I learned alot from "HosedConsumer" from San Diego and found that my situation is similar. The "rebuttal" to this lady's posting is what prompted me to issue my post. I am one of the unfortunate ones who thought that BEFORE I fell behind in my payments to my creditors, it might be a good thing to get into the program as a "pro-active" thing. NEVER was I discouraged to do so; I was NOT told that it may not be a good course of action at the time!
The first thing I asked the Sales Representative was, "Can they take your house, your cars, or your IRA's (and 401k's)?" The reply was that these things cannot be touched. This is NOT true! If the creditor chooses to go to court, a judgement can be rendered where a lien can be slapped on your house and, worse yet, your wages can be garnished! If the Debt Remedy people you talk to are supposed to be Debt "Analysts", and mine was considered a SENIOR analyst, why wasn't I told this stuff?
Also, I have never been given a straight answer as to when they start "going to bat" for me. I have long suspected that these folks won't lift a finger for you UNTIL you have enough money socked away to cover the least of your debts. After you spend several months of giving them THEIR money, you start accruing a small amount toward a settlement. At the rate my "plan" is to work out, Debt Remedy Solutions won't do a thing for AT LEAST 18 MONTHS. What happens in the mean time?
Interest accrues at an alarming rate and, once the debt actually gets turned over to a Collection Agency, can it keep on accruing additional interest? I don't know, and cannot get a straight answer about that either.
Another thing: I was never told the part about "If you have a strong annual income, a creditor may delay throwing the debt into collection because they still think you can pay them". If I had known this, I probably wouldn't be writing this post today. Folks, I don't care if you have a "strong annual income" or not, I'm finding (like everybody else that's posted here) that talking to your creditors CAN yield results!
One of my creditors has contacted me offering to allow me to make payments at 0% for at least three years. Your damaged credit scores may actually start being rebuilt as well because they will appear as "pays as owed". I left them "hanging" with that because I threw out the idea of a "settlement" and, at least, they didn't say "no". More details yet to come on that...
All in all, talking to your creditors may actually be your "best" course of action. If you still think Debt Settlement is the way to go, there is something on the Internet called the "Fourteen Debt Settlement Questions". Print this off and go through them one by one. You may find, as I did, that while Debt Remedy Solutions may be a member of TASC, it also may be a member of FLEECE.
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