Short answer
There are three ways to work with CRN. The first is a free phone consult with Michael Bovee, where you go through your accounts and your options and finish with a plan you can act on. The second is full service settlement, where a negotiator in the network deals with your creditors and collectors for you and charges 20% of what you save, paid after each settlement clears. The third is one on one dedicated coaching on how to resolve your accounts like a pro.
Key points on this page
- The consult is free. There’s no charge and nothing to sign.
- Full service costs 20% of your savings, paid as each settlement clears, with nothing up front.
- Most national companies charge 25% to 30% of the balance you enroll, not of what you save.
- If you’d rather make the calls yourself, coaching gives you the scripts, the targets, the ideal prioritization and someone to check your work.
- CRN has been doing this since 2004.
Most people who find this site are here for an answer, not a service. That’s how it’s meant to work. Nearly everything I know is published here and on the Debt Bytes YouTube channel, free, and plenty of people read it and go settle their own accounts without ever contacting me.
Some situations need more than a page can give you. If yours is one of them, here’s exactly what’s available, who each option suits, and what it costs.
What it costs
The fee for full service settlement is 20% of your savings. Savings means the amount your balance is reduced by. You pay it after each settlement clears, and there’s nothing up front.
Most national debt settlement companies charge 25% to 30% of the balance you enroll. That’s the difference that matters, and it isn’t the rate. It’s what the rate is calculated on. Their fee is based on what you owed. Mine is based on what you saved.
An example of how the two add up
Say you owe $30,000 across four credit cards, and they settle for $15,000 in total. You saved $15,000, so my fee is $3,000. A company charging 25% of the balance you enrolled would charge $7,500 on the same accounts.
Settlement results vary a great deal by creditor, by collector, and by where your accounts are in the collection process. The example above uses a 50% settlement to show how the two fee structures differ. It isn’t a prediction of what your accounts will settle for.
Start with a free consult
Who it suits: anyone who isn’t sure which direction to go. That includes people with one collection account from years back, and people with dozens of accounts and no idea which to deal with first.
What happens: we go through your debts, your income and what you can realistically put toward this over the next few months and years. I then work through the options by elimination, mostly with math, and rule out the ones that can’t work for you or would waste your time and money. You finish the call knowing which direction solves your problem.
What it costs: nothing. I’ve done these free since 2004. Simple questions can be done in minutes. Most calls run the full scheduled time, and you can always follow up.
I’m not going to try to fit you into a service on that call. Often the right answer is that you don’t need one, and I’ll tell you so.
Coaching, if you want to make the calls yourself
Who it suits: people who are comfortable picking up the phone and would rather keep the savings than pay someone else to do the talking.
What happens: you get the settlement targets for your specific creditors, what to say and when to say it, how to handle each collector, how to get the agreement in writing before you send a dollar, and someone to check your work as you go. You do the negotiating. We tell you what a good outcome looks like so you know when to stop pushing and when to keep going.
What it costs: we’ll cover it on the consult, and you’re under no obligation.
Full service, if you want someone to negotiate for you
Who it suits: people who don’t want the calls, don’t have time for them, or have tried and found the collector wouldn’t move.
What happens: you list your unsecured debts and the funds you have available. You get a schedule built around the lowest settlements and around keeping you out of court. A negotiator submits the offers, and acceptances and counters come back from your creditors. You make the settlement payments and keep the confirmations. A dedicated debt coach stays reachable by email and phone the whole way through.
What it costs: 20% of your savings, after each settlement clears. Nothing up front. No savings, no fee.
Who you’d be working with
CRN is a network, not a call center. These are the people in it.
Michael Bovee founded CRN in 2004 and has worked in debt and credit since 1994. He publishes the guides on this site and the Debtbytes channel, answers reader questions daily, and takes a limited number of clients. He’s been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NerdWallet and Mashable.
Paul Wisuri has more than 30 years of management experience with major financial institutions and is a full time specialist in the network. He coaches people through negotiating their own settlements and also negotiates directly. He’s been recognized nationally for his work as a CASA volunteer.
