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Bills.com Founder Discusses Debt Settlement Options

Anthony Garcia
UpdatedMar 26, 2024
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    3 min read

Debt settlement is an extreme solution suitable for serious debt issues. Learn how it works in this debt settlement video with Bradford Stroh.

Debt settlement is a form of Debt Relief using the process of negotiating with creditors to accept about half of the total debt you owe. In order to qualify, you must be delinquent on your payments and will probably face aggressive collection attempts. This solution is only appropriate for serious debts with no other solutions. If you choose this option, look for a reputable debt settlement company to ensure your debt is settled fairly.

Video Transcription;

"Hi, my name is Brad Stroh from Bills.com and I wanted to talk to you today about an aggressive debt resolution strategy called debt settlement. What that means is debt settlement is literally a firm that negotiates settlements on your behalf or sometimes consumers can even do it on their own to negotiate themselves out of their credit card debt. The benefits of negotiated debt settlement are typically allows you to save about half of what you owe, reasonable estimates of what you would save would be settlements on the order of magnitude of forty to fifty cents on the dollar of what you owe. What that lets you do in most debt settlement program are set up to get a very low monthly payment get you out of your debts for a big discount and get you debt free in a really short amount of time. It is important though, that each consumer evaluates what their specific situation is and their goals, because there are some negatives to a debt settlement program. Specifically to qualify for those settlements you must be delinquent on your credit card accounts or your unsecured debts, which means your credit rating will be impacted, potentially, dramatically negative in the short term. It also means you could face some collection calls or harassment from your creditors so it is really for people who need an aggressive form of getting out of debt.

Again, the benefits are low monthly payment, save a lot off of your debt and debt free fast, but it’s not a walk in the park and it is really for people that can’t afford to pay their bills or don’t have other alternatives to getting out of their debts. But for people that really want to solve a serious debt problem in a short amount of time and take an aggressive approach, debt settlement can be the right approach. Now when you pick a debt settlement company you certainly want to do your diligence make sure you pick a company that has been around for several years, ideally a member of the better business bureau, member of the industry associations, and a company that has helped save thousands of dollars for thousands of clients, we would recommend companies like New Debt Relief, Debt OK or Freedom Debt Relief, all of which can be available at the Bills.com saving center as well."

Did you know?

If you are struggling with debt, you are not alone. According to the NY Federal Reserve total household debt as of Quarter Q4 2023 was $17.503 trillion. Student loan debt was $1.601 trillion and credit card debt was $1.129 trillion.

A significant percentage of people in the US are struggling with monthly payments and about 26% of households in the United States have debt in collections. According to data gathered by Urban.org from a sample of credit reports, the median debt in collections is $1,739. Credit card debt is prevalent and 3% have delinquent or derogatory card debt. The median debt in collections is $422.

Each state has its rate of delinquency and share of debts in collections. For example, in Texas credit card delinquency rate was 4%, and the median credit card debt was $438.

To maintain an excellent credit score it is vital to make timely payments. However, there are many circumstances that lead to late payments or debt in collections. The good news is that there are a lot of ways to deal with debt including debt consolidation and debt relief solutions.

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