If You Hire A Debt Settlement Firm, Be Ready For Credit Card Debt Collector Phone Calls.

Debt settlement firms call for a minimum of $10,000 in credit card debt. Of that $10,000 you have to give them $1500-2000 in upfront fees for them to settle your debt. To save money for a lump sum settlement and their fees, they tell you to stop making credit card payments and to give that money to them for their fees and for an eventual lump sum settlement.

What happens if they cannot settle with your credit card bank? What happens to the money you have paid them? What happens to your credit card account that is in arrears? What happens to your credit rating? How long will it take you to save $7000, $2000 for the debt settlement firm and $5000 for a 50 percent lump sum settlement?

$500 a month will total $7000 after 14 months of payments to the debt settlement firm. At that pace it will be over one year before $5000 can be paid (after $2000 in fees is taken) in a lump sum to end the debt. But, that debt may no longer exist because the banks charge off unpaid credit card debts after six months. Then within the year, they sell those bad debts for about 10 cents on the dollar.

What that could mean for you is a junk debt buyer has purchased your account for 10 cents on the dollar before it has been settled. Now, the bank has no incentive to remove their bad-debt listing from your credit report, a mark that will be on your report for seven years.

The junk debt buyer will make an effort to collect the debt, and you need to be ready for that, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. On the other hand, if you are unaware and waiting for the debt settlement firm to finish what they started, you could be vulnerable to a debt collection attorney.

So, your debt is not settled. Your settlement fee is spent. You have debt collection problems. And, your credit rating is below par. Just maybe you still have $5000, but that is only if the settlement firm escrowed it with a third-party.

Matt Highlander writes for Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. If you are searching for credit card debt relief, read about proven strategies for settling debts and handling debt collectors as well as collection attorneys.