Charles Phelan pioneered do-it-yourself debt settlement education with coaching. A rebranded version of his Debt Settlement Success Seminar went to CRN members for years, and he’s one of the better known settlement experts in the country.
Jared Strauss has been negotiating debts for over a decade, with a client success rate built on being selective about who he takes on. Before that he won awards as a debt collector, which is a useful thing for the person on your side of the table to have done.
Andrew Weber focuses on private student loans, the debts most settlement people won’t touch, and knows federal repayment well too.
How to start
Every one of these starts the same way, with the free consult. Nothing is decided on that call and nothing is signed.
If you’d rather ask a question in writing first, send it here. I answer those every day.
I have multiple debts, all in collections, several charge-offs, and even just got served in a lawsuit for a credit card. Would be interested to hear what you have to say.
Is it possible to not show my full name here? Didn’t realize I was putting this out on the web… was just hoping to do a call with Michael, not broadcast to the world.
No problem. I removed the last name from your first post.
You can schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
A company credit card with a previous employer of mine was used for company purchases but according to American Express I was considered the primary person on the account. I was the CFO of the company. When I left my employment with the company in 2018, the company made some payments and then stopped paying anything on the card. The amount of the debt is $12,626.86. I have received many phone calls and emails over the past few years and on July 31, 2025, the latest email I received from American Express stated the following: “We must inform you that the law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, American Express will not sue you for it.”
I understand that if American Express sells/transfers the account to an outside collections agency the outside agency can continue to try to collect the debt. My question is this: Since American Express is apparently time limited from suing me, would an outside agency also be time limited from suing me?
Correct. The statute of limitations in your state for initially using the court to collect does not adjust based on who is collecting.
Hello Michael,
First I want to thank you for the help!
I recently disputed a closed credit card from over 9 years ago. (I did not know that this card was considered in good standing). I used Credit Karma and my reason for dispute I had selected option
“I believe this account it too old to be on my credit”.
2-3 weeks later the dispute is now over and the closed account remains on my credit report (as it should be). Only now it has remarks that say “Dispute resolved; consumer disagrees, account closed by consumer”
This credit account was closed in good standing and the credit limit was $300.
So my question is should that remark affect me getting an FHA home loan? This is only on my credit report & Can I get that remark removed? Because I never disputed the amount or card. I just didn’t know until after I disputed that it will stay for 10 years since it is in good standing. Hindsight is 20/20 :/ It’s stressing me out now. Because I did this to myself.
I have seen disputes on negative items hold up an FHA loan, but not positives. Have you talked to a loan officer that does FHA loans about this? Please post an update with what you hear back.
It did not affect the application process and our loan officer said I am in the clear! Now we are looking for our first home! Thank you!
Great. Happy house hunting!
I lost my job a while back and recently took on a serving position while I continue to look for a more stable employment. I have a Master’s degree but still cannot seem to find any work. I owe a little over $1000 to Credit One bank but am also paying off debt on another credit card and my old apartment complex, along with trying to stay up to date on health and car insurance bills. I am doing my best but it has been very difficult. Best way to contact me is by email as I am typically not a person who answers the phone if I don’t know the number or am working at the time.
I would try to stay current on this to the extend that is possible. Small balance accounts settle, but the savings after the account inflates from penalties and unpaid interest will limit the savings you can achieve.
Check out accounts to include in your settlement plan.
I also have a post dedicated to settling with Credit One Bank.
I got a loan for 9000 for a central air and heating system 3 years ago i still have 2 to go but greensky is no longer doing loans and i need about 12000 to get a car can i still get one?
What are your credit scores?
Do you have any unresolved or unpaid collections?
Do you have a steady paycheck?
