Negotiating credit card debt settlements can be a tricky task. Here’s some pitfalls that you’ll encounter along the way.

Can you negotiate your own settlements? The short answer is yes.  But, before you start calling your creditors asking for settlements, be prepared to be tricked into giving too much information, humiliated and insulted, threatened with lawsuits and foreclosure and a dragged out battle for your money.

Now, granted, not all of these things may happen to you, maybe none of them will. You’ve got a better chance of avoiding these nasty events if you can settle before your account goes to a collection agency.

But you have to be prepared to encounter all of them. And here’s why:

Debt collectors are a manipulative bunch

They can be stubborn, aggressive, and very convincing.  They have a lot of tactics and tricks and will have you sending payments just to keep them from disrupting your life.  They can be very intimidating and make you feel like you are the scum of the earth for not being able to pay them.

They play games

Calling relatives is a common tactic, but it is against the law for them to disclose the nature of the call. They’ll also call you at work, which is also illegal.

You will need to know the finer points of negotiation

Credit card companies and other creditors simply will not give you a substantial amount off your balance by you just asking.  There will be hard questions to answer and you will not get the best settlement possible right away.  It takes skill to negotiate a win-win agreement.

Each creditor has it’s own way of handling delinquent accounts

Some will accept a 30% settlement, while some will accept no lower than 65% of the balance owed.  Others will not even talk to you if you offer to settle until your account has gone to a collection agency.

• Do you take the first offer? or maybe the second one?
• Will there be a second one?
• Should I hold out another few months?
• Or will it be too late and will it be heading to the courts?
• How long should I play the back and forth game?

If you are considering trying to settle your credit card debts by yourself, you will have to find out the answers as you go along.  Getting a satisfactory settlement is not impossible, but it is difficult, aggravating, and time-consuming.

I simply did not have the time nor the expertise to deal with these questions.  Plus, I wanted the maximum discount possible.  So after careful research I chose to hire this debt settlement company to do this for me. Hiring a reliable debt settlement company is an easy step, but an extremely important one.  Get all the tips and information you need here.

But I Still Want to Do it Myself!

If all this seems a little frightening, Zipdebt has some great information that will help you avoid some of these situations to get the best settlement for your credit card debt.