Has anyone used Square One Debt Settlement services?
A friend referred me to this company and their website. I want to use them to help me reduce my credit card bills but would like to know if anyone has any experience with them.
Thanks!
Posted September 3rd, 2010 in Debt Settlement. Tagged: credit card bills.
First you need to stop spending money that you don’t have. Please do not consolidate or use a debt reduction company . It is not free, they will lower your payments by increasing the length of time until you are debt free, and you will take a hit on your credit score. Or they negotiate your debt down after telling you not to pay for awhile adding another hit to your credit score. Student loans are the only debt that can garnish your wages for non payment without taking you to court first. Just list them out on a piece of paper or a spreadsheet and follow the plan. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you.
A. Have a garage sale and sell anything that you no longer need or want.
B.Get a temporary part time job, if you have one, get another.
Here is a plan that can help you. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you:
1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an "emergency fund" category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don’t even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make.
2.First get current on all of you debts and make no more late payments. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on.
3.Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example:
To start :
Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment
Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment
Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment
Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment
Debt #3: minimum payment
Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: paid off
Debt #3:Minimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment.
That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have.
4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty.
5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for "fun" to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life.
5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. Your employer probably matches at least part of your contribution so why give up free money? Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire.
5c. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your next car. Only buy cars, or other things that depreciate, with cash. Save up for a nicer car. That way you get the interest instead of paying the interest.
You can do it and it isn’t as hard as you think. Just follow the plan.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmStop – don’t do it.
Some of these companies are pure scams.
They charge you, tell you not to pay your bills, and guess what – you end up in court anyway.
Google "debt negotiation or consolidation scams".
It will open your eyes as to what these companies really do.
You can do this yourself easily.
Go to your library or bookstore.
Get a book on debt repair.
It will take you step by step on what to do.
Don’t pay a company hundreds of dollars for nothing.
Also you can make an appointment with your local consumer credit councelling service in your area.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmThey will ask you to bring all your bills and credit cards.
They may cut up your cards.
They will help you re organize your life, sometimes at no cost -max 25 / month.
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Stay away from any "debt consolidation" company that promises to cut your debt and payments in half through debt settlement….This is a risky tactic of deliberately ceasing all payments to creditors and forcing your accounts into default to attempt settlements. You pay a monthly fee to a debt consolidator….this entire fee goes towards building a settlement account and to the consolidator’s fees to “settle” your accounts in the future. Your credit card companies will deliberately not be paid so that all the accounts will default/charge-off so that they can attempt settlements at around 50%. If you are current on your accounts, this process will ruin your credit rating for sure. Debt settlement is like a roll off the dice with your finances…You can never predict how your creditors will respond to the deliberate defaulting of your accounts…they might settle at 50%…or they might serve you a summons, take you to court…and if they win, you could be looking at wage garnishment.
Many people who sign up with “debt consolidation” firms incorrectly assume that they have the power to force your creditors to accept settlements…they don’t. Your creditors have the right to refuse settlements and take you to court.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmIts a path fraught with peril.
Do not do it.
Look for local non-profit credit counselors.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmRUN AWAY! Debt settlement companies will take your money and let all your debts go 90+ days past due. Then they will make lowball settlement offers. Not only does this trash your credit, but most credit card companies refuse to play and will immediately sue you. The settlement company won’t be helping you with those court cases.
IF, and this is a huge IF, the settlement company actually does settle any debt, you will receive a 1099 for the forgiven portion of the debt which will have to be included in your income tax return.
Most settlement companies simply take your money and never even try to settle an account.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmI work in the Debt Settlement Industry and I have to tell you that the answers posted on here are uninformed and misleading at best.
CatDad – I agree stay away from Debt Consolidation companies – they take your debt and give you a loan usually secured by your house. This turns unsecured debt into secured debt and could end up losing your home. However I think you are mixing up Debt Consolidation with Debt Settlement. While some of the facts you cite are true many are also completely false. You don’t pay a monthly fee to a "debt consolidator", you save the money in your own account to settle the debts. True you have to stop paying your cards, but most people who enter the program are already doing that because of hardships – would you rather have them go Bankrupt? A good debt settlement company will negotiate with your credit cards as soon as you have saved enough money to make an offer. Nearly all credit cards will agree to a settlement based on the hardship of the client. Since going to court cost a ton of money most credit cards do not sue people who do not pay – it’s not worth it especially in this economy. You are correct in saying you cannot force settlements but most debt settlement companies who know what they are doing come to an agreement.
Bruce, credit counselors are generally funded by the credit cards themselves because the credit cards make all their money off of minimum payments. I would not send my worst enemy to one of them. That’s how the credit cards make their money. It’s takes 30-50 years to pay a credit card off at min payments.
bdancer2, you are completely wrong. Most credit card company’s settle debts. They may tell an individual that they don’t but they settle with debt settlement companies 99% of the time. Your comment that most take your money and don’t try to settle is an exaggeration – Credit Solutions which was on 20/20 is one of those but like any industry there are the good and the bad.
To answer the question – you should look for a company that is a member of TASC (The Association of Settlement Companies). In order to be a member you have to abide by very strict standards. Even the BBB recommends you go with a TASC company. Yes there are tons of bad debt settlement companies out there but there are also very good ones. If you look up Square One not only are they an Accredited Member of TASC but their President is on the Board of Directors. It’s very easy to search a company on the TASC site here http://www.tascsite.org.
So to answer the question about Square One – there you have it. But I have included FACTS that are not emotional responses so people can be educated.
