Questions about Debt Relief Programs

Reighn9 · ‎04-23-2015

The past month I've been receiving multiple letters and telephone calls from several different Debt Relief Companies. They all offer to settle all balances for less the amount owed and less than the current minimum payments. Finally the letters state tha the credit bureaus will be notified that your credit card debt has been satisfied and paid in full for less than the balance owed. These letters are very demanding, showing how much they think I owe, giving me deadlines to respond. The agents on the phone are are just as demanding about how I need to settle the debt. I told the last one that you have to close all of your accounts or the companies start closing them for you, when you enter a settlement agreement for less than the balance owed, and the CRA's start dropping your scores. She told me that wasn't so with FICO 9. I thought FICO 8 was being used.

Anyway, I've been paying down my balances for more than the minimum and come down about $15000 since January 2015. The only reason everything got so high in the first place was a severe hail storm in June. I don't intend to or need to use one of these Debt Relief Companies, I just want more information and want to know how to get rid of them. They are as bad if not worse than Collection Agencies.

SCF · ‎04-25-2015

Do you have any delinquent debt right now, or just high utilization on your accounts?

I think the best course of action is to ignore these agencies. Throw their mail away and screen your calls. If you do have debt in collection, you should check out the Rebuilding Your Credit forums for options and formulate a plan before dealing with the collection agency. You aren't required to use or deal with these Debt Relief companies, so there's no harm in ignoring them.

Reighn9 · ‎04-25-2015

@SCF wrote:
Do you have any delinquent debt right now, or just high utilization on your accounts?

I think the best course of action is to ignore these agencies. Throw their mail away and screen your calls. If you do have debt in collection, you should check out the Rebuilding Your Credit forums for options and formulate a plan before dealing with the collection agency. You aren't required to use or deal with these Debt Relief companies, so there's no harm in ignoring them.

No, I don't have any delinquent debt, just hgh utilization. I have't had anything delinquent for over 10-15 years and the last paid collection was removed over 5 years ago from my reports. I had a late payment that finally aged off in 2012 that I wasn't responsible for,but couldn't dispute. I am trying to ignore these agencies, I didn't intend to do business with them, but they are really bothering me to the point of harassment. I was wondering if there were a way to get rid of them. I'm not having a problem paying down my accounts, I've paid several off already since January.