“The debt settlement field is filled with scam artists who charge huge upfront fees and then fail to settle any debts.” – Liz Pulliam Weston, the author of “Your Credit Score: Your Money and What’s at Stake“

If you’ve encountered such companies that offering such debt settlement solutions – avoid it because it’s a scam!

According to Los Angeles Times, Weston says “The debt settlement field is filled with scam artists who charge huge upfront fees and then fail to settle any debts.” In fact, many debt settlement companies are getting bad press in the media after many of their clients filed complaints against them. It is because many ended up paying off more credit card debt than usual – refer to debt settlement scams.

Here’s some Weston’s advice when are struggling to pay off your huge credit card debt load:

1. Make an appointment with a legitimate credit counselor

Firstly, you have to allow a legitimate credit counselor to review your current financial situation to find out whether you’re eligible for a debt management plan – a five-year-plus low-interest rate plan that enables you to pay off your credit card debt on a regular basis. Weston suggested that you should find a counselor who is affiliated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling – start finding a credit counseling now here.

2. Make an appointment with a bankruptcy attorney – when bankruptcy is your last resort

When there’s no other way to solve your credit card debt problems, you have to consult a bankrupt attorney to see whether filing for bankruptcy is the best option to eliminate your debt or a ideal way to avoid being sued by the creditors.

3. Start seeking reputable settlement companies when credit counseling and bankruptcy are not your best options

If both credit counseling and bankruptcy don’t really suit you – you can refer to a bankruptcy attorney for some recommendations of legitimate debt settlement companies that may be able to help you paying off debt effectively.

If both of you are authorized users, you and your spouse have equal legal responsibility to clear off the outstanding balances. Hence, there is a need for you and your spouse to communicate and solve the problems together. You are reminded not to ignore the debt because your credit score will be badly affected.

Once you and your spouse have decided to divide the debt equally and both of you have informed your creditor about the arrangement, what must you do next? In general, the creditor will divide the debt and place it into 2 new individual credit accounts, one on your spouse’s name and one on your name. You should pay off as much debt as possible and dig yourself out of debt as soon as possible.

Sometimes, life is full of uncertainties and challenges. Your life becomes more difficult when you are currently jobless. Being an unemployed, how do you pay off your credit card debt?

Here are some possible financial solutions you can take:

Option 1: Obtain friendly loan

You can look for financial support from your family members, your relatives or your friends. When you are facing financial hardship, it will be ideal if you can obtain friendly loan from someone you know because you may not be required to pay for interest. At the same time, you will have a more flexible repayment term. You don’t need to worry so much if you can’t find a job within a short period.

Option 2: Negotiate with your creditor

You may consider settling your debt with your card provider on your own. Write in a settlement letter by explaining your current financial situation and propose to settle your debt at a reduced amount. You can do so if you have some fund in your saving account.

Option 3: Sell off some valuable items to raise cash

Settling debt may affect your credit rating. In order to prevent this, you can consider selling off your jewelries, electronic equipments, luxurious items, car, etc to raise cash. Utilize the cash to pay off your outstanding balance.

Option 4: Utilize your tax refund

Being an unemployed, you may be entitled for tax refund. You are suggested to make good use of your tax refund to pay back your credit card debt.

Option 5: Get personal loan

Since you are currently unemployed, obtaining a new loan seems to be a bit difficult unless you own fixed assets. If you have a house, you may get a low interest secured loan by using your house as collateral.

For more info about getting a personal loan for people with bad credit – here.

Seriously speaking, being a divorcee and an unemployed can be very stressful and depressing. But you need to be positive. It is not a big deal. Worse comes to worst, you can file bankruptcy in order to become debt free. Turn into a new leaf and rebuild your finances with the right strategy.

In general, when the creditors have taken collection action on their debtors and there is no response from them, the creditors have the right to file a lawsuit on them. Once the lawsuit is filed, the court will send you a writ of summons to inform the debtors to attend to the court on certain date at certain time.

