What should you expect from the best debt negotiation companies?
The best debt negotiation companies can work with basically anyone to reduce the amount of their debt. By negotiating with collection agencies and creditors to reduce the amount of debt, clients are able to settle their debt for 30 – 70% of the original balance. Other forms of debt elimination simply move the debt from an unsecured card, to a secured asset. This lowers the interest rate, which is a good thing. But it doesn’t eliminate the debt. Its still there, but now its against your home or other hard asset.
Look for a company that is always looking out for their clients. They are members of the Better Business Bureau, or of an organization like the Consumer Recovery Network. These companies will make sure that their clients become debt free in the shortest possible time.
Make sure you ask plenty of questions. Become an informed consumer.
The best debt negotiation companies won’t make promises they have no way of keeping. They cannot “guarantee” that they will be able to arrange reductions in the balance of all of your debt. Some creditors just won’t deal. While most credit card debt can be reduced substantially, there are creditors that simply will not budge. Many debts can be settled for pennies on the dollar, in fact most – but by no means, all. I’m just being honest here.
A knowledgeable company wont tell you to completely break off all contact with your creditors. I’ve actually talked to clients who had worked with programs that told them to tell the creditor to never call them again. The problem with this strategy is that it leaves the creditor very little options for collecting the debt. It will most likely speed up the process of legal action. While it may be advisable to tell your creditors to not call you at work, you certainly don’t want to break off contact entirely. Keep the lines of communication open. It makes it much easier to resolve the debt.
The best debt negotiation companies won’t guarantee that they will be able to remove information from your credit report, when that information is perfectly accurate. Many collection agencies, and creditors, will remove information after they are paid. They really have no vested interest in leaving it there. Why would they care, they have their money. So negotiating that the creditors listing be removed or altered as a part of the settlement works in a large number of cases, but not 100 percent of the time.
The caveat to this, is that you may only need to remove a couple of negative accounts to raise your score to an acceptable level. So you may not need to remove 100 percent of the negative data to have a positive effect.
The best debt negotiation companies will give you the costs up front.
Professional help with debt negotiation can be a tremendous asset in alleviating problem debt. These companies can also cause a number of problems. If you have decided to negotiate, eliminate and settle your debt, the best debt negotiation companies are the best place to start.