“Dear Steve,
My name is Audra. I posted a question for you on the forum. I would really appreciate your help. I have been signed up with The Debt Answer since Feb 2010. I owe approximately $30,000. They have been taking approximatelhy $900 per month out of my account. They told me it would take 2 years to pay this debt off with them. They told me it would take 4-6 months to settle this. So it has been 5 months-they have approximately $4500 of my money ;and now I have lawyers calling me. They are also calling my husbands private cell phone (his name is not on any of my accounts-they were all incurred before we were married) Are the creditors allowed to harrass him? Also-what do I do-I am sickened over this matter-they have all of my money and have not settled yet. Do I get out now and have to take a loss or stay with them and potentially end up with more loss? What is my best solution here???/ Please help!!!!!!!! Thank you so much in advance-I will not be getting much sleep at all until I hear your response-please hurry!
Thank you again!
Audra”
Dear Audra,
I’m so sorry to hear about your experience.
An original creditor could contact your husband to look for you, but not to discuss your debt situation if he is not an account holder.
At this point it sounds as if Debt Answer is collecting payments from you to pay for the upfront or advance fee that most debt settlement companies charge. Typically this is 15% of the debt enrolled so with $30,000 of debt that would be around $4,500. Once those fees are collected, only then does a client begin to really save money towards settlements. So let’s say creditors would settle for $18,000, you have at least 20 more months of saving to go.
In the meantime, creditors are well within their right to chase you, attempt to collect, sue you and even garnish your wages. Debt settlement does not interrupt the terms of the original credit agreements with your creditors. As far as your creditors are concerned, you are not paying and not communicating with them.
My suggestion would be for you to contact your representative at Debt Answer and state your concerns and questions. If you are not satisfied with the responses, your options are to contact your creditors directly and negotiate settlements for free or to click here to find a local bankruptcy attorney and discharge your debts with bankruptcy. Bankruptcy would prevent you from any further collection attempts or lawsuits.
Please update me on your progress by
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