Bankruptcy

Hiring Debt-Relief Company To Negotiate With Credit Cards

By Jonathan Alper

Many prospective bankruptcy clients ask me during their initial consultation whether they should use a company to help them negotiate settlements with credit card companies prior to pursuing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. My experience is that credit negotiation companies can help people with a small number of credit cards, but they usually are unable to successfully settle with several different creditors. The bigger problem is that a significant percentage of credit negotiation companies are scams; they charge already overwhelmed consumers up-front fees and then do very little to solve the consumers debt problems. The Wall Street Journal on October 14 had an article on "debt relief firms. " The article conveys the story of a Florida consumer who hired a debt-relief company which never settled any of his debts. The consumer eventually had to file bankruptcy and says that "I wish I had done that to begin with." If you are considering hiring a company to settle your credit card debts, you should first read the Wall Street Journal Article.

The web address of the Article is : http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122394458494631223.html

Full post as published by Florida Bankruptcy Law on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).