If you’re being harassed by credit card companies or worse, debt collectors, you may feel like your whole life has been turned upside down. He would love to get his debts under control, but he just doesn’t know how. When you don’t have a plan to reach that goal, to get control of your debts, it’s like sailing without a rudder. You could end up going around in circles and never resolve your credit card debt problems.

Have you considered debt settlement?

Many families have found that the best way to eliminate credit card debt is through a strategy called debt settlement. This isn’t easy, but it’s the only short-term way to file for bankruptcy that can actually eliminate credit card debt. Yes, there are ways you can consolidate your debt through a debt consolidation loan or consumer credit counseling, but none of these can reduce your debt. All they can do is make it easy for you to pay what you owe.

50 cents on the dollar

By comparison, with debt settlement, you can reduce your debts by up to 50% or even more. But spoiler alert: you have to be a good negotiator and you have to be pretty tough to pull this off.

Is that how it works

First, you’ll need to stop making all your credit card payments for at least six months. This means even the minimum monthly payments. It won’t be long before you start hearing from your credit card providers. But you should ignore any letter or phone call you receive. You’ll need to save the money you would have paid on your credit cards, as you’ll need it to pay off your debts (more on this later).

after six months

You may even start getting calls from debt collectors before the six months are up. Again, you must stand firm and not make payments no matter how much pressure the collector applies.

Now you need to add up all of your credit card debt and cut the amount in half. Next, you’ll need to determine how much you have saved, your monthly income cash flow, and any other resources you can use to pay off your debts. The goal is to have enough to pay off 50% of your combined debt.

Contact your credit card companies

After at least six months have passed, you can start contacting your credit card companies and making settlement offers. This is where you’ll need to have the tough mind and nerves of a cat thief. As you can imagine, credit card companies won’t be eager to settle for fifty cents on the dollar. You must be able to convince them to settle or you will file for bankruptcy. This means that you need to have your “grounds” ready for you to be able to sell this successfully.

Wire the money or send a cashier’s check

If the credit card company agrees to settle, you should have the money available to transfer or send as a cashier’s check right away. That’s why it was important, as stated above, to make sure you had enough cash on hand to pay off 50% of your debts.

A fact and not a fiction.

In short, debt settlement is fact and not fiction. You’ll need a fair amount of gut strength to pull it off, but it can be done. And as many experts will tell you, it’s the best way to reduce debt and not just move it from one set of lenders to another.