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Charles Phelan

DIY Debt Settlement Myth #3: Only A Skilled Negotiator Can Succeed Against Professional Debt Collectors

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This is the third in a series of posts discussing the most common myths about do-it-yourself debt settlement. All too often, I hear consumers say things like, “I’m not a good negotiator,” or “I’m afraid they will bully me.” Since dealing with collection scenarios is new territory for most people, it’s no surprise that people feel this way. This objection is about lack of SELF-CONFIDENCE. People turn to professional debt negotiators because they don’t believe they can get on the phone and haggle on their own. This is understandable, especially given all the negative publicity about the collection industry’s practices. The major media loves to bash the collection industry (it’s an easy target!), so we’ve all heard horror stories about abusive debt collectors.

However, the reality is that negotiating settlements is actually mostly a MECHANICAL process. Virtually all major creditors have pre-existing collection systems set up to work their delinquent accounts as they get close to charge-off, or to recover on accounts that are beyond charge-off. As the accounts wind toward the date on which the creditor will be forced to write off the account and declare a loss, the options employed by the creditor will get more creative – and this is where settlements come into play almost automatically.

Negotiating a good settlement on a credit card debt is more a matter of employing the right timing and knowing what to aim for – both of which a good coach can really help with – than anything to do with superior negotiation skills. Time and again, my clients have reported genuine surprise at how much easier the process was than expected. When you have a coaching blueprint to follow, it becomes a lot easier to calmly make your offer and see how the other side is countering. If you don’t like their offer, you end the call and move on.

People generally overestimate how much negotiating takes place, when what’s really going on is that the collection system has settlement built into it as an automatic part of the process. Rather than becoming a crackerjack negotiator, you need to learn how to present an offer, how to manage the calls without getting bombarded, and how to close out a deal when you’ve reached verbal agreement on a settlement figure. All of these things can easily be taught to the average consumer, and our results here at ZipDebt bear this out.

Myth busted. Obtaining settlements is a mechanical part of the collection process, already built into the system. All that’s needed is training on how that system works.

DIY Debt Settlement Myth #2: I Don’t Have Time to Handle the Project Myself

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This is the second in a series of posts discussing the most common myths about do-it-yourself debt settlement. One of the most frequent objections I’ve heard to the idea of handling your own negotiations is that the client is “too busy to handle all the phone calls” involved in obtaining settlements. “I really don’t have time to do this myself,” is a refrain that I’ve heard over and over again. Of course, the companies out there trying to sell people on using their traditional settlement program play up this concern and make it sound like an impossibly complicated project that demands an almost full-time effort. Nothing could be further from the truth!

There are at least three reasons why “I don’t have time” is not a valid objection to ZipDebt’s DIY-with-Coach method.

1. Whether or not you hire a debt company, you’re going to get collection calls, period. There is really nothing that a debt settlement company can do to get your phone to stop ringing, unless they send out a cease communication notice to your creditors. Yet the cease communication letter (or cease & desist notice) is a tactic that I stopped using more than 10 years ago. Why? Because it gets people sued sooner rather than later. If your debt company send out cease communication letters as a routine business practice, they are employing a method that has long since been obsolete and has become very dangerous. So unless you want to greatly increase your risk of litigation, you’re going to have to put up with some collection calls no matter what.

2. If you properly implement a call screening system the way I teach it in my training course, you’ll greatly reduce the number of calls you actually need to be involved with. The time commitment is very manageable if you have a system in place for dealing with the collection barrage. With my system, you make 1-2 callbacks per month per creditor while the accounts are aging to the point where settlements become feasible, and then a few extra calls at the end to finalize the agreement, obtain a proper settlement letter, and make payment. The time commitment involved is nowhere near as burdensome as most people think, provided you learn the right techniques for managing and controlling the process.

