In this practice, a creditor would agree that you pay less than the amount you owe only after you fall into collections. A Service by negotiating a settlement on average of 48%.

Credit will drop by half as many points as a bankruptcy. It will show on your credit as “settled for less” which will stay on your credit for 7 years.

Companies also charge a fee for their service from 15-20% of your debt, not including your new settlement amount.

Credit repair involves fixing your bad credit in any way, shape, or form. But when most people use the term “credit repair,” they’re referring to the process of challenging and disputing errors on credit reports.

You can go through the dispute process for free with each of the credit bureaus on your own. This involves filing a formal dispute with the credit bureau(s) in question either online or by mail.

One of the most powerful tools you have under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is to require that a debt collector verify the amount and validity of the debt it's trying to collect. But to validate the debt, you must act quickly once the debt collector contacts you.

‍Normally, the collection agency gives you specific information in its first letter, which is generally called a "debt validation notice"