Hello. I have a 14 year old debt with CareCredit. It started as a $3000 bill, with a remaining balance of $600. I pleaded for one more day as I had a buyer for my car the next day. They denied … 14 years of no contact, and now they have seized my whole bank, my income tax, and my paychecks were also in there. Now I have $0 to my name. I really don’t want to file bankruptcy as my credit score is 701. Any suggestions, please. I was never served court papers, nor do I have bank garnishment notice. I’m in Michigan.
It sounds like you were sued and a judgment entered against you. You should be able to verify that in your county civil court docket.
I would contact the court house tomorrow and find out the steps you need to take to contest the garnishments and levy as causing a hardship. If you qualify under your state guideline you could get funds returned to you.
I would then figure out next steps with the law firm that is handling the collections on this judgment.
Hey Michael, I have one account through Chase (Credit, $19,000) that I can’t afford to keep paying – specifically while I work to get out of all of my credit card debt (roughly $34,000 total). Would I be better suited to suspend payment on all of my accounts and then attempt to settle with each of the companies (CapitalOne, Goldman Sachs, Chase) in four-to-five months or should I continue to pay on the others while I let the big one fall to the wayside until I can attempt to settle?
The answer is going to vary for each of us. Most of my feedback on this question will be based on your cash flow and whether you can raise money to fund deals.You are welcome to schedule a call with me to go over the details of your situation.
I am pretty confident I can raise like $15,000 in the next five months after expenses – I would be happy to set up a call with you to flesh it out for sure.
You can schedule the call with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
We are 3 years into a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy that we had to file because my Husband’s business failed, our BK payment is 2200/ month. In Dec. 2022 my Husband lost his job, he has since found employment but is making significantly less than he was before and we are struggling to keep up with everything…We still don’t qualify for Chapter 7 and don’t want to lose our assets. We have alot of equity in our home, it is not part of the Chapter 13. We are contemplating selling our home and “Voluntary Dismissal” of the Bankruptcy and settling with the creditors. Our concern is what further damage will be to our credit if we dismiss & settle as opposed to keeping up the payments for 19 more months.
A chapter 13 will typically prevent you from reaching most credit goals during your repayment plan. If you are able to settle quickly once the chapter 13 is dismissed, the quicker you may be able to accomplish major credit goals.
I got your other question submission and sent you an email you can reply to so that I can offer a better timeline and feedback.
I am dealing a collections debt from a broken lease with an apartment complex from 2018. I am trying to settle the debt and get a pay to delete letter. But the collection agency has refused to provide that type letter stating; it’s against policy. This debt is preventing us from renting another apartment.
My question is two part: 1. Is there a separate credit reporting strictly for renting/rental agency? 2. How can I get this pay to delete letter.
You typically cannot force them to delete a legitimate negative item on your credit reports. They do have to update it to a zero balance owed paid status if you resolve the balance.
Sheriff served “Motion to claim exempt property” and I have 20 days! Apparently I have been sued for unpaid credit card debt dating back to 2018. Looking at my credit report, it is for $3,700. I have tried reaching out to a few “free” online lawyer pages but they have been less than helpful in the past 24hrs, they just want me to come in for a meeting and I really do not have time for that. When the sheriff delivered the paperwork he said “fill this out, return in 20 days, do not wait until day 21”.
My question is, can I contact the attorney office that is suing me, out of state, 3 states away, and arrange for payment, or are we beyond that point now that they are wanting to seize personal property per the “MOTION TO CLAIM EXEMPT PROPERTY” paperwork that was dropped off?
You can typically still call the collection law firm to make arrangements.
I tend to find them at their least accommodating in a situation like this (judgment and trying to enforce it through property).
Hello! I appreciate any advice on this matter you may be able to provide.