3. Calculate how much money you’ll save per hour of negotiation phone time, and you’ll realize it’s the best paycheck you’ll ever see in your entire life! Here’s an example: Let’s say you settle a $10,000 credit card debt for 30%, or $3,000. It requires a total of 15 phone calls spread over 6 months, with average duration of 20 minutes per call. That’s 300 minutes, or 5 hours total, to save $7,000. Where else are you going to make $1,400 per hour? 🙂

Myth busted. You can’t dodge the calls without making things worse, collection activity can be managed with a good call screening system, and ZipDebt’s DIY-with-Coach approach can yield savings of $500-$1,000 or more per HOUR of negotiation time.

DIY Debt Settlement Myth #1: A Settlement Company Will Get Better Deals Than I Can Myself

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This is the first in a series of posts discussing the most common myths about do-it-yourself debt settlement. As you do your research online, you’ll read a lot of pages and articles that are slanted against the do-it-yourself approach and biased in favor of using third-party debt companies. Many articles that have titles pertaining to DIY settlement are really just bait-and-switch marketing for a company program. The article may start out with the question, “Is it possible to settle debts on your own?” Then it provides a “yes-but” answer, as in, “Yes, but you’ll get better results if you use a professional.” From there we are usually treated to a repetition of one or more tired old myths about DIY vs. traditional debt settlement I will cover in this series.

I can understand why people might think this claim to be true. After all, there are many situations where it makes good sense to hire a professional instead of doing the job yourself. Rewiring your house if you’re not a qualified electrician would be one example! However, when we’re talking about negotiating down your credit card debt, the only thing you really should care about is how much money you have to pay out in the end. Success is measured by how much money you SAVE, period. So by definition we have to take into account the sky-high fees charged by these debt companies, with 25% of savings considered a current industry benchmark.

With do-it-yourself debt settlement, you have an opportunity to save more because you’re excluding fees that amount to a significant chunk of your debt. Please note that when I refer to DIY debt settlement, I’m not just talking about buying a book from amazon.com, but rather hiring a DEBT COACH to guide you through the process. I’ve been doing this for consumers since I set up ZipDebt in 2004, and the results have been nothing short of amazing. In 2011 alone, ZipDebt clients settled $8.5 million for an average of 32.2% (balances at time of settlement). The prior year we had more than $16 million in reported settlements at 33.1%. Bear in mind that 100% of these settlements were SELF-NEGOTIATED by the consumer using ZipDebt’s training materials, supplemented by live coaching. Now, good luck finding a published track record by a third-party debt settlement firm that comes anywhere close to our results. Settlement averages for most of the larger firms, when you can find any data at all, come in around 47-50% before fees.

Let’s say you start with $50,000 of debt, which can be expected to inflate during your program to around $55,000 due to interest and fees. Your debt company accepts settlements for an average of 47% of your $55,000 balance, so in this example you pay $25,850 to your creditors. However, the settlement company’s fee is 25% of what they have saved you (measured against the starting balances). So $50,000 minus $25,850 means they saved you $24,150, and 25% of that figure is your fee, or $6,038. Therefore the total amount you will have to pay is $31,888! Your overall savings is only $18,112. While this is a significant amount of money, this is a poor result compared to what you can save by doing it yourself with the aid of ZipDebt.

Let’s compare the above outcome to the results that many clients have achieved using ZipDebt’s approach. Taking that same starting figure of $50,000 and inflating to $55,000 (so we have apples to apples), and using OUR program’s historic settlement average of 33%, you would wind up paying only $18,150 to your creditors, a big improvement over $25,850. Assuming you ordered my Premium Program at $792 (including shipping), your total payout INCLUDING FEES is only $18,942 on a $55,000 debt! That is an amazing total savings of $31,058 compared to a savings of only $18,112 for a professional service. That’s almost $13,000 back in your pocket you would otherwise have paid to creditors and the settlement company. Even more important, when you have less to pay back to the creditor and lower fees you can build money up faster to make settlements. Fast settlements are to your advantage, as I will explain later in this series. This is a huge advantage and translates to LESS RISK of legal action.

