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Rick Moyer
04-08-2009, 8:02 PM
You hear their ads all the time anymore. Does anyone have any experience with any of these, or any first or second hand info about how they work, what they do, or how they charge for their services?

It seems to me that it would be very unlikely to get any debt forgiveness. I rather suspect that most are consolidation, and that there is a fee to be paid to them for possibly getting the interest reduced or something. How else would they make any money for their ads. Just wondering if any of you know the real deal!

Dan Friedrichs
04-08-2009, 10:01 PM
I've noticed some are non-profit...

I'd guess most are scams (or at least a "service" that no intelligent person would pay money for. But then again, the existence of the problem calls the "intelligent" part into question....).

brian watson
04-09-2009, 7:24 AM
Some of these are scams, some are fee based services, some are consolidation outfits, etc. Most deal with credit card companies on unsecured debt.

You can if you are willing to spend the time and effort get your credit card company to negotiate with you. Its not uncommon for credit card companies to accept a fractional pay off for the balances on a card for someone who has a generally good payment history, etc.

The consequence: Your credit score will take a major hit in the process which will impact all your other credit cards, will impact your insurance premiums at next renewal time etc.

Its a better alternative to bankruptcy which will make the next 7 years of your life very difficult.

John Shuk
04-09-2009, 9:01 AM
Daveramsey.com

Might shed some light on things. He has lots of opinions and a whole lot of common sense. Not a bad place to at least look around.

Cliff Rohrabacher
04-09-2009, 2:20 PM
Stick with the Not For Profit organizations.

There are too many people out there praying on the down and out with debt relief scams.

The poor or debt burdened person hasn't got the money to sue when they get burned and unlike the FDCPA which was developed to stop debt collectors from behaving badly and has attorney fees built in, there is no legislation that guarantees Attorney's fees for ripping poor people in debt off.

So if you get screwed in a debt relief scam you are on your own.

As an aside:
If you call a creditor and offer to pay the full amount off in one lump sum payment and close the account you can safely consider 65% - 69% of the total debt as the highest you need to go.

Bankruptcy courts are looking at creditors who refuse such offers with disfavor and have shown inclination to extinguish their claims entirely as opposed to restructuring the deal.

If you are going to do this - do it in writing and use Return Receipt Certified mail.
Nothing says "I love you" like a letter.

phil harold
04-09-2009, 3:03 PM
carefull of the debt relief / consolidation companies, even if they are non profit they have to pay for employees, advertising, and rent, just like any other business. So you are paying them a fee to do it for you.
if they reduce your bill by 30 percent and charge you 25 percent are you any farther ahead?
Try to do it yourself as with calling and writing your creditors

Major thing is to change your your spending habits
I have seen friends that consolidate thier debt with a second mortgage to pay off credit cards and then just to keep using credit cards they could not afford in the begining so now they are in more debt

Daveramsey.com is good

bankruptcy is bad but sometimes the only way out