subject: Debt Relief and Your Credit Report - Are You a Good Candidate For Debt Settlement Programs? [print this page] When the debt amount becomes too high, then making even the minimum payments on your account can become a pain. If this is the situation to which you can relate to then it is time for you to try debt relief option than to keep on struggling on your own. Debt settlement is one such method which targets your balance amount and gets you a reduction in the total balance that needs to be paid. Typically, a settlement deal can get you a debt reduction of about 50 % to 60 % of the total loan amount.
Like every debt relief method, even this method has its own eligibility criteria. A debtor must have at least ten thousand dollars or more in unsecured debt to avail this offer. Creditors are more interested in settling huge debt amount rather than small debts. This is because a debtor generally struggles to keep up with his minimum payments if the balance is low so that his credit ratings do not get affected because of it.
Customers who have been missing out on their payments for some time are also a good candidate for settlement program. The creditors can wait for only a certain period of time for the debtor to make payments on the account according to their policies. Hence ideally a creditor waits for about 120 to 180 days for payments and then sells it off to collection companies. The creditors lose a lot of money if the account is sold to collection agencies. Hence, those debtors whose account is on the verge of being sold off can also get settlement easily.
Bankruptcy is something all unsecured loan lenders fear the most. Hence, those customers who are about to file for bankruptcy, get relief from this method fast.
Debt Relief and Your Credit Report - Are You a Good Candidate For Debt Settlement Programs?