Trying to settle your debts? Seek debt settlement advice first.
When you’re considering a debt settlement program as a way of getting out of debt, it’s important to seek debt settlement advice from a qualified financial professional before you sign any agreements.
Debt settlement companies will often promise to help you settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. While that sounds amazing, the reality is often more difficult: at the end of the debt settlement process, you may end up just as deeply in debt, with a damaged credit rating and a pile of legal bills.
How does debt settlement affect your credit? That’s where getting debt settlement advice can help you avoid unwanted consequences. To get your creditors to consider a debt settlement offer, you must first stop paying your bills for a number of months, putting your account into delinquency and harming your credit rating. Even with the best debt settlement outcome, your negative credit history may prevent you from getting credit cards, qualifying for loans, renting an apartment or buying a home.
Debt settlement advice from a knowledgeable financial professional can help you determine whether the benefits of debt settlement outweigh the risks, and whether there are other options you can pursue to find your way out of debt.
Get professional debt settlement advice from ACCC.
American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families get out of debt and live debt-free in the future. Our professionally trained and certified counselors offer debt settlement advice to consumers as part of our free credit counseling services. When you meet with an ACCC counselor by phone or in person, we’ll help you evaluate your current financial situation and outline all the options available to you for paying down your debt. With debt settlement advice from ACCC, you can take your first steps toward getting out of debt with the knowledge that you have all the information you need to make the best decisions for your financial future.
Our best debt settlement advice: consider debt management alternatives.
The debt settlement advice provided by our counselors can help you better understand the pros and cons of a debt settlement program, and evaluate the benefits of debt settlement vs bankruptcy. For many consumers, our debt settlement advice is to opt for a debt management plan instead.
With a debt management plan, you won’t default on your debt obligations. Instead, we’ll help you make a budget to pay down your debt as quickly as possible while still having enough money to be comfortable. We’ll help to simplify your finances by enabling you to make one payment each month to a special account, and our team will take responsibility for paying each of your creditors on time. In the process, we’ll seek reductions in interest rates, late fees, finance charges and over-limit fees, helping to reduce the amount you owe so you can pay it off more quickly.
