Basically, debt settlement companies act as a collection agencies for the credit card companies. They get involved before the creditor refers the account to an outside agency, collect a bundle of money from the borrower over time, take their hefty fees, and offer the balance to the creditor as a settlement. They are PRIVATE COMPANIES offering a service. They do not and can not represent the borrower.

Debt resolution, alternatively, is an attorney-managed process whereby an attorney negotiates with the creditor on the borrower’s behalf. This is a legal transaction that only an attorney can perform, and results in a settled mitigation on the borrower’s behalf. There are some critical advantages to this.

Key differences between debt settlement and debt resolution:

PERFORMANCE GUARANTEE – Debt settlement companies cannot guarantee a settlement amount. Debt Resolution guarantees settlement at 45% of the original debt (which also includes the attorney fees). Also, with Debt Resolution, no additional fees will be requested if the debt increases after the agreement is signed, which is very important because once credit card payments get behind, fees and rate hikes get applied to the account, significantly increasing the balance. Debt settlement companies may take advantage of this by charging fees on the balance when the account is settled, not the original balance. And since plans may take several years to complete, balances (and the corresponding fees) can increase dramatically.

TAX CONSEQUENCES – Debt settlement companies generally don’t point out to borrowers that when a creditor agrees to settle, they generally send the borrower an IRS Form 1099 for the amount written-off. This means that if the borrower has $50,000 in unsecured debt, and the creditor accepts 60%, or $30,000 as a settlement, they will send the borrower a Form 1099 which shows that $20,000 write-off as income to the borrower. Even though the borrower didn’t receive any actual cash from the creditor, they may still have to pay tax on $20,000 of additional income. With the attorney-managed Debt Resolution program, the resolved amount is a legal agreement between the parties, and since no cash was provided to the borrower in the form of actual income from the creditor, THERE ARE NO TAX CONSEQUENCES.

CREDITOR HARASSMENT – Debt settlement companies can’t represent a borrower, so they can’t really stop harassing phone calls from collection agents. They may explain that the borrower is in a debt settlement program, but that could potentially backfire and cause the creditor to accelerate their collection efforts, or even file a lawsuit. The attorney–managed Debt Resolution system leverages good faith debt laws to protect consumer rights. Once the creditor receives the first letter from the attorney, they are prohibited by law from pursuing collection efforts against a consumer who withholds payments due to a good faith billing dispute. If the creditor still communicates with the borrower, the borrower should notify the attorney, who will inform the creditor why they have no right to pursue further collection efforts.

FEES AND ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS – Debt Resolution is, in most cases, significantly less expensive than debt settlement… and the fee structure is completely transparent. The Debt Resolution administration and processing is just 5% of the total contracted debt (compared to 10-15% or more that most debt settlement companies charge). And that 5% is based on the balances on the contract date, not the settlement date – so increasing balances will NOT result in increased fees. Debt Resolution also has a one-time $500 enrollment fee to establish the paperwork and accounts, and compensate the attorney for efforts to cease collection calls, etc… Some debt settlement companies don’t charge an upfront fee to enroll, but they “front-load” their monthly payments with fees – a majority of the payment for the first several months goes toward company fees rather than into the borrower’s settlement account (so they still get their money upfront). Some even charge monthly fees on top of their high percentage fee.

These are a few reasons why Debt Resolution is superior to debt settlement. If you’re interested in reducing your unsecured debt by 55% (guaranteed) and reducing your monthly payments by 50% or more, and want to do so while avoiding harassing creditor calls, surprise tax bills, and exorbitant fees, visit http://www.BetterThanDebtSettlement.com.
References :
http://www.BetterThanDebtSettlement.com

Whether it’s a good idea for you will depend largely on how much debt you have, your ability to afford the monthly payments, and how important your credit score is to you (and how much more you’re willing to pay to try to maintain it). Let me give you some examples:

Borrower #1 owes just $5,000 in unsecured debt. A debt management plan may be a good solution if he can afford the payments. He’ll end up paying back the full $5,000 balance plus interest, plus fees to the credit counselor- but his credit should not sustain as much damage as had a debt settlement company withheld payments from his creditors for months or years, hoping to force a settlement. In this borrower’s case, a debt settlement may have only reduced the balance by $1,000 – $3,000 dollars, which is a small consolation for having his credit score trashed. Plus, the fees to the debt settlement company would likely eat up a good portion of those savings. But let’s look at a different example…

Borrower #2 owes $70,000 in unsecured debt. Let’s say the DMP (debt management plan) is able to reduce her interest rate from 19.9% to just 5%. On a 60-month plan, her monthly payment (not including credit counseling fees) would be $1,321. That comes to a total of $79,260 (plus credit counseling fees) to pay off that debt at the reduced interest rate under the DMP. Her credit will be damaged while she’s in the program, but perhaps not as significantly as under a different type of debt reduction program. But what’s the cost? Let’s say another type of debt reduction program is able to resolve her debt for 45% of what she owes, with no additional interest accruing. That $70,000 debt is now able to be eliminated for just $31,500. And if she can manage to pay the $1,321 per month as she would under the DMP, her debt is eliminated in just 24 months (compared with 60 months in the DMP). So her credit is hurt for 2 years, but she’s now debt-free, and has 3 years to repair and rebuild it by making all her payments on time.

So let’s look where Borrower #2 would be at the end of 5 years under each option… with the DMP, she has just made her last payment (totalling $79,260 plus fees), is now debt-free and emerging from her damaged credit profile. Under the alternate program, her credit report shows that she WAS way behind on payments 3 years ago (which significantly impacted her credit score), but has been debt-free and making payments on time for the last 36 months (which has helped to rebuild her credit). Oh, and by the way, she saved about $50,000 by choosing this option over the DMP.

So you can see that it really depends on your individual situation whether a DMP through credit counseling is a good idea for you. If you only owe a small amount, it may be a good option. But if you have a significant amount of unsecured debt, you may want to weigh the additional cost of the DMP versus the savings that you can achieve through a debt resolution option.

However, I DO NOT RECOMMEND CHOOSING ANY DEBT SETTLEMENT COMPANY, but not for the reasons that most people suggest. I’ll advise you not choose a debt settlement company because – even if you do (somehow) find a high-integrity, ethical debt settlement company – there is a far superior alternative: DEBT RESOLUTION. The concepts are similar, but because Debt Resolution is an attorney-managed program (as opposed to a private comany), it provides invaluable benefits that debt settlement simply can not offer, and at a lower cost. There isn’t room to go over the differences here, but you can check out my answer to this question (copy & paste in a new browser window):

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhQIdMaQHurT6MMwgtm9FM7ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100301082225AAYrSCm&show=7#profile-info-s1OLajFVaa

To find out more about how you can reduce your unsecured debt by 55% (guaranteed) and reduce your monthly payments by 50% or more, and do so while avoiding harassing creditor calls, surprise tax bills, and exorbitant fees, visit http://www.BetterThanDebtSettlement.com
References :
http://www.BetterThanDebtSettlement.com

I think the reasoning is that these debt services essentially eliminate any profit these creditor’s can make off of you. So there is no reason for them to give you credit again.

And when I asked about this the dont’t do it answer was a strong one. Not just offhand advice.
References :

The only way a debt consolidation loan is a good idea is if you get a lower interest rate, but continue to make high monthly payments, so more money is going towards principal rather tha towards interest. This is the only way to pay off more of your debts…applying more money towards the principal.

If you don’t go the route of the consolication loan, make extra payments on the smallest debt only…make as big of a paymnet as possible on this one, while maintaining the other minumum payments. When that debt is paid off, move that entire payment amount onto the next smallest debt. COntinue doing this until it’s gone. Again, the key is to make sure the monthly payments stay high, you’re just transfering the payments from one to another as they get paid off. This is the "Debt snowball" strategy that most debt management companies recommend and is also promoted by people like DAve Ramsey, and Richard Kiyosaki.
References :
Financial Advisor in Canada.