A Complete Guide to Debt Settlement

Debt settlement programs can handle most types of unsecured debt, such as credit card debt, medical bills, personal loans, utility bills, cell phone bills, and private student loans. However, federal student loans are not eligible for debt relief settlements.

If you have secured loans like mortgages or auto loans, lenders may work with you by refinancing or reducing the interest rate you pay on your loan. However, it is unlikely creditors will accept a debt settlement for a secured loan because these lenders have the option of seizing your property to satisfy your debt instead of settling for less than the full amount owed.

You always have the option to negotiate a settlement with your creditors on your own. You may find, however, that negotiating with creditors is a messy affair. It takes a great deal of time and patience to negotiate a settlement.

Often, finding a debt relief company to do your negotiating for you will result in a better deal for you and a quicker resolution to your financial worries. Good debt relief companies know what works with creditors and are not timid when it comes to negotiating the best possible terms on your behalf.

Once you begin working with a debt relief firm to negotiate a debt settlement with your creditors, it is a good idea to let your creditors know the name and contact information of the debt relief firm. In some cases, this may stop the collection calls you receive from creditors, at least until they verify the information you provide.

As your debt relief firm begins its work of negotiating with your creditors, the firm will require that you put a certain amount of money each month into a dedicated, FDIC-insured bank account. This bank account will be in your name, but it will be overseen by a trustee or account administrator.

The goal of your debt relief firm is to lower the principal balance owed on your account. In some cases, debt relief firms can convince a creditor to accept up to 50 percent less than the amount you currently owe to settle your debt in full.

After consulting with you about your current financial situation and your ability to make future payments, your debt relief firm will make a formal proposal outlining a settlement offer to each of your creditors. Your creditors then have the right to decide whether to accept or reject the settlement offer.

It is important to remember that your creditors have no legal obligation to accept a settlement offer. However, some creditors are willing to negotiate if they feel that collecting the full amount owed is not likely to happen or if they feel that hiring a collections agency or pursuing litigation against you will cost more than they are willing to spend to handle the matter.

Once a settlement agreement is reached, your debt relief firm will make sure that all agreements are in writing and signed by both you and your creditors. This ensures that there is no misunderstanding among all interested parties.

There is no set time-frame to settle a debt with creditors. Your debt relief firm will submit proposals to your creditors. Typically, your creditors will respond to these proposals within a few weeks, though some creditors may take more than a month to reply.

The length of time it takes to pay your creditors depends on how much debt you owe and what the settlement agreement specifies. Once you have reached a settlement agreement with your creditors, your debt relief firm should be able to tell you exactly how long it will take to settle your debts according to the agreement.

In most cases, debt relief firms try to help you get out of debt within two to five years. If that is not possible through debt settlement, you may need to consider bankruptcy as an alternative.

Even though debt relief is a way out of debt, it will have an adverse impact on your credit. Because you are not making regular payments to your creditors while your debt relief firm is in the process of negotiating your settlement, your payments will not be considered as current.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that your creditors can still charge late fees and penalties and pursue other collections options while your debt relief firm is working to negotiate a settlement for you. Additionally, the fact that you are settling your account for less than the full amount owed will most likely damage your credit score.

Some credit card companies will report your agreement as a settlement to the credit bureaus. If that happens, the settlement will appear on your credit report for about seven years. It is permissible to ask your credit card company to report the settlement as "paid in full" instead. If the credit card company agrees to this, your credit scores will not be affected as much. While there is no guarantee that the credit card company will agree, it never hurts to ask for this consideration.

It is a good idea to check your credit score periodically while you are enrolled in a debt relief settlement program. Check your score before entering into a debt relief settlement agreement, and then check it again after six months. At first, you may see your credit score dip considerably. In time, however, you should see your score begin to rise again as your debt relief firm begins to pay off your creditors.

Depending on your total financial situation, the IRS may consider any savings you get from debt relief as income. Creditors can report a settled debt to the IRS. Since the IRS classifies settled debt as income, it is taxable.

The exception to this is when the IRS considers you to be insolvent. The IRS will give you an insolvency exemption in cases where your total debts are more than the fair market value of your total assets. A tax professional can help you figure out if you meet the qualifications for an insolvency exemption.