Debt Settlement Companies

Debt Settlement Companies

When the bottom falls out financially, people need help and they need it fast. Being in such a vulnerable situation often makes you susceptible to offers that on the surface may seem good, but in the end leave you worse off than when you began.

The airwaves are filled with ads promising quick relief from debt, and guarantees of happy endings. But all too often, that relief comes at a cost not only to your pocketbook, but to your credit score.

Debt settlement companies, sometimes known as debt negotiators or arbitrators, can make the path to financial freedom sound appealing. But the reality may be very different from the rosy picture painted by the commercials.

The NFCC encourages consumers to thoroughly investigate and understand any debt settlement or other resolution option before selecting it as a way out of their financial distress, and provides the following information to assist consumers when evaluating debt settlement:

Debt settlement is a process through which your creditor agrees to accept less than the full amount owed, yet considers the balance as paid. Settlement companies often advertise that they can negotiate reductions of 50 percent or more in the debt you owe. They then set up a repayment plan that typically takes between two and four years.

Settlement companies charge significant fees. Different settlement companies have different fee structures, but there are two basic approaches. In one model, the settlement company’s fee will be a percentage of your total debt. The fees in that model typically range from 13-20 percent. Another option the settlement company may offer is to base their fee on the amount of debt reduction they can negotiate. Fees under this model can be as high as 35 percent. In addition, many settlement companies also charge a monthly fee that can range from about – a month for the entire program. Either way, it is not uncommon for settlement fees to total thousands of dollars.

Some debt settlement companies front load their fees. In other words, they collect a large part of their fee before you receive any benefit. Much of the money you initially deposit goes to pay the settlement company to satisfy its fees. It can be months after you start the settlement program until your creditor receives any payment.

A settlement company may suggest that you stop paying your creditors and instead begin making deposits into a special third-party account. The settlement company will attempt to negotiate a settlement offer with your creditor once enough money relative to the debt is on deposit. This may take six months or more, although the exact length of time will vary with circumstances. During this time, the balance on your debt can continue to grow if interest and various penalty fees continue to be charged by your creditor. As a result, you may owe more than when you started and your credit may suffer because of your failure to make any payments on your debt. Even worse, legal actions such as wage garnishment or a judgment may be filed against you during this time.

• Debts paid off through settlement will generally show “Paid by Settlement” on a consumer’s credit report. If you later apply for new loans or credit, when reviewing your credit report the prospective lender(s) will see that a previous debt was paid by settlement, indicating that your repayment did not cover the total debt that you owed, but that your creditor accepted a lesser amount.

• The credit score is based on information contained in the credit report, with the highest consideration given to how you repay your debts. If you’re not repaying the creditor or have missed payments, it will show on your credit report and potentially lower your credit score significantly.
• The consumer may be responsible for taxes on the forgiven debt. If the forgiven debt totals 0 or more, you will generally owe income taxes on the amount forgiven, substantially reducing the total savings from debt settlement.

For more useful information on debt settlement companies, please visit Debt Relief Adviser.

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Credit Repair Services

Credit Repair Services

With the influx of people who are worrying about their credit scores and their finances in general, it comes as no surprise that there are companies out there who are offering exclusive services to clean up or repair your damaged credit. While it may seem like such a simple solution to your credit woes, be warned – some of these companies are not what they claim to be.

Credit repair services claim to repair bad credit marks on your credit history. What you need to find out before committing to a service is how the company goes about making such repairs. There is a big difference between the items on your credit reports that make up a poor credit score and then there are items on the report that are genuine mistakes. If the company tells you then can remove all bad marks – walk away now. No one can remove information that show poor credit activities. To do so would be illegal.

On the other hand, you have the right to look at your credit report and file a request to remove any misinformation. If the credit reporting agency claims they can repair inaccurate information for you, know this – you too can do the same thing for free. All that is involved in this procedure is analyzing your credit report and noting all mistakes. You then have a right to file a complaint with the credit bureau that provided the report. The credit reporting bureau is then obligated to investigate the information from the original creditor within a reasonable period of time. If the creditor responds that the information is indeed correct, your report will not change. If the credit reporting agency gets no reply from the creditor, the incorrect information will be removed from your credit report.

While you cannot remove poor credit activity from your credit report, you can ask your creditors to work with you to improve the information being reported to the credit reporting agencies. They may not all be cooperative but it is worth a try in order to improve your credit score.

For those people who simply do not want to go through the trouble of repairing their own credit reports, there are reputable companies who can do the repair work for you. Be sure before you commit to any one company, be sure they are a company in good standing with the Better Business Bureau and will work with you to truly help you repair your credit score and not just take your money. A good first red flag – if the credit repair agency denies you can do the above-mentioned steps on your own – know that they may not have your best interests at heart as they are not being honest with you. Also be aware and clear of how much it will cost to work with a credit repair company before signing on the dotted line.

Here are some other points that may raise some alert flags:

· Speak to you in terms that seem confusing and “over your head” with no real concern if you understand

· Do not tell you honestly about what your obligations or rights are concerning your credit.

· Tell you that they can repair all bad credit marks on your report.

· Last, but not least, if a credit repair company tries to convince you to apply for a new identity using an EIN number for credit purposes. This is very illegal and is not repairing anything.

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Little Mook And Dwarf Longnose

WILHELM HAUFF was a story-teller in the great European mythic tradition. His short stories, peopled with a vivid assortment of dwarves, evil witches, enchanted swans, and devious princes, owe a clear debt to the Brothers Grimm. But rather than rehashing old tales, Hauff created a realm far more exotic than the Grimm’s Black Forest, a place where the morals are less than clear-cut and where characters must rely on wits as much as magic spells to solve their predicaments. One collection (probably his best known volume), Little Mook, provides the two tales for our new Pocket Paragon: The History of Little Mook and Longnose the Dwarf. Little Mook features a gnomish, innocent orphan whose parents never thought he would amount to much and refused him even the most basic education. Friendless and alone, the naive Little Mook is stripped of his inheritance, cast out into a hostile world. Blessed with an enterprising nature and outfitted with a pair of magic slippers, he still manages to outwit a cabal of treacherous courtiers and make his fortune. Longnose the Dwarf stars a clever little boy enslaved by a cruel witch’s curse. Freed from servitude but transformed into a hideous dwarf with a huge proboscis, he returns to parents who no longer recognize him. Luckily his culinary skills put him in good standing with the local Duke, and his good nature and generous heart restore him (with a little help from some magic herbs and an enchanted goose) to his family. Both stories are decorated with the glowing, gemlike tempera paintings of Boris Pak, a Russian artist whose ornate, whimsical style perfectly captures the romance and humor of these two extraordinary fables. His paintings, smuggledout of Communist Russia, are the first of his works to be published in the U.S. and they’re reproduced here in glorious color.
List Price: 19.95
Price: 16.48

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