Once you understand the power of the DIY-with-Coach method of debt settlement pioneered by ZipDebt, the decision is a no-brainer!

Myth busted. Consumers who are properly coached get better results negotiating on their own vs. hiring a professional negotiator. ZipDebt’s published data proves this beyond any doubt.

How to Settle Your American Express Credit Card Account

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][Note: This article originally appeared as a guest post on Steve Rhode’s blog at GetOutofDebt.org. Thanks to Steve for permission to repost here on The ZipDebt Blog.]

If you’re facing a legitimate financial hardship and can’t make the minimum payments on your American Express credit card one potential solution is to negotiate a lump-sum settlement for less the balance owed. If you’re unfamiliar with debt settlement, you’re probably wondering how someone who can’t make their monthly payments would have the funds needed for a settlement at, say, 50% of the total balance. But there is a huge difference between income and assets, and many consumers who can’t sustain regular monthly payments due to lack of income or other financial hardship are able to use some of their dwindling savings for the purpose of settlements. Other sources for funding settlements might include the sale of household items, collections, cash value life insurance policies, borrowing from family, or sale of property. These are one-time funding sources, in other words. Once the money received from a one-time source has been expended, there is no more to replace it. But such funds can be put to excellent use in retiring a major credit card debt, when otherwise the customer would just be facing an unsustainable situation (which in turn often leads to bankruptcy).

When it comes to settlement with American Express, there are some specific facts about this creditor that you should be aware of. Prior to the financial crisis of 2008, American Express was not a bank like most other major credit card issuers (such as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, etc.). The company converted to a bank holding company structure in November 2008 in order to become eligible for Treasury Department assistance under the infamous “TARP” program. The reason this matters is because there are some important differences that need to be taken into account in terms of the “collection culture” at different types of creditors. For example, most of the major credit card banks eventually SELL their delinquent accounts to various debt purchasing companies, so when you are trying to settle an old charge-off account it’s very possible that you’ll be dealing with a debt purchaser or their collection agency. Yet it’s highly unlikely you will encounter this situation with respect to any type of American Express account. This creditor rarely sells its accounts, no matter how old. It’s simply a part of the collection culture that developed at American Express, which positioned itself over the years as being “different” than Visa or MasterCard.

Why is this relevant if you’re trying to reach a settlement with Amex? Many websites offering advice on settlement of credit card accounts recommend sending “debt validation” notices to collection agencies or creditors, in theory “putting them on notice” that you are aware of your consumer rights and demanding copies of their backup documentation. There are definitely situations where a debt validation letter is appropriate and effective. However, when you are trying to settle an American Express account, it would be a major tactical mistake. The reason is because they have the documentation. It’s trivially easy for an original creditor to produce a stack of monthly statements two inches thick and mail it to you. Voila. Debt validated, and account moved to an in-state legal firm for your troubles!

The first rule in settlement with American Express is therefore to avoid any sort of tactical “games” like debt validation, which are generally unnecessary anyway. I always recommend proactive telephone contact with creditors, and American Express is certainly no exception. Get on the phone a couple of times a month and let them know about your situation. Be aware that you’ll hear various kinds of options presented to you depending on how far behind you are on payments. For example, if you are two payments behind, the representative will generally not discuss settlement yet and will only speak in terms of different payment options. Listen carefully to these proposals and note them down. Sometimes these alternate programs can include low interest rates and lower monthly payments, and for some consumers this level of relief alone may provide sufficient breathing room to get a handle on their financial situation.

If you’re more than three payments late, the odds are good that you’ll be hearing from an outside collection agency. It’s quite common for American Express to assign their accounts to third-party collection agencies well before the point of charge-off at 180 days late, often as early as 90 days late. Don’t panic if this happens! Understand that the majority of settlements with American Express are negotiated through these third-party collection agencies.

