Here is the situation: We have a ton of CC debt (65K) - Recently, was given a "GET OUT OF JAIL FREE PASS" from someone that is going to help so that we could wipe our slate clean and start fresh. We are very lucky as we have felt that we literally just won the lotto. Anyway, I recently started calling some of our creditors. I started with one company that I have 2 accounts with - I started with them because they already closed/suspended the accounts because a couple months ago I called them inquiring about them possibly lowering my monthly payment - at that time they said they couldn't help me and they marked my account as "hardship" and obviously would not let me continue charging so they were closed. Anyway, I called them the other day to see if they would "SETTLE" they did offer me settlements that they are putting in writing and giving me 30 days to make the payment. Between the 2 cards they saved me $7800.00 which was an avg. of 25-30% of the actual balance. They said that once paid they will mark my accounts as paid in full/settled. That they will report the unforgiven portion to the IRS and I will get 1099 forms that I have to forward when tax time comes next year. They also said that it will affect my credit score for 5-7 years. I asked them if they were going to "SELL" the remaining portion to a collection agency - they said no, they don't do that especially since I have been in good standing, making all my payments on time and that this is not a charge off which they said is really bad. They thanked me for making an effort to make some sort of payment even if it is in the form of a settlement. My ? Is this? Can I trust this? Is there anything I am missing here? I am going to try to do this w/ 3 other creditors and hope for similar results. This just goes to show that if you had the money set aside or like in our case, gifted to us... You can make your own settlement offers and avoid all the costs that go into the settlement company doing it for you. My husband and I are were going to do settlement with a company a couple months ago and I am sure glad that I did not go ahead with them... Anyway, Anyone that can offer me any assistance, comments, advice, suggestions? I would really appreciate it. I realize that once the accounts are settled - I will no longer be able to have CC with them as my accounts will be closed and they will consider us HIGH RISK so they won't want us anymore, but I do have 2 other cards with no balance that I could use in case I need to use a CC. BUT hopefully, we learned our lesson and will never get in this situation again. We really screwed up bad over the last few years and are glad that we could start over as this is really a life changing event for us. Please respond. Thanks!!

As long as they put it in writing you don't have a worry. Just make sure you get the names of those you talk to and that they provide everything in writing. You might even consider recording all your conversations (inform them you are doing so).