So, who's the best, and how do you know? What if one company tells you one thing, and another contradicts that information and provides a whole other side to the story?
Quality practices and honest processes are recognized through the Better Business Bureau (bbb) and The Association of Settlement Companies (tasc).
Of course, you'll also want to price which company you are looking to use. Weigh their fees on what they provide, how dedicated to helping debtors. It is a good rule of thumb to charge a portion of their fees on the quality performance they provide its customers. And by performance I mean how low they can settle for you. The lower the settlement the more money the debtor saves. Too many companies out there charge a flat percentage of the total debt amount and collect all of it upfront before settlements are reached. This fee setup does not leave much incentive for the negotiator to attain the best settlement, as they've already earned all their money. If and when negotiators work off their performance, a better settlement will be reached and thus they'll earn more by saving their clients more. So when approaching a settlement operation as such, the ending result is a win win situation among both debtor and negotiator.
One danger to keep your eye open for is whether a company is under investigation by the Attorney General. It is always wise to look up the Attorney General's office for whichever state the company of your choice resides in. The reason is because you should determine if they are under investigation or not, and if it is, then stay away from that choice.
And of course a good debt negotiation service should have a very capable and friendly client services department, that is capable of handling the day to day operations of the business. Way to many companies neglect to really improve and take pride in their client services resulting in the client not getting what he or she thought they were going to get.
