If you start looking around for various places to help you settle your debt, it won't be long before you find some Websites with really great claims. Finding real debt solutions, however, is not that easy, and you should always be careful of ads that sound a little too good to be true. Here are a couple of promises you will find when you start to look for a debt consolidation company.
Reduce Your Debt to Cents on the Dollar
This is a very popular concept given when dealing with this type of business. The truth is that no one can guarantee what another company will do in a certain situation. Credit card debt can only be reduced by the credit card company itself and they can just as easily say "No" as they can say "Yes."
We Guarantee You to Be Debt Free in Six Months
Even if the debt consolidators takes all your credit cards and destroys them (which they probably will in this case), they cannot make such a guarantee, says BankRate. Especially not before they even talk to your creditors. Making such a promise is obviously just to get you to commit to a contract with them. Signing papers makes you indebted to them now, and your debt has probably just increased.
An alternative, suggests BankRate, is to go to a non-profit organization that offers credit counseling services. There may be a small charge of about $20. Instead of billing you for the services, these agencies will bill the creditor for a portion of the debt recovered.