How does a settlement affect your credit

Settling your credit card debt typically means that you negotiate an agreement to repay a portion of your balance, because you are facing hardships that prevent you from repaying the debt in full or if you cannot pay your outstanding balance for other specific reasons. While this can help you better control your finances by reducing the debt you owe, an official debt settlement may affect your credit score.

What is a debt settlement?

Credit card issuers regularly report your payment history to credit agencies each month. Along with each payment record, credit card issuers will update your account condition, which include:

• "Open" (an open account with an open balance, in good standing);
• "Paid" (an account with a zero balance);
• "Settled" (an account that has been legally paid in full for less than the full balance).

When you work with your creditor to demonstrate hardship (such as loss of job or extended medical leave), they may be willing to develop a settlement agreement. Settlement agreements allow you to pay less than the full balance against the card, but will close the account after that agreed payment has been made.

How debt settlement affects your credit score

Credit scores are generated by the information found in your credit report. When the credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion®, Equifax®, and Experian®) review your credit report, an account with an account condition of "Settled" may be seen as a negative. A settled account may be seen as proof that you were unable to pay your balance in full. New lenders may look into your full credit report to understand how likely you are to repay any balance they lend to you, so a "Settled" account shows that you were unable to completely repay a balance in the past.

For this reason, while a debt settlement can reduce what you owe and prevent you from using the credit card (limiting your credit expenses), you should expect to see a credit score drop when a debt settlement is officially made. This record of your debt settlement will remain on your credit report for seven years, which can also affect your ability to be approved for loans or new credit lines, and could even be seen as a negative when you apply for a rental home.

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Debt settlement is a service offered by third-party companies that try to reduce your debt by negotiating settlements with your creditors or debt collectors. But there are risks involved.

Although it may be tempting to use a debt settlement service to reduce your debt, it’s important to keep in mind that you could end up deeper in debt or with a negative impact to your credit.

Here’s some key information you should know about how debt settlement works, its pros and cons, and how it could affect your credit.

• How debt settlement works
• Debt settlement: Benefits and risks
• Our picks for debt settlement
• Alternatives to debt settlement
• Next steps if you want to go ahead with debt settlement

How debt settlement works

Debt settlement companies may also be known as “debt relief” or “debt adjusting” companies. The companies generally offer to contact your creditors on your behalf, so they can negotiate a better payment plan or settle or reduce your debt. They typically charge a fee, often a percentage of the amount you’d save on the settled debt.

Learn more about different types of debt relief and how they work.

The company may try to negotiate with your creditor for a lump-sum payment that’s less than the amount that you owe. While they’re negotiating, they may require you to make regular deposits into an account that’s under your control but is administered by an independent third-party. You use this account to save money toward that lump payment.

While they negotiate, the debt settlement company may also advise you to stop paying your creditors until a debt settlement agreement is reached.

Once the debt settlement company and your creditors reach an agreement — at a minimum, changing the terms of at least one of your debts — you must agree to the agreement and make at least one payment to the creditor or debt collector for the settled amount. And then the debt settlement company can begin charging you fees for its services.

Keep in mind that there is no guarantee the company will be able to reach a debt settlement agreement for all of your debts.

How to ask for help when you’re struggling financially.

Debt settlement: Benefits and risks

There can be a few pros to debt settlement, but you should carefully consider the potential risks of debt settlement as well.

The benefits

Settling a debt through a debt settlement company could …

• Lower your debt amount
• Help you avoid bankruptcy
• Get creditors and collectors off your back

The risks

But the risks may outweigh the benefits.

1. Your creditors may not agree to negotiate

Not only is there no guarantee that the debt settlement company will be able to successfully reach a settlement for all your debts, some creditors won’t negotiate with debt settlement companies at all.

2. You could end up with more debt

If you stop making payments on a debt, you can end up paying late fees or interest. You could even face collection efforts or a lawsuit filed by a creditor or debt collector. Also, if the company negotiates a successful debt settlement, the portion of your debt that’s forgiven could be considered taxable income on your federal income taxes — which means you may have to pay taxes on it.

3. You may be charged fees, even if your whole debt isn’t settled

Debt settlement companies can’t collect a fee until they’ve reached a settlement agreement, you’ve agreed to the settlement, and you’ve made at least one payment to the creditor or debt collector as a result of the agreement. But you could still end up paying a portion of the debt settlement company’s full fees on the rest of your unsettled debts, says Bruce McClary, senior vice president of communications at the National Federation for Credit Counseling.

