I've been searching the threads on here trying to see if anyone has used Debt Settlement companies. In November, we sought out "help". My husband was switching jobs and his net pay was going to be less. I was a retail store manager and found out I'd be losing MY job the beginning of the year. That prompted us to move forward before we got in too deep. Of course now we are getting summons to respond to letters, etc... They don't offer legal advice, but they tell you HOW to answer. I have a feeling we are still going to end up in court. I'm just nervous we made the wrong decision. We've already been paying into this for 10 months. We are supposed to be done paying in less than 3 years. Any experiences out there -- good or bad with DSCompanies? My cousin is using one that is a lawyer. That lawyer is there to represent them. Any input to offer? Thank you!
I was told about a company called DebtShield and they contract out the work to a firm called Century Negotiations Inc. This isn't a spam advertisement, I actually use it. I'm not sure if it's relevant, but what they do is take all the calls from CA's and they just settle the accounts. It's mainly to get them off my back as there's no deletions (as they don't have them paid off in full) and I'm pretty sure they don't offer legal counsel. Not sure if it helps, but they call themselves a debt settlement company so... yeah.
Is this one of those companies that tells you to stop making payments to your creditors, and that they'll take care of it all for you for the low price of $$$?
If all they do is take some of the money that could have gone to your creditors, and have you sit on your debts long enough to make them all report negative so they can negotiate settlements, I doubt if you will come out ahead of trying to negotiate yourself. Even if you get some reduction in debt owed from whatever settlements they negotiate, assuming they even can, you may be worse off from the effect this has on other lenders, who either jack your rates, or pile up late fees, and close your accounts. By the time you come out the other end, you will have trashed all your tradelines, where if you had tried to work with some of your creditors, and kept some accounts current, you might have ended up in a better position to rebuild even if you had some accounts reporting negatively. That is the best case scenario. The worst case is they take your money, tell you to not pay your creditors, fail to pay any of your creditors with any money you send them for that purpose, and fail to get significant reduction in debt via negotiating, leaving you with totally trashed credit, lawsuits, plus you are out their fees, too.
