Debt Settlement and Your Credit

The primary purpose of good credit is to save you money by helping you procure lower interest rates that otherwise wouldn't be available to you. Interestingly, some consumers fail to recognize this fact when considering the appropriate option for debt resolution. The main reason for this is a lot of people interpret their credit on an emotional level instead of a rational one. That is, they think of their credit score as something more than it is---something more than just ONE tool that lenders look at to determine whether giving you a loan will be profitable for them---and it becomes a matter of pride, not a matter of financial health. In the end, the mistake of thinking about one's credit on an emotional level instead of a rational one can cost a consumer buried in credit card debt and only able to afford minimum payments thousands of dollars in finance charges and even more in the years of life consumed by financial anxiety.

Another part of the problem is that most people, even when trying to tackle the issue rationally, do not understand what makes up their credit score. The largest components of your credit score---your credit history and the amount you owe---are both influenced by debt settlement, one negatively (credit history) and one positively (the amount you owe). Although your credit history is marginally more important than the amount you owe when factoring your score, the difference (5%) is rarely enough to compensate for the savings from enrolling credit card debt into a settlement program. The more money you're able to save from enrolling in a debt settlement program, the less the credit impact should be considered a factor. Why? Because any higher interest rates that you'll end up paying down the road as a result of the credit impact will rarely outweigh the money you saved by settling credit card debt. So who in the end benefits the most from a settlement program----1) people who owe a lot; 2) people who can only afford to pay the minimums; 3) people who are paying high interest; and 4) all of the above. To illustrate this point, consider the following examples.