Hi Gerry,

I agree that 40% is too high a fee charged by a debt settlement company.

As far as how to cancel, if you were to, you can look to your contract with the company. Given the detail you provided, it appears they are currently collecting on earned fees for 2 accounts they settled already. Future fees for successfully settling additional accounts being based on contingency (performance fee) should mean you would not owe a fee for accounts not settled. If you have not fully paid for the fees earned for work already performed, you should expect to have to pay any remaining balance owed for services performed.

As for settling the remaining debts on your own – YES, you can and should! Our position at CRN is that people should always begin a debt settlement/debt negotiation plan by plugging into information and support systems that allow you to negotiate and fund settlements without the expense associated with hiring someone to do it for you. Getting empowered to do some or all of the settlements on your own means you save money in fees which allows you to fund settlements that much quicker and be out of debt more rapidly. The quicker you can move through settling the credit cards, the less risk you have and the sooner you can return to responsible spending and more stable finances. If you experience difficulty settling one or more account on your own, only then would you need to connect with affordable and effective professionals to settle the debts on your behalf. At CRN we believe 15% of savings for professional debt settlement services is a fair and affordable fee and that is what CRN members and education subscribers pay. This is generally half of what most companies charge and in your case nearly a third of what your being charged.

I am assuming that your credit card debts have gone unpaid for more than 6 months so you will mostly be working with collection agencies and debt buyers at this point. Contacting those agencies and working out an arrangement to settle the accounts is not rocket science. There is however, a science to it, and it mostly consists of strategy. For example:

Who was the original creditor and where is the debt placed now? If an agency has the debt on assignment from your credit card bank, how long have they had it and was it placed with an agency prior? If the debt has been purchased, by whom? Not all buyers settle debts at the same rates and not all buyers or agencies offer the same payment terms where the reduced amount can be paid over many months as opposed to a lump sum or shorter term payment duration. Have any of the accounts been placed with a collection law firm? If so, this fact would impact the priority given to each account. The state you reside in could change your debt settlement plan strategy. For instance, if you live in a state that has more advantageous consumer protection laws like North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and some others, you have an element of time being more on your side than someone in New Jersey and other states lacking robust consumer protection laws. Then there is the number one ingredient that goes into baking a debt settlement cake; the amount of money you can pull together over a specific period of time in order to follow through with the settlement plan design.

CRN has been helping guide people through the science of settling credit card debts on their own since 2004. About 75% of the accounts people came to us with in 2011 were settled on their own using our education supplemented by ongoing support from our specialists.

If you do go forward with canceling your agreement with the current firm you are working with and would like access to our balance reduction and debt settlement education that is combined with ongoing access to, and support from, a CRN specialist, you will find our education based program affordable ad effective. You can get started as a CRN subscriber by clicking here: CRN Membership Enrollment