Achieving a settlement with any creditor is a matter of balancing RISK versus SAVINGS. You’re in a financial crisis and want to obtain as deep a discount off your balance as possible, but you also have to be mindful of the legal risk that mounts whenever you are behind on payments with a creditor. One important tip for determining the risk factor is to assess WHERE the assigned collection agency is located. If they are not a law firm and they are in some other state than yours, then the situation is low risk compared to assignment to a law firm in your state. American Express is not a “bluff” creditor, so we do take any legal threats from them seriously once a file has escalated to placement with a collection attorney firm (licensed to operate in the client’s home state). In such situations, the risk is greater, so we accept a higher figure than we might otherwise. Where the risk is lower, we can hold out and try to do better on the settlement percentage.

Let’s say you are talking with a third-party agency in a different state and they have agreed to a 40% settlement. You are happy with the result and you can fund the settlement ok. The one unbreakable rule in debt settlement is to GET IT IN WRITING FIRST, before you pay! You must have a letter in-hand before you make payment on your settlement. There are NO exceptions to this rule. A faxed copy is fine, and in fact most settlement letters are just fax copies of the agreement. This isn’t a matter of “trust,” or “distrust.” It’s just simple common sense that any agreement modifying your contract with American Express (or any other creditor) must be in writing. If you have a debt collector balking at putting the settlement in writing, then just put your foot down and insist that you will only proceed on the basis of a written agreement letter. It doesn’t have to be long! It just has to cover the essentials – the account number, amount of settlement to be paid, any payment installments listed clearly with due-dates, and the transaction has to be defined or referred to as a “settlement,” or “settlement-in-full.” Simple enough!

With your letter in hand, then you can make your payment. Cashier’s check by Federal Express is one method, but you want to be sure that you’ve coordinated payment method with the agency. Most of them prefer check-by-phone or electronic check (same thing). This is also called an ACH transaction, and it means you provide them the bank routing number and account number off your checking account. If you have it in writing first, it’s ok to do this. If you are negotiating settlements with multiple creditors, it’s better to set up a special checking account for this purpose. That way you can react quickly in case anything goes amiss.

One more important point about settlements with American Express. Many consumers have both personal and corporate cards issued by this creditor. It’s common to carry a personal account and then receive one issued by your employer, to cover work-related travel expenses, per diem costs, and so on. The corporate cards are generally issued to the corporation itself, even though your name appears on the card, so generally it is not advisable to attempt settlement on this type of account, as it could have a direct effect on your employment status.

Take the high road and negotiate in good faith with your creditors. Don’t play games or make up stories about your situation. If you are in a financial crisis, that is enough, and you just need to be patient and persistent. Start out with an offer around 20-25% of what you owe, but state this in terms of a dollar amount. You are aiming for a financial outcome that you can live with, not a world-record low percentage. As the negotiation proceeds, resist your initial urge to jump your offer right away, and give it some time to see how things go first. You can always increase later. The first offer you receive from an agency will rarely be the best offer available, no matter how convincing the explanation that this is “the best we can do.”

Over time, and with a series of negotiation calls, it’s possible to reach a settlement agreement on your American Express card that you can handle. Don’t be greedy. Once you reach your goal, accept the settlement and take the deal off the table. If you’re like most clients, you’ll feel a tremendous sense of empowerment at achieving a successful settlement. It can be a huge game changer financially, as well emotionally.[/vc_column_text][space height=”4″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]UPDATE: August 8, 2016

In the five years since I originally published this article, I’ve received numerous questions and inquiries about negotiating settlements with American Express, and talked to hundreds of consumers who were finding it difficult to reach an agreement even with all the advice I had presented in the article.

A big part of the problem in dealing with American Express is due to two key factors.

(1) They move the file quickly to outside collection agencies compared to other major credit card issuers, and many of those assignments are to in-state law firms.

(2) Their collection law firms often file lawsuits as quickly as 4 months late, so many (if not most) American Express settlement negotiations are taking place with active litigation in play.

While I’ve successfully coached many people to reach settlements with American Express, I am no longer actively recommending the Do-It-Yourself method for dealing with this very difficult creditor. Settlement with Amex requires steel nerves and precision timing, and is best handled via a customized full service approach.

