Can debt management companies be trusted?
guy c asked:
I’ve been in a program for 10 months now. I’ve recently come into some money that will pay all these bill off. Now I’m a little conserned about sending a rather large check to the debt management company. They’ve been good in the past, paid what they said, but it just bothers me to send this much money to them. I wonder if I should pay the bills myself or let them do it. This is a once in a life time chance for me I can’t screw it up.
June
I’ve been in a program for 10 months now. I’ve recently come into some money that will pay all these bill off. Now I’m a little conserned about sending a rather large check to the debt management company. They’ve been good in the past, paid what they said, but it just bothers me to send this much money to them. I wonder if I should pay the bills myself or let them do it. This is a once in a life time chance for me I can’t screw it up.
June
Carmen
First, I’ll tell you that I am not familiar with what you are going through. So this is my personal opinion. I would think that since you feel as you do about not trusting the management company, I would pay the debt off as you suggested provided that you aren’t obligated by agreement to pay a service fee or percentage that the management company would be entitled to.
If your agreement is such that you handed the entire debt burden to them, then paying the original debtor directly could be seen as a violation of the agreement.
Kathleen
I’d probably do it in segments. Once you see that the first part has been passed through, you can give them another hunk.
You are wise to be careful. You might want to check with the BBB to see if they have any complaints.
Steve
The debt management industry is one that is notorious for fraud and taking advantage of customers. It is encouraging that the company has been good to this point. I would do a little more background checking on the company to make sure there are not any major complaints about the management company. For extra security, I would make an effort to send your debt management company a letter or email (something in writing) to let them know that you will be sending in the remaining balance. This way you have something else to point to if the worst happened and things don’t go as planned.