If the debtors don’t want to take any action and just ignore their debt, they still need to bear the court fee. Furthermore, if the debtors lose in the lawsuit, they will be instructed to pay back their creditors in full amount. For people who are facing financial difficulties, it is not wise for them to “run away” from their debt. They should face it with courage.

Hence, they are advised to look for settlement lawyer to assist them. The lawyer will be representing the clients to negotiate their debt with their creditors. He or she will first evaluate the clients’ financial situation and find out how much they can afford to pay. The legal advisor will then proceed to make the payment arrangement for the debtors. This professional normally sets up a payment schedule which suits their clients’ budget. He or she will try the best to reduce as much debt as possible on the debtors’ behalf.

If you are facing the same problem, what are you supposed to do? Is there any lawyer who can assist you? Seriously speaking, if you are not familiar with the legal firm, it will be quite hard for you to look for the right person to help you.

Here are 4 tips you need to bear in mind when you are searching for a good attorney:

Tip 1: Search for lawyer through state’s bar association

In order to look for a legal assistant in a secured manner, you are advised to search for the debt lawyers in your area. Your state’s bar association is the safest place for you to get a settlement attorney. You will be able to get the licensed and reputable professional here.

Tip 2: Refer to the Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Besides the bar association, you can also refer to the Better Business Bureau to find out the background of the attorney. Check whether the legal firm has a lot of complaints or negative reporting.

Tip 3: Compare the service fees

After checking the background of the legal firm, the attorney fee is also your main concern. In general, the service fee ranges from $500 to $1000, depending on how complicated your debt issue is. Since you are knee deep in credit card debt, you need to compare the legal fee from one firm to another carefully so that you can get the lowest deal.

Tip No. 4: Find out how much debt can be reduced

You need to see how committed the lawyer is. A good lawyer is able to ensure you that he or she can reduce your total debt up to 40%. However, giving empty promise is useless. You need to get the lawyer to include this in the agreement before you appoint him or her.

An attorney can be a scam artist, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Hence, when you are getting professional assistance to get rid of your credit card debt, you are reminded to be extra careful so that you won’t be trapped by the unethical lawyer.

Strategy No.1: Know Your Total Debt

First thing first, you need to find out how much you owe in total for all your credit cards. Make sure you include the interest rates of each card and other fees too. At the same time, you need to assess your own financial ability to find out whether you are really “qualified” for debt negotiation. If you don’t have any cash on hand, don’t waste your time bargaining with your credit card companies. You should look for other alternatives like obtaining debt consolidation loan or other personal loan.

Strategy No. 2: What Can You Propose

If you have some fund on hand, you can start considering your settlement proposal. You can request from your creditors to do you a favor as you are facing financial hardship during economy downturn. Debt reduction can be done through many areas, i.e. reducing the total outstanding balances, lowering or freezing the interest rates or waiving all types of fees. Once you have decided what you want to propose, then you should communicate with your creditors.

Strategy No. 3: Start Bargaining on Your Own

You can bargain with your creditors through written or verbal request. If you are not good at negotiating with people verbally, you are advised to draft a settlement proposal to request for debt reduction. Write down your proposed settlement amount and the date of making payment clearly. A sound settlement letter with firmed commitment always works wonders and it doesn’t incur any cost. If you are not sure what content to be included, you can search online to look for free samples.

Strategy No. 4: Look for Professional Assistance

If you are not good at negotiating with people or if you don’t have time, you may consider hiring a lawyer or a professional debt relief company to assist you. For people who are too stressful to manage their own debt, they are advised to get a reliable third party to deal with the creditors on their behalf.

Last but not the least; the above mentioned strategies will not be successful if you don’t have strong Emotional Intelligence. This element is very important because it helps to make the negotiation process smoother.

The debtors are encouraged to learn more about emotional quotient so that they can have more patience to deal with the lenders. In general, the debtors with this specific capacity are less depressed, more cheerful and have better relationship with their lenders. It will ease the settlement process.

To sum up, in order to eliminate the credit card debt successfully, one needs to have a deep understanding about debt settlement. Besides, a strong emotional quotient is required too so that the debtor will have less stress in facing financial hardship.