Settling credit card debt?

Question

Ive heard various radio commericals pertaining to this topic. I have alot of credit card debt well over 20k i would say; however, my credit is pretty good (timely payments, no overcharges, etc...) My question...if i were to settle my debt as described in these radio ads; how bad would i hurt my credit?

Answer 1

If you are serious about settling the debt

there is a process. First of all most creditors

wont settle unless you are 180 days late on

payments so first you would have to stop

paying and they will start pestering you  by

phone, also you will have to close the

accounts and not use them again, wait 6

months then call and settle up to 70%.

Your credit will be lower but once you

settle and get them always to agree in

writing to pay to delete from your credit

report that way you can start fresh again.

Answer 2

I was in your shoes once. I was running near my limit on several cc's, and when it looked as if I would max out on one, the company would "do me a favor" and increase my limit. You're called a "revolver" in the banking world.  

You need to stop being a revolver.

If you can, pay down your highest interest account first, then the next one and the next, all without going further into debt. Your credit rating stays intact or gets better if you can do this.  If that's not an option, you can negotiate to pay down your debt with your creditors yourself. Your credit rating will take a hit if you do this, but it may be necessary.

I did it (using the first method).  I paid down $62k of debt to zero.  Took me six years with no fancy vacations, no impulse buying, and didn't spend more at a restaurant than I could pay for in cash.

Answer 3

dont do it

Answer 4

NEVER use a debt releif company. Try and do it yourself. TRUST ME!

Answer 5

Consolidation is the best solution available to the credit cardholders to improve their future credit. People go for debt consolidation for many reasons: prolonging the loan period from 5 - 15 years and reducing the interest rate. Consolidation allows you to go for a loan with lower interest rate than the one you are currently paying. Besides it simplifies the loan repayment as you are paying only one lender in place of various payments to different lenders.

Before consolidating your credit card debts, it is important to carry out thorough investigation to determine its suitability for your condition. Many credit card companies and banks provide debt consolidation services to their customers.

http://debt-trap.com/category/Credit-Car...

Answer 6

I had to go through the pain of this kind of deal after a Divorce as I could not meet all my commitments. It was that or Bankruptcy.  These deals DO affect your credit rating and the lenders can still chase you for what you owe.  My advice is pay off the debt as soon as you can and only borrow what you can afford.

I can no longer borrow and I am regarded as a 'Bad Risk' by my bank even though I am in a job that pays well.

Answer 7

If you're able to make your payments on time, I would steer clear of using debt consolidators.  Some of them cause lots of problems, i.e., You send them one payment they are suppose to pay to your creditors based on how they dealt with them. Problem is some don't pay, months go by until you realize there is a problem, then the company claims bankruptcy and your are screeewed. This is what happened to a friend of mine.

Answer 8

using one of those guys are pretty bad,my freind did and he regrets there out for money to so watch out.

Answer 9

First, I don't think most of those companies advertising will work with you unless you have creditors hounding your for payments.

Second, why would you want to work with them if you are making your payments?  Yes, it will hurt your credit score if your credit is good right now.

Keep making your payments, stop adding to the debt.  

If you are paying high interest rates on any of the cards, call the company and ask for a better interest rate.  Tell them you have received a better offer from another company and are going to transfer your balance unless they want to keep you as a customer.  This generally works except for one instance I have heard of Capital One saying no.

Good luck to you.

Answer 10

Yes.

Without knowing what specific commercial you heard, let me say this: they typically advertise two types of services. The first is a debt consolidation service, whereby the debt consolidation management company takes all of your cards, and negotiates a re-payment schedule with your creditors, and in turn, your creditors sometimes waive fees, agree to stop the interest, and you can pay your debt a little quicker under someone else's watchful eye.

The second is a settlement service, whereby a company negotiates a lower settlement of your debt on your behalf. For example, you owe Wachovia $5,000 on your VISA card, maybe Wachovia will take $3,000 to call the debt even. You get to pay less, and the company gets some (or all) of their money back. However, this is usually done when you are seriously delinquent, and the company is willing to take the cut in a bit of money versus the consideration of no recovery at all. The caveat here is that when you settle like this, the IRS will want taxes due on that forgiven amount come April 15 for the tax year in which the settlement was granted.

Bottom line: if you're paying on time now, and not in any trouble, just cut up the cards and manage it on your own. There are plenty of online tools out there to help you with paying down debt, to consider the order in which you should pay it (most say start with high interest-rate cards), and ways to establish a good plan for staying out of debt.

Answer 11

I don't know about which radio ads you are referring to but a debt consolidation will not hurt your credit... Instead if you take a loan to consolidate your debts and if you make timely payment that will help you to raise your credit score as it is considered as new loan.

For more information you can refer to this link : http://ezconsolidation.com

Answer 12

They won't settle unless you are drastically past-due on your cards.....Debt settlement firms deliberately allow your accounts to default to put them into a position to negotiate settlements. This process will ruin your credit rating...also, there is no guarantee that your credit card companies will accept the settlement...they are under no obligation and might decide to take legal action.