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Our team of Account Managers have extensive experience and knowledge in negotiating debt. We have an impeccable relationship with the creditors and collection agencies, which are usually unwavering in negotiating with the consumer directly. |
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Absolutely! Anything you do aside from pay your creditors as agreed will reflect negatively on your credit report. Once an account has been settled with us, it will reflect as “Settled for less than full balance” on your credit report.
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It typically takes about 18-36 months. However, it could be much sooner depending on each individual situation.
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Our Customer Service Department is available to assist you with any needs Monday through Friday during the hours of 9am-6pm, Eastern Standard Time.
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Creditors routinely place accounts for collection with outside agencies often referred to as a “third party” collection agency.
DO NOT PANIC!! Such activity is “business as usual.” Usually, collection agencies are easier for us to deal with opposed to the original creditor. If you receive correspondence from a collection firm, stay calm and be patient. Notify us by phone, mail or fax of all correspondence you receive. Remember, it can take anywhere from three to six weeks for all information to be entered and processed in the creditors databases.
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No. We recommend that you keep at least one credit card open in case of emergency. Any accounts that are included in our debt settlement program must be closed by you. Make sure if you chose to keep a credit card out of the program, it does not have the same issuing bank, as it may negatively affect our negotiating power on that account.
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If you find there are additional debts that need to be added, please contact Customer Service so they can guide you through the appropriate steps. These debts must also follow our normal guidelines, as far as being unsecured, not backed by government agencies, no student loans, and no personal loans with collateral. Please make sure you have an updated statement reflecting your current balance and account number. Your total debt and monthly payment will increase. Also, if there is debt that you need to remove from the program, Customer Service is able to assist you with this as well.
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Optimal Debt Solutions is not a law firm. Please don’t refer to us as your attorneys or your legal representatives. In order for us to properly assist you, please fax or mail the paperwork into us as soon as possible. Many times the creditor would rather settle with us than go through the trouble of a lawsuit. As long as the funds are available in your Special Purpose account, we will attempt to work out a settlement to get the problem resolved. However, if no funds are available in your Special Purpose account, Optimal Debt Solutions will attempt another route aside from settlement until the funds are accumulated.
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The creditors constantly monitor your credit history, and if they see you have applied for new credit while you are currently delinquent with them, they can possibly move forward with legal action. Optimal Debt Solutions maintains that you are in a financial hardship and doing things to contradict that, such as applying for new credit or keeping large sums of money in your bank accounts, may inhibit the settlement process.
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We cannot stop a creditor from adding interest of late/over-the-limit-fees to your accounts. However, your individual program will reflect those fees and/or interest, and is incorporated into the settlement. Because we often negotiate the debt down to a fraction of what you owe, your savings are usually far greater than any interest of late fees that can accrue.
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Debt Settlement is a fast and more aggressive approach to tackling your unsecured debts by ultimately settling the total debt amount by 40-60%. Consolidation simply reduces the interest rate which is less helpful to the consumer and generally takes three times as long to complete.
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