Monday, September 27, 2010

Debt Settlement Program

There is hardly a family in US that has been spared from the ill effects of the global meltdown and the huge monetary crisis. Most of the people who have secured loans and mortgages were unaware of its ramifications, but have now started to feel the pinch of this crisis. In order to reduce the debt problems and to lessen the financial woes, many have opted for debt settlement programs, which are uniquely designed to provide relief from debts. But before selecting an debt settlement agency, one should ensure that the particular agency has all the necessary accreditations required to carry out the process of debt settlement programs to provide relief from overburdened debts.


The unpleasant financial conditions which have gripped America enormously have prompted people to seek help of various debt settlement companies to ease off their debts. All this also means that this recession have been a perfect time when a host of debt settlement companies have mushroomed and perhaps more are on the cards. However let us at first assess the reasons of this serious financial crunch where people find themselves sinking. The basic reason being, that majority of people are habituated to an unlimited use of credit cards for readily available funds. The reasons may be many but due to this behavior, the amount of debts incurred by families were enough to destroy their savings and put them into a situation of hard hitting finances. While some have opted for Credit Counselling for partial relief from debts, for consumers with serious debt issues debt settlement programs have proved as the ultimate savior. Under this program a designated expert from the debt settlement company undertakes the responsibility to negotiate with the creditor for settlement of funds. The negotiators of these agencies are proficient about the various ways and means to strike the right deal with the creditors; typically an experienced negotiator is able to settle around 50-60%of the outstanding balances of a consumer, taking advantage of the situation if the creditors who prefer to have their debts settled rather than losing all the money in cases when the consumer decides to file for bankruptcy. To secure a debt free status the debtor is required to stop making payments to the creditor and instead decide on making a single monthly payment on account of each due to the debt settlement company till a moderate balance is reached, which can then be utilized by the negotiator to settle the consumer’s debt. However many consumers may also find online debt consolidation a better way of settling their debts.

An indebted consumer must always remember that a legitimate and reputed debt settlement agency must always abide by the rules of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  The debt settlement programs are made to provide maximum benefit to consumers however the onus lies on the consumer to analyse the pros and cons of each of these programs to opt, to settle debts conveniently.

No comments:

Post a Comment