“If you have five or six creditors and the company settles one of those debts, they can start charging a fee as soon as they receive a result,” McClary says.

And if a debt relief company settled a “proportion” of your total debt enrolled with its program, it can charge you that same proportion of its total fee. For example, if your total debts came to $10,000, and a debt relief company settled $5,000 of the total amount, it’s allowed to charge 50% of the total agreed-upon fee.

4. It could negatively impact your credit

A debt settlement company may encourage you to stop making payments on your debts while you save up money for a lump-sum payment. But at this point, your creditors might not have agreed to anything, which means all those payments you’re missing can wind up as delinquent accounts on your credit reports.

Your credit scores could take a hit as a result of any delinquent payments, and the creditor could also send your account to collections or sue you over the debt.

Debt happens for many reasons. Learn how to manage debt in five steps.

Our picks for debt settlement

We don’t recommend debt settlement as a first option because of the risks it poses. But if you’re looking for debt settlement service providers, some may be better for your situation than others. Our picks have a track record of helping customers successfully settle their debts while remaining flexible to their individual needs.

Freedom Financial

Why Freedom Financial stands out: Freedom Financial says it has resolved over $12 billion in debt since 2002. The company offers a free, “no-risk” debt relief consultation to help you decide if its program might work for you.

• Eligible debt — Freedom Financial’s debt relief program helps settle unsecured debts, including those from credit cards, outstanding medical bills and personal loans. To qualify, you must have at least $7,500 in unsecured debt.
• Fees — Freedom Financial doesn’t charge upfront fees. But if the company successfully negotiates a debt settlement for you, it typically charges a fee of 15% to 25% of your total debt. Fees may vary based on where you live.
• Client dashboard — Freedom Financial’s client dashboard lets you track your payment progress so you can see how close you are to paying off your debt.

Resolve

Why Resolve stands out: Resolve is a debt management service that provides users with features such as debt settlement and negotiation as well as budgeting tools and credit score monitoring.

• Flexible debt resolution — Resolve says it can contact creditors on your behalf to negotiate solutions to your debt, and that any solution Resolve offers you is optional.
• Fees — Resolve charges a monthly fee (about $17) to use its services. If you decide to start a debt management plan, the service will match you with a credit counselor in its network. Although Resolve itself doesn’t charge a fee for each debt settlement provider you use, the providers it works with do. Your fees will vary depending on which of Resolve’s partners you work with.
• Tools to track your finances — Resolve offers customers credit monitoring and budgeting tools to help manage spending, so you may find the app useful even after your debt has been settled.

Alternatives to debt settlement

1. Negotiate your own settlement

Try negotiating settlements with credit card companies or other creditors on your own. Offer an amount that you can pay immediately, even if it’s less than what you owe.

2. Transfer balances

If you have credit card debt, consider a balance transfer. A balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another, usually to take advantage of an introductory 0% interest offer on the new card.

Balance transfer cards typically have one of these 0% intro APR offers for a specified period of time and may charge a fixed fee or a percentage of the amount you transfer.

To figure out if a balance transfer is a good idea for you, check whether you’ll pay more money on the interest payments on your current card than the cost of any balance transfer fees. And you should also try to pay the balance off before the card’s promotional period expires to avoid paying interest on your balance.

3. Seek nonprofit credit counseling

Nonprofit organizations may provide credit counseling services that offer free or low-cost advice on budgeting and debt management. Credit counseling agencies don’t typically negotiate to reduce debt. But a credit counselor may work with creditors on payment plans or to stop late fees or efforts like collection calls.

Next steps if you want to go ahead with debt settlement

Do your research. The Federal Trade Commission helps protect consumers by trying to prevent unfair business practices in the marketplace. The FTC has useful information on debt settlement that’s worth reading as you consider debt settlement options.

Pick a reputable debt settlement service provider. Before you enroll in any debt settlement program, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends contacting your state attorney general and local consumer protection agency to check whether there are any complaints on file. The state attorney general’s office can also check if the company is required to be licensed and whether it meets your state’s requirements.

The Better Business Bureau has consumer reviews of businesses that could help you as you research a debt settlement service provider.

About the author: Deb Hipp is a freelance writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. When she’s not writing about personal finance and news, she enjoys traveling to seas… Read more.

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