Debt Settlement Tips and Advice – Help With Debt Negotiation

Debt settlement is quite a complex subject and the term can mean more than one thing. It is also an area where it is possible to go quite seriously wrong if you are not forearmed with some basic information. This article will explain how debt settlement works, offer some useful tips and advice on how to approach it and highlight some of the main issues you need to be aware of.

The first thing you need to know is whether debt settlement is likely to be an appropriate solution for your circumstances, as it is only an option for certain situations. Debt settlement and negotiation is normally regarded as an alternative to bankruptcy for very serious debt situations. The most common way to tackle debt is to use a debt management plan, but in order for this to work you need to have enough spare income to make the monthly payments required by the plan. Debt settlement is really designed for those people who could not afford the payments on a debt management plan.

The other main criteria for debt settlement negotiation to work is that the debts you wish to deal with have to be what are known as unsecured debts. While this does include personal loans, credit cards and other common forms of credit, it does not include home loans and mortgages. You will also need to be over 18 and if you plan to use a debt settlement company you will need to be resident in the same country as that organisation.

If you think your situation is right for debt settlement to help you, one of the fundamental choices to make is whether you are going to find a professional company to work on your behalf, or if you are going to undertake the negotiation process on your own. There are advantages to both options and it very much depends on how confident you feel about undertaking the work yourself.

If you use a debt settlement company you will need to pay them a fee, usually a proportion of whatever they manage to save you, and for a very large debt this can be a significant amount of money. The main driver for doing it yourself is therefore that even if you have to pay for some sort of guide to the help you through the process, that cost is going to be a lot less than the fees of a settlement company.

Unless you have already worked within the industry, I would not recommend attempting negotiations without help, as there are too many fundamental issues that are likely to prevent you getting much, if anything, written off your debt. The key to successful negotiation is understanding the processes that your creditors will go through when dealing with bad debts. Only with this understanding can you know when to ignore their calls and when to make them an offer. This understanding is what enables negotiators to get over half of most debts written off.

There are various guides, books and courses available on how to negotiate successful debt settlements, and some are indeed excellent, but you need to exercise some caution, as there are also many which are a waste of time. There are one of two inexpensive ebooks available, which do provide very detailed guidance, including telephone scripts and template letters. This is the kind of detailed help you need. At the other end of the spectrum are interactive courses which really do hold your hand all the way through the process, including individual help via email and even telephone. Such courses obviously cost a bit more, but they do ensure good results and are still far cheaper than a settlement company.

If you prefer to use a debt settlement company, they will obviously do all the hard work for you, but will expect to be paid. Take care over your selection of a company, as some will want up front fees with no guarantee of results. Some of the less reputable companies will take fees from you and not achieve any reduction in debts, which will actually leave you worse off. To avoid this pitfall you should always apply to a few different companies that you know to be reviewed and recommended as reliable and trustworthy.

Read advice on how to negotiate debt yourself on the author’s website, where you can also find recommendations for the most reputable debt settlement companies. K D Garrow has worked as a senior manager with significant financial responsibility for the last twenty years. His Debt Help website offers free, unbiased advice on a range of debt related issues, including the debt management plans, UK IVAs, budgeting advice, loans and bankruptcy.