This is an interesting article I read last week :
First of all for those who have been brain-washed I thought you should read this.
Is Debt Settlement Getting A Bum Rap From Cut And Paste Journalists?
September 20, 2009 by JR
Filed under Finance
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Even a casual glance at a few articles on the same subject on the Internet reveals the same layout and opinion, and the same spelling mistakes, and even worse you’ll find many articles that are identical except for the omission of the original author’s name, or its replacement with a different name.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmThis means that instead of doing research and writing something meaningful, that the so called author or journalist merely copied and pasted somebody else’s work.
The vast majority of articles are now short on facts too, and more often than not they simply express an opinion, and are the kind of piece that almost anybody can knock out in a few effortless minutes.
So Why Is That?
The basic reason would seem to be laziness, and it appears to be a global thing, and not just limited to America.
So What Happened To Investigative Journalism?
Investigative journalism is hard work, and it means getting out and talking to people, digging deep and writing very few articles, and a good investigative journalist might spend weeks or months writing an in depth article, and certainly can’t churn out a new one every day or week.
The Bad Debt Phenomenon Deserves Good Journalism.
Every journalist that’s at all worthy of his salt, must know that millions of Americans are drowning under debt, and a good investigative story into what might help them would not only be a top story, but would help a great number of people too.
The Debt Settlement Business.
When did you last read an article in which the journalist discussed talking to somebody in the debt settlement business?
Probably never.
What’s now extremely common, is for so called journalists to see a new release about debt settlement or any other subject, and liking the article, they’ll almost immediately republish it after making few if any changes.
An Interview.
I did personally take the trouble to contact, and then interview someone that has been in the debt settlement business for many years, and what follows is what he told me.
Debt Settlement.
a) Is definitely not for everyone, but it’s generally right for people with more than $10,000 in unsecured debt who have encountered some kind of hardship such as divorce, a job loss, or have suddenly encountered unexpected medical bills, any of which makes it impossible for them to honor their financial obligations.
b) Plays an important and legitimate role in helping these people slash their credit card debt, and get back in control of their lives.
c) Has steadily gained acceptance since 2005, when new laws made Chapter 7 bankruptcy much harder for many people to file.
d) Gets fewer Better Business Bureau complaints than a popular alternative, which is credit counseling, and it successfully resolves a higher percentage of them.
What About The Bad Companies?
I asked him to respond to recent articles that were highly critical of debt settlement, and offered him the chance to put forward some kind of defense, and he critiqued two recent and very widely circulated articles.
The first was a recent AP (Associated Press) article that was given nationwide coverage, which he said,
a) Was typical of the current run of articles, since it was incomplete, and only partially sourced.
b) Contained no quotes or comments by anyone in the debt settlement business.
c) Contained frequent quotes by an executive of the NFCC (National Foundation for Credit Counseling) and even provided a link to their website.
d) Contained no mention of The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC), which is the professional association for the debt settlement industry, and has several hundred member companies that are carefully scrutinized.
He added that the NFCC was established by banks and credit card companies and is supported by them, and asked, “would an organization that was founded and is supported by banking interests put its stamp of approval on a legitimate, and highly effective alternative approach to reducing credit card debt?”.
The second article he took to task was published in USA Today, and he gave it slightly higher marks.
The writer of the article did include the quote, “For some borrowers with large debts that can’t be repaid within three to five years, a reputable debt settlement company may offer an alternative to bankruptcy”, but the quote followed a remark which compared debt settlement to “weight-loss product that causes you to gain 10 pounds”.
The writer of the USA Today article also referred readers to debtadvice.org and the Website of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies, but again made no mention of TASC, and offered no link to its website.
What Should Good Debt Settlement Companies Do?
a) They should explain the advantages and disadvantages up front, stating plainly that debt settlement is not for everyone.
b) Keep the client involved and updated as to every debt settlement decision that needs to be made, and not decide for the client in which order debts should be settled.
c) Clearly explain what the costs will be, and collect their fees over a period of several months so the client doesn’t suddenly get hit with a big bill all at once.
To Summarize
a) It would seem clear from the interview, that debt settlement is only right for some people, and in certain situations.
b) That even if it’s the right choice, that the person considering debt settlement should only go with a reputable Debt Settlement Company that’s BBB (Better Business Bureau) recommended.
More and more journalists are losing their jobs because of the Internet, but many could still make a fine living, and a name for themselves if they got up off their butts and started working for a living.
I have experience using both credit counseling agencies and the Square One debt settlement company…I would highly recommend Square One…I seemed to get nowhere with the credit counseling agency, paying their monthly fees and seeing minimal change in my debt–I finally paid the creditors off myself with profit from selling my house.
Now I am using Square One, and I have had no problems at all with telephone calls from creditors…Square One was very thorough in explaining the process, and their bi-monthly phone calls keep me updated…not only did my monthly payment go down, but my over all debt diminished as well due to their negotiating on my behalf. I think Square One is an excellent company and I would highly recommend using it.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pmI have had success with Square One. Out of 5 debts I have settled 3, and for the most part things have gone as they told me they would. Two of my settlements were better than they told me to expect. I did a lot of research before doing this, and I have a friend who owns a bank who is the one who told me to do debt settlement in the first place. There definitely are companies out there who take advantage, and debt settlement is not right for everyone. If you can pay your bills you should. I was way upside down and bankruptcy wasn’t an option for me. I would and actually have referred friends to Square One.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pm