If you are facing a default situation with American Express and would like to have some professional assistance in resolving the matter, please read my 5-part series on Tailored Debt Settlement.[/vc_column_text][space height=”4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

8 Things Debt Collectors Won’t Tell You

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by Gerri Detweiler of Credit.com

It should come as no surprise that if you’ve fallen behind on your bills, you may be hearing from debt collectors. If they do call, you will almost certainly hear that you need to pay them and that you need to do so immediately. But there are a number of things that they aren’t likely to tell you, and knowing these things can make all the difference in resolving your debts.

1. Some of Their Threats Have No Teeth

If you can’t pay the collector the amount he is demanding, or refuse to give your bank account or debit card number to make the payment, the debt collector may threaten to “put you down for ‘refusal to pay.'” But that’s “a meaningless phrase in the debt collection world,” says zipdebt.com founder Charles Phelan, who coaches consumers trying to settle debts. He elaborates:

When a collector says, “We are going to inform your creditor that you are refusing to pay this bill!” they are just using reverse psychology. Your creditor has already figured out that you aren’t paying the bill, or they would not have sent your account to a collection agency in the first place!

Another example? Bogus deadlines. Says Phelan, “Collectors will always try to create a false sense of urgency by imposing a series of deadlines, after which ‘this deal will no longer be available.’ The reality is that settlement or workout offers tend to improve over the course of a typical 3-month collection assignment (i.e., in a non-legal collection scenario).”

2. They Have to Stop Bugging You at Work if You Tell Them To

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is very clear on this point. Once you tell a debt collector your employer doesn’t allow you to talk with her while you are at work, she must stop calling you there. Yet in its 2011 Annual Report to Congress about Fair Debt Collection Practices Act complaints, the Federal Trade Commission noted that in 2010 it received 17,008 complaints related to debt collection calls to consumers at work, up from 11,991 complaints the year before. “By continuing to contact consumers at work under these circumstances, debt collectors may put them in jeopardy of losing their jobs,” notes the FTC.

3. They Can’t Blab About Your Debts to Others

Debt collectors are generally only allowed to discuss your debt with you, a cosigner, your spouse, or your attorney. They cannot discuss your debt with neighbors, relatives who aren’t obligated to pay the debt, or coworkers. In fact, under the FDCPA, they are generally only allowed to contact third parties to locate you, and once they have found you, contact with third parties must stop. Sukhman Dhami of the consumer law firm Dhami Law Firm, P.C., explains:

We call these ‘third party disclosures’, a violation of Section 1692c(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and they are exceptionally common, particularly when the debt collector leaves a message on a public answering machine. These public answering machine violations are called “Foti” violations after the landmark case Foti v. NCO Financial Systems, 2005.

If a debt collector leaves a message for you on any conventional answering machine or any shared/open access voicemail system, they are likely to violate the third party disclosure restrictions per Foti, so save any machine message and/or voicemail which a debt collector leaves for you!

He goes on to warn, “If a debt collector contacts third parties, we want to know about it, because chances are that the collector violated one or more provisions of the FDCPA.”

4. Your Debt May be too Old for Me to do Anything About It

“Stale debt is not collectible,” advises Atlanta bankruptcy attorney Jonathan Ginsburg. “Every State has a statute of limitations that make debt of a certain age not collectible. Debt collectors are not currently obligated to advise you that they cannot sue you or legally ding your credit report if you refuse to pay stale debt.”

In most states, the statute of limitations runs four to six years from the date you last made a payment. And that’s the catch. “In some states, a voluntary payment on a stale debt can revive the debt and make it legally collectible,” Ginsberg warns. But don’t be surprised if you hear about a very old debt. “Stale (or zombie) debt is big business,” he adds.

