A lot of people hear on TV and radio about services that will help you with debt settlement or debt consolidation, what do you say about those type of services?

Debt settlement, debt consolidation, debt negotiation, these are all great, great things. They help certain people. And the kind of people they help is who are currently making a lot of money and have a disposable income at the end of each month. I just want to warn you. If you think that you can do a debt settlement and that is going to somehow magically improve your credit score, I can tell you “That is wrong.” Once you’re late, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, your credit is already ruined. And just settling the debt with the creditor is not going to improve your score. In fact, they’re going to report on your credit report that the “debt was settled for less than full value” and that’s bad for your credit. So, if you are under the impression that, “Oh, if I pay something towards my debt, my credit is going to become better.” That is not correct. I suggest if you don’t have excess amount of money, if you’re not making a lot of money, file a chapter 7 or a chapter 13. A Chapter 7 or 13 does not affect your score any worse than a foreclosure, or a loan modification, or  being 30 days, 60 days, 90 days late. In fact once your score is low enough, nothing you do will lower the score any more.