It’s the very last day of the year and 2015 is just around the corner. If you have put off cleaning up old collection accounts, or you’re facing a financial hardship and can’t continue making payments on your credit card debts, then you need to know that debt settlement will still be a viable solution in 2015.

In fact, next year may be a very good year for settling debts, especially because there has been strong pressure on the collection and debt purchasing industries to clean up their act. Some experts are predicting less creditor litigation in the coming years, as documentation standards for purchased debt continue to tighten.

There have also been numerous enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against collection agencies that were routinely violating the law. And of course, just like every other year, many debt relief scams have also been shut down by Federal and state authorities. But no matter what happens in terms of regulation or enforcement, the basic financial math that drives banks to settle will still be in place.

Debt settlement will therefore remain a valid and viable alternative to bankruptcy (especially Chapter 13 bankruptcy) for the foreseeable future. However, the creditors will make adjustments to what they may accept for settlements, and changes are sure to happen.

That’s why it’s important not to rely solely on advice from reading the various debt relief forums on the Internet, as useful as those sites may be for overall information. A creditor settling for 35% today might only be willing to take 45% tomorrow, or perhaps become more lenient and start accepting 30%.

What I do here at ZipDebt is monitor the trends across a large number of settlements, so I can keep my “finger on the pulse” of what is happening and guide you to the best possible settlement for any given creditor. I take the guesswork out of the process, and hand you the playbook of the other team so your success is assured.

I should also mention that ZipDebt will still be going strong in 2015 when others in the debt relief field have come and gone. I’ve been at this since 1997, and 18 years later I’m still here when many others have exited the industry. As the financial crisis has wound down, there is far less delinquent debt and fewer people in trouble. But we’re still seeing hundreds of thousands of annual bankruptcy filings, and good paying jobs remain hard to find. So I know that people still need help out there and that’s what I’m here to do.

Long time readers of The ZipDebt Blog may have wondered about the lack of new posts for 2014. I do plan to resume regular posting in 2015, and some of what I will be writing about is the financial challenge I myself faced in 2013-2014. I made a very difficult decision to sell my “dream home” in order to solve my own debt problem before it spiraled out of control. As long as I’ve been in the financial sector, I’m still learning. I still make mistakes on occasion, and then try to learn from those mistakes. I hope to share this story soon, and perhaps inspire others to make the tough choices needed to regain a sound financial footing.

Best Wishes for a Very Happy New Year!