Free debt settlement tips and debt settlement company services.
Let a debt settlement company help you negotiate with creditors, or use our do-it-yourself free debt settlement tips. View our sample debt settlement letter to send to a creditor.
Do
It Yourself for Free Debt Settlement
Not comfortable dealing with creditors yourself? A debt settlement company can do it for you, and can do the entire process quickly.
Determine how much you can afford to pay in total to settle debt. Write down all of your essential expenses, such as rent, mortgage, food, etc. Subtract this amount from your monthly net pay. Whatever is left over is what you can pay out each month on your debt settlement plan.
Make a list of all of your delinquent accounts and the amounts owed on each.
Next to each creditor's name and balance owed, write down how much of your debt settlement budget you can pay toward that account. The closer to 50% of the balance that you can get, the better chance you'll have of getting your offer accepted.
Contact your creditors (or the collection agencies if your debt has been turned over). Explain your plan and how it affects them. Explain that your current financial situation simply won't allow you to make your payments as you originally agreed.
Tell creditors how much you owe in total, how much you have available to pay off all your debts, and how much you can pay to settle their particular accounts. Let them know that your offer is being sent to all of your creditors, and the ones who accept the offer first will be paid off first.
You'll receive some acceptance letters as well as rejections. Keep a copy of the acceptance letters for your records and immediately send in the amounts agreed upon, requesting a receipt stating "paid in full". Don't send any debt settlement payments until you get the revised agreement in writing.
Each month, repeat the process while adjusting your debt settlement offers upwards. You can now afford to offer each creditor a higher percentage of the outstanding balance because you have fewer debts left to pay off. Again, you'll receive some acceptance letters and perhaps rejections.
Keep repeating this process each month until all of your debts have been settled.
Important things to keep in mind:
Insist on getting all debt settlement agreements in writing, and never pay the amount agreed upon until you receive the signed written agreement. Your creditors could easily accept your offer on the phone, then "forget" about the settlement offer after receiving a payment. Also note that creditors may not be willing to annotate settlement paid in full on your credit report.
Keep all signed agreements and receipts for your records, even after the accounts have been marked "settled" on your credit reports.
Be very careful with your finances in the future to ensure that you never have to go through the debt settlement process again.
Be sure you follow all state laws regarding legal settlement agreements.
Get more information about debt, and read our articles related to debt settlement.
Settlement Chargeoff
There are times when a settlement might be what is needed if the person has money to attempt to settle a debt and negotiate for a lower payoff. If debts
are more than five or more months past due, if the debt settlement will be less than what you owe, and if bad credit may not be factor you are worried
about, it may be an option to get out of debt quickly. A debt settlement could be negotiated for as low as 50% of what you actually owe. When in thousands
of dollars of debt, this may be the quickest way to get debt relief.
To try to negotiate a debt settlement yourself, let creditors know that you could be facing bankruptcy and don't make any agreements that are oral. Make
sure to get the agreement and terms in writing and mailed to you. Get the creditors to agree to report the account to the credit bureau as “satisfied in full”
when you make a payment and use a money order sent by certified mail. If you
can't get a good debt settlement by negotiating yourself, consider getting a
debt settlement professional.
Compare credit counseling vs debt settlement to help you decide which one offers the best benefits for the short term as well as long term. Whether you choose a credit counseling agency or a debt settlement company, both programs only assist with unsecured debt. Learn the types of unsecured debt and who qualifies for a debt consolidation loan.
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