Free yourself of credit card debt today
Monday, March 24th, 2008To begin we must understand the debt settlement process. Debt settlement is a process of going past due on unsecured credit card bills to then later on negotiate a settlement to pay back the original debt balance owed at a much lesser amount. This procedure can save a consumer around 50% of the debt they must repay. Also they can expect to become debt free within a couple of years. Now the debt settlement process can be done two ways, either hire a debt settlement company or a credit card debt settlement law office to enroll you into a debt settlement program. This writing will touch a few key differences between the law firm vs the company.
Like most things in life debt settlement has it’s ups and downs. The good thing is the incredible savings of money and time. The bad parts are falling behind on the debts, collection calls and the minimal chance of being sued. A law firm practicing debt settlement has different securities to offer than the standard debt settlement company.
A lot of peoples’ primary worry is that of being sued. To begin I want to let everyone understand that it is not common practice for the collectors to sue, but there is a chance. Over 90% of people who go into default will never end up getting summonsed to go to court. But you want to make sure that if it does happen to you that you are not left out to dry. With a debt settlement company if one of their customers gets sued there is not a thing at all they can do for them. It is UPL (unlicensed practice of law) for these companies to either advise or contact the creditor attempting to sue their client. Now if that same consumer was the client of a debt relief law firm negotiating for them to settle their debts the law is different. A law firm by law can still contact and negotiate a settlement to keep the client out of court. This is a much more acceptable avenue for the creditor to get paid as opposed to actually having to go to court.
The next issue of debate between settlement companies and law firms is how the collection activity is taken care of. Part of the debt settlement course is the debtor must go into default in order for the creditor to be in position to want to settle an account. Now ofcourse your must understand these creditors are not just going to go away, you will assuredly be getting collection calls to some level. A debt settlement company can’t do a thing about the collectors attempting to collect the debt. But a law firm can send out a statement of attorney retention to force the collectors by law to have contact only with the law firm and not the client in in an attempt to collect the debt.
One more subject to think about is that law firms have to report to a higher authority in order to stay in business, the Bar Association. This gives the client more peace of mind that there case will be handled appropriately throughout the debt settlement process. A debt settlement company must answer to no one.
Steve Bis is a debt analyst with the US Consumer Advocate, which practices debt relief.