“Seniors are constantly targeted for old debts,” believes Alex Viecco of the debt negotiation firm New Era Debt Solutions. Viecco says they’re seeing a trend where debts that were the result of identity theft are, “coming back around for consumers. They certainly do not remember it and suddenly (collectors) act as if it was theirs.” He says his firm also hears from clients who complain about old medical debts that should have been paid by the insurance company but weren’t and resurface years later.

“Never admit to any debt without first getting more details,” recommends Viecco. At a minimum, you want to establish that the debt is legitimate, you owe it, the collector on the other end of the phone isn’t a scammer, and whether the statute of limitations has expired.

At the same time, don’t assume that just because a debt is older it can’t be collected, or that it can’t affect your credit reports. “There are a handful of states that do require the collector to tell the consumer that they cannot be sued,” says Mark Schiffman, director public affairs for ACA International. “While it is true that every state has a statute of limitations, which varies by state and by debt type, and that a collector may not sue or threaten to sue a consumer, the collector may still seek to collect the debt from the consumer so long as it is within the guidelines of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.” He also notes that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, collection accounts may be reported for seven years.

5. Debt Collectors are Under Pressure to Collect, Just Like You are to Pay

Collectors “work on sliding scale commissions and the quicker they get someone’s money, the higher the commission,” says Philadelphia debt collector abuse lawyer Michael Forbes. “If they don’t get your money within a fixed period of time, your account will be sent back to the creditor.”

So while collectors may pressure you to pay right away, staving them off a bit might work in your favor if you can’t afford to pay the full amount you owe. “Collectors will generally not share that they may take a lower settlement offer at the end of the month in order to meet a quota, or nearer the end of the assignment contract when the creditor is going to pull the account back,” says Michael Bovee, founder of the Consumer Recovery Network. He explains that most assignment collection accounts (where creditors assign debts to collection agencies rather than selling them) stay with collectors for 90 days. Any accounts that are not collected at that point may go back to creditors, usually to be placed with another collection firm.

And while collectors may insist that you pay the full balance you owe over time, they may actually prefer to get a smaller, lump-sum payment, says Phelan. Why? “They get paid commissions much faster that way!”

And just because you have accounts in collections that doesn’t mean you are doomed to bad credit for seven years or longer. In fact, there are probably steps you can take now to start improving your credit. Get your free credit reports and credit scores (you can get two free credit scores updated monthly, along with an action plan for your credit at Credit.com). No doubt there are steps you can take that can make a difference; by paying down credit card balances, for example, or getting a secured credit card.

6. If They Really Want to Play Hardball, They Will Have to Sue You

If you owe unsecured debt such as credit card debt, collectors must typically sue you before they can go after your property, including money in your bank accounts, or try to garnish your wages. But threatening to take such actions before they have sued you and won a judgment may be illegal. Even threatening to sue you to collect a debt may be illegal if the collector has no intention of doing so.

The FTC reports that in 2010, just over a quarter of all FDCPA complaints reported that third-party collectors falsely threatened a lawsuit or some other action that they could not or did not intend to take. In addition, 18.6% of FDCPA complaints alleged that such collectors falsely threatened arrest or seizure of property. No doubt some of these complaints involved overseas payday loan collection scammers. Still, some involved calls from collectors in the U.S. trying to collect legitimate debts.

“Debt collectors use applied psychology to persuade and threaten consumers to pay debt,” Ginsberg explains. “Often this psychology involves veiled threats of criminal action or litigation when these options are not available.”

7. Paying Off This Debt Won’t Help Your Credit Ratings

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a collection account will remain on your credit reports for seven years and six months from the date you fell behind with the original creditor. Collectors may make it sound like paying off collections account will improve your credit, by telling you that they will update your credit report to “paid in full” status. But this probably won’t help your credit scores. Collection accounts are negative, regardless of whether they are paid or not.

In an an article titled “Will Paying a Collection Improve My Credit Score,” Credit.com’s credit scoring expert Tom Quinn wrote:

The fact that a collection account is on your credit report (regardless of balance) is, in and of itself, predictive of future risk, as research shows that consumers with collection accounts on their credit report are less likely to pay as agreed in the future than consumers with no credit report blemishes.

