I have been asked by so many victims of debt settlement company to help them find refunds that I have lost count. In a few cases, I have been able to direct them to the trustee responsible for paying partial refunds. Most clients are not that fortunate.

(Ask a Question) Why does overpaying one month not reduce my minimum payment for the next month? When I paid $50 more than the minimum payment, the next month’s payment was almost the same ($4 cheaper). Why does the monthly payment not drop by more since I basically paid a big chunk of it early.

(Ask a Question) I am in a position of receiving a little unexpected money this week.  I would like to pay off as many bills as possible with this money to make it go as far as possible.  I contacted one creditor and inquired if they might settle.  They agreed to settling the balance at about 55%. The savings is just under $600. Will this affect my credit score in a worse way than continuing paying monthly through a non-profit consumer credit counseling company?

(Ask a Question) I have serval credits with low balances that I can pay, but I have one that is huge that I cannot afford their min payment. Can I just do debt settlement on this one without going through my whole financial life.

(Ask a Question) I’ve been told that, paying off 2 small debts I have (one for $70, the other for $200) These are bills that I didn’t know about & have gone into collections (obviously, I rarely check my credit report) & just found out about them.
I was about to call up the collection agencies & pay them off, when my friend informed me not to, that it would only serve to diminish my credit score.

This seems contrary to logic (but then so does credit, to me). Either way, is my friend right? Am I better off, just not paying those two past due bills, since they’re both older than 3 years?

(Christina) I am in the process of buying a house and we are closing in 3 weeks. My lender asked me to explain two negatives on my credit, one being an $88 medical bill from 2009 that I was unaware of. I did not realize this was for underwriting purposes only, so yesterday I called the collector to find out about the account, and paid it in full thinking it would help. My lender then told me this would “dramatically” impact my credit in a negative way. After reading about the “Fair Isaac” decision on no penalty for paying off a debt collection in full, I am doubting what my lender told me. With three weeks until closing, how quickly might this be reported to my credit, and what impact might it have on my closing? We have been approved for FHA and losing this house over paying an $88 debt will be crushing for us. Thank you.

There is no shortage of invitations to see your “free” credit score. However, you may have by now realized that there comes a catch in the form of an expensive credit monitoring service that you are automatically enrolled in as a condition of seeing your free score.

(Barbara from New Jersey) I have about $10,000 in credit card debt. I have seen commercials for Morgan Drexen and other debt settlement companies. Is this a good idea? Should I hire a debt settlement company?

(Sandra from Arizona) i get some of my refund early every year but last year it was hard to find holiday refund loans can I get one this year?

Several of our visitors have complaints about a debt settlement company called Lincoln Drexel. Who are they and are they legit?

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