“Dear Steve,
I lost my job last October. I am a single parent. I have not found employment. I am selling my house, so once I have sold it I will have the equity in hand to pay off what I owe, but until then I am not making ends meet.
Lloyd Ward offered to help me with my debt and they have been able to cut my monthly payments in half. I appreciate this but I am intimidated about all the scams and I need to know if I can trust them. They have sent me a packet of papers and they want me to sign “power of attorney” papers. Is this right? Can I trust them?
Amy”
Dear Amy,
No debt settlement company can make you a firm promise of being able to cut your debt by any amount. It’s not up to the settlement company if a reduction is available. It’s up to the creditors.
The way many debt settlement companies “cut your payment in half” is not with an agreement with your creditors. Quite frankly, they just make up a number you say you can pay. Those funds go into an escrow account from which they take their fee first before they do any work for you and after that hopefully funds will begin to accumulate for settlements.
While money is going into the escrow account your creditors are not getting paid. You will wind up in collections and possibly getting sued.
My advice would be to not sign the papers at this time. Until you have cash in hand to settle all you have is a desire to settle and there is no reason paying a debt settlement company 15% of your debt when you have no expectation that you can settle the debt, at all.
The better plan at this point is probably to contact
Please update me on your progress by
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