Casey
“Dear Steve,
I have $42,000 in unsecured credit card debt. Initially taken as low-interest ‘balance transfers’, interest has escalated to ~25% and minimum payments have become unmanageable.
What is my best course of action? Debt settlement? What do you think of companies like Debt Freedom Relief?
Casey”
Dear Casey,
I took a quick look online and could not find a company called Debt Freedom Relief so I can’t say anything specifically about what they may be offering you.
It sure sound like you got caught by the balance transfer trap and got stuck on some cards that have jacked the rates way up. Unless you pay your balances off in full by the end of the introductory period the balance transfer process is an inducement for you to move your balances to a new card and then they’ve got you.
On $42,000 worth of debt your minimum monthly payment is probably around $850 a month. Unless you can afford this you might have to look at more extreme solutions like bankruptcy.
I am not very satisfied with the process and results obtained with monthly payment debt settlements, but I am a fan of lump-sum debt settlements when you have all the cash to settle the debt in-hand before you start the process. That does not sound like your situation.
To make sure you have investigated your options before you decide what to do you should contact a debt management company and also schedule a free bankruptcy consultation with a local bankruptcy attorney. With the information from both of those sources you should be able to make a better and more informed decision about which solution path is best for you.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
Do you have a question you'd like to ask me for free? Go ahead and click here.
- Lexington Law Credit Repair Gets Hammered in Lawsuit Settlement. If You Sell Credit Repair – Wake Up! - August 28, 2023
- People That Got Scammed by Robocall Debt Relief Company Life Management Services of Orange County to Get Money Back - July 7, 2023
- Consumers Charged Illegal Student Loan Relief Fees to Get Some Scratch Back - July 7, 2023
Debt settlement helps you in reducing your debt levels. It does effect your credit a little but you can build it later once you are debt free. I took help of Freedom Debt Relief to get rid of my debt. Its been more than a year that I enrolled into their debt reduction program and now I am almost debt free.