Anyone who is in credit debt and unable to pay the monthly payments to get out of debt is in need of debt relief. If you have unsecured debt such as credit cards, medical bills or personal loans, debt settlement can help you become debt free.

Debt settlement cannot help you with secured debt including mortgages, car loans, utility bills and other debt secured by collateral.  Our debt relief program is not intended for people who are not experiencing financial hardship. If you have the ability to make your monthly payments and have a reasonable credit rating, debt settlement is not for you.

The Stand Tall Debt Relief Program is designed to help people who are experiencing financial hardship. Indications of financial hardship include inability to meet monthly obligations, frequent late payments, receiving collection calls, threats of being sued by creditors and considering bankruptcy.

If you have a significant amount of unsecured debt and do not have the income or assets to cover the monthly payments, you may qualify for this program.  All you have to do is contact us for a consultation. We will review your financial situation and evaluate whether or not you are a candidate for debt settlement.

When you complete The Stand Tall Debt Relief Program, you will be free of the unsecured debt you put into the program. If you have additional unsecured credit that you did not place in the program, that will not be wiped away. Additionally, your secured debt including mortgages, car loans, cell phone bills, utility bills and such will not be affected by debt settlement.

Creditors can “settle” secured debts by repossessing your collateral or discontinuing your utility service. You will, however, have more money to pay back secured loans when you dispense of unsecured loans through debt settlement. In this way the program can help you become completely debt free.

While saving to make a settlement offer to your creditors, you will likely incur late fees that will be reported to the credit rating bureaus, and this will negatively affect your credit score. Additionally, the accounts you enter into the program will probably “charge off,” which causes another negative mark on your credit.

After settling with your creditors, however, your credit score should start to gradually improve. It’s important to remember that the negative affect to your credit posed by debt settlement is far less than bankruptcy, and because debt settlement frees you from debt in 1-3 years, you will have the opportunity to rebuild your credit shortly. Credit counseling, debt consolidation and bankruptcy impact your credit for much longer.

When you sign up for The Stand Tall Debt Relief Program, we will contact your creditors and inform them that we will be representing you for that debt and that they should contact us directly rather than going to you.

In some cases, however, the creditors or collection agencies continue to contact our clients directly. Collection agencies must abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) guidelines, however, that prohibit abusive collection practices. If you have difficulties with violators of the collection laws, we can help.

According to the IRS, the portion of your debt that is forgiven in your settlement is considered taxable income. Consequently, you are responsible for paying taxes on that sum at the end of the year.

Only forgiven debts over $600 are taxable. The IRS does, however, allow exceptions for hardship cases, and certain people can write off a portion of their forgiven debt depending on their financial circumstances. We recommend you consult with a tax advisor to determine how to best handle the tax consequences of debt settlement.

Bankruptcy is considered a last resort debt relief solution for a reason. Bankruptcy carries with it heavy financial consequences and will negatively affect your credit for at least 7 years. Before choosing bankruptcy, it’s recommended that you attempt to pay off your debts in other less damaging ways first.

For some, however, bankruptcy may be indicated because of their situation. Before you choose how to manage your debt, it is useful to research all of your debt relief options including speaking with a bankruptcy attorney. While debt settlement is intended to help you avoid bankruptcy, it is not a guarantee that you will not need to file bankruptcy in the future.

Part of enrolling in our debt relief program involves ceasing to use unsecured credit. It will be difficult to impossible for you to afford your monthly settlement payment if you continue to rack up credit card debt.

Additionally, one of the reasons creditors are willing to negotiate down you debt is because they see that you are in hardship and attempting you pay back your debt. If you continue to charge on credit, your creditors will take that as an indication that you are not operating in good faith.

If you have a credit card with a low enough balance that you can pay it off in the beginning, you can keep that card for emergencies only.

While on The Stand Tall Debt Relief Program, your monthly payments will go into a savings account to use for settlement offers to creditors rather than towards paying monthly payments to your creditors.

It is inevitable that you will be charged late fees on these accounts and you will continue to be charged interest on the money you owe. Our program takes these figures into account when creating an appropriate monthly payment for you to pay.

When we negotiate a settlement with your creditors, these fees will become insignificant compared to the total cost savings you will see.

Anyone is free to try to negotiate a settlement with his or her creditors directly, but you’ll get a better result in less time if you leave it up to the professionals. At The Debt Store, our professional debt consultants have years of experience negotiating with lending companies.

In many cases, we have built relationships with the very people we will argue your case to.Of course, you can negotiate on your own behalf, but it’s very likely that you will not be able to get as much of your debt forgiven as we can.