On the other hand, paying the collection account may stop the creditor or collector from suing you, and a judgment on your credit report could hurt your credit report even more. Additionally, some mortgage lenders may require you to pay or settle collection accounts before giving you a loan.

8. You Probably Don’t Have to Pay Your Deceased Relative’s Debt

“Collecting debts of the deceased is a growing and lucrative business. Creepy, huh?” says Mary Reed, the co-author of more than twenty legal and financial books (including the book she coauthored with the author of this article, Debt Collection Answers: How to Use Debt Collection Laws to Protect Your Rights.) But generally, she points out, you aren’t responsible for the debts of relatives who died unless you were a cosigner, or the debt belonged to your spouse who died and you live in a community property state. Creditors or collectors may try to collect from the estate, if there is one. If the person left nothing, however, then they may simply be out of luck. Though they are supposed to tell you that you don’t have to pay the debt, they may conveniently leave that out or gloss over it.

UPDATE June 12, 2019: For further information on protecting your family’s assets, here is an excellent resource at Bankrate: “Why Everyone Needs An Estate Plan.”

If you’re concerned about how your debt could be impacting your credit, you can check your three credit reports for free once a year. If you’d like to monitor your credit more regularly, Credit.com’s free Credit Report Card provides you with an easy to understand breakdown of the information in your credit report using letter grades, along with two free credit scores that are updated monthly.

$8.5 Million in Credit Card Debt Settlements by ZipDebt Clients in 2011!

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In 2011, clients of my ZipDebt program reported settlements totaling more than $8.5 million of debt, primarily credit card debt balances. Here are the actual statistics:

ZipDebt Settlement Results for 2011

Number of settlements reported __568
Debt balances settled __$8,557,873
Amount paid for settlements __$2,752,917
Client savings __$5,804,956
Average account balance __$15,067
Average settlement result __32.2% (balance at time of settlement)

To put these figures in perspective, first you have to remember that ZipDebt is a “boutique” rather than a large firm. During 2011, with just one other person helping me with coaching, our clients saved nearly $6 million off their balances. Every single one of these settlements was SELF-NEGOTIATED. So much for the oft-repeated claim (by debt settlement sales reps) that consumers can’t negotiate their own settlements!

Here are some important additional data points:

  • Out of the 568 reported settlements for 2011, 445 of them were negotiated BEFORE CHARGE-OFF.
  • Two out of three settlements were negotiated directly with the ORIGINAL CREDITOR, without the involvement of any external collection agency or law firm.
  • Debt purchasers were involved in only 12 of the 568 settlements, or roughly 2% of the total. (Contrary to popular misconception, it’s not always easy to settle with purchasers, and this end of the industry is where many lawsuits take place.)
  • Clients reported a total of 11 creditor lawsuits. This translates to a risk factor of 1.9% per account.

Let’s put it all together. What does the above data tell us?

  1. ZipDebt clients work quickly, settling about four out of five accounts before the charge-off deadline, and nearly all accounts within a 12-month timeframe.
  1. ZipDebt clients negotiate most of their settlements (66%) with the original creditor, meaning fewer situations where it was necessary to negotiate with a collection agency or law firm.
  1. The average settlement result of 32.2% blows the doors off the results published by ANY traditional debt settlement firm (assuming that you can FIND any published results!).
  1. The legal risk for a properly coached DIY debt settlement client is FAR BELOW that of clients enrolled in traditional 36-month debt settlement programs.
  1. All of the above was accomplished with a fee structure that represents a small fraction of what most companies charge.

Do you want to settle your debts quickly, pay less money out of pocket, eliminate steep “negotiation fees,” and reduce your legal risk to the maximum extent possible? If yes, then don’t hire a third-party debt settlement company! Get the education, training, and coaching support that you need to be successful at this process on your own.

If you think debt settlement might be right for your situation but would like more information after reading our free materials, please feel free to request a 20-minute phone consultation.