“If I settle my debt, aren’t I cheating my creditors?”

I’ve had this question asked more times than I care to remember. You are only “cheating” your creditors by going through a debt settlement program if you are not in a financial hardship. Enrolling in a debt settlement program if you are not in a financial hardship is not an advisable action. A decent and ethical settlement company should analyze your financial position prior to enrollment in order to ensure you are in the optimal position for a debt settlement program. If a consumer is in a financial hardship, debt settlement can help both the consumer and the creditors looking to collect on the outstanding debts.

The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC) is one of two organizations dedicated to legitimizing the debt settlement industry. The other company is USOBA, the United States Organization for Bankruptcy Alternatives. Our company, Burden Free Inc, is a member of USOBA. Recently TASC announced that debt settlement companies are not just a good solution for consumers who have found themselves in a challenging financial situation, but also can help creditors. According to TASC, the Debt Settlement Industry returned more than $2.2 billion in consumer debt last year. In years past consumers had no alternative to bankruptcy and therefore the creditors may have never seen that $2.2 billion.

Debt settlement provides consumers with the ability to get out from under their financial burden without having to file for bankruptcy. Once again, by providing consumers with an alternative to bankruptcy, debt settlement companies are assisting creditors in collecting funds they normally would never get.