being out from under the burden of debt negates all that.

originally posted by: RickinVa
I agree with the previous sentiments.

If you qualify to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy, by all means do it.

Make absolutely sure you include all debts.

You will be getting credit card offers within 2-3 weeks.

Sure it is a hit on your credit score, and you will suffer through a couple of years of high interest rate credit cards, but the relief of being out from under the burden of debt negates all that.

What a great system, file for bankruptcy, clear all debt so you can get back on the credit train ready for another bankruptcy.

One way we did ours was to take out a loan with lower interest to pay off the cards. We still had to make the payment and pay off the amount, but with lower interest, we consolidated our payments and put them in a chunk we could manage far easier and pay over on to pay off faster. Still wasn't fun, but we managed it.

Put our cards on ice too except for emergencies and we work hard to make sure any balances on them are low enough we can zero them by year end.

Thanks again for the replies ATS. I will advise her to look into something else, like Ch.7 prefferably to debt relief.