I have a Care Credit card. I only applied for it to purchase some insoles from the good feet store in August of 2021, as my feet would burn when I ran. Only purchase I ever made on it. I was initially approved at $2000 limit. Upon their re-review during a hard time, they decreased my limit to $1300. I have made my payments at the minimum or more if I could for over a year. I didn’t realize the interest was deferred for an initial time period, and when that ended it basically reset the amount and put my credit utilization on my report at 111%. Now, every time I make my payment it practically resets every month. I was recently able to pay off a ton of debt and now this is the only thing dragging down my score. I feel hopeless because I used all I had to pay balances and was unable to pay on this one any further. I still make my payments. I have 100% payment history across the board. They won’t send to collections unless you miss payments for 90 days. No human will speak to me from the credit increase department either. I am heavily contemplating letting it go to collections so I can arrange for it to close out and at least no longer add to the interest on the account. Even their hardship program will only lower the monthly payment (and close the account) but it would continue adding the same interest every month. In the long run it would just increase the balance. Any suggestions?
I would not want to take a 100 plus credit score drop from falling behind on a single small balance account like this if I could avoid it.
I would apply any extra cash I have toward more than the minimum payment until I got it to zero.
Thank you in advance for this service.
I am 73, retired, absolutely no real assets, only a SS check each month. I live in the Philippines full time.
I have close to $30k in AMEX balances, very high 20+% interest rate, and monthly payments of now $1,200 which are almost 50% interest charges. I am thinking of defaulting. What are the consequences?
Check out my video about dealing with debt when living abroad.
Thank you. Can a legal finding garnish my SS pension, my only income, living here in the Philippines?
Not in this situation. More on that here: http://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/question/social-security-pension-state-exemption-debt-collector-garnishment/
Have a problem with Greenleaf
Apartment in Tucson AZ with
Unfair eviction and collection
Dispute, on what I don’t owe.
I would contact a local tenants rights organization about your situation.
Hello, I had loans with AES. I was in contact with them the entire process. I explained my job loss for over a year and made payments. I tried several ways to file for some type of deferment but was always told I did not qualify. I made payments when I can. I spoke to an AES rep who told me I did qualify for reduced payment, and I tried to file for the process, but my application remained pending, and loans defaulted to MRS. MRS has been rude while I have tried to offer some type of payment for them but what they are asking is not reasonable especially knowing I just returned to work now a year and making less than half of the salary I had before. What exactly can i do?
How much do the private student loans add up to?
I was served with a lawsuit last week by the law firm of Pantenaud and Felix on behalf of Capital One for $3,500. Back in 2018, I became ill, almost didn’t make it, was hospitalized for a long time. I pulled through but now disabled, on SSI and food stamps. When I got sick I all of my credit cards (even those with a zero balance), bank accounts, and store cards were closed and charged off. I have considered hiring an attorney, but wondering if I could negotiate with the law firm on my own. I don’t have anything really but my son said he will loan me $1,000 to offer them if they will take it as a settlement to avoid going to court. I have a few questions before I contact the law firm.
1. Is there anything that I should NOT say or do when talking with the law firm?
2. Do I need to provide proof that I am disabled and on SSI?
3. Do I have to answer any personal questions, such as my living situation, SSI amount, or my disability?
4. Do you think that they may take the $1000 as a settlement in full?
5. Do they have the right to request my bank statements and financial information, or do they (the law firm) already have that information?
Thank you for all the help and information on this website. It has been most helpful and appreciated.
Settling when sued is something I cover in more depth here: https://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/question/can-you-negotiate-and-settle-a-credit-card-debt-if-you-are-being-sued/
Outcomes tend to be between 50 and 80 percent of the balance.
I have seen some lower, and it is often when you have no assets, and can fully document a fixed income while qualifying for your state exemptions from wage garnishment.
I am doubtful they will go that low in the settlement. In the effort to get them there I would anticipate having to answer more detailed questions about my income and expenses.
There can be documentation requests.
I have 3 Navy Federal credit union cards. 2 credit cards and 1 line of credit. I also have 2 credit cards with Penfed Credit union and 1 card with Chase Bank. I have been paying on time with all of them for years, but recently it has become more difficult to make the monthly payments. I am thinking the only or best way to get out of this mess is to stop paying and save up for a year or so then offer a settlement. Is Penfed Credit union generous with settlement amounts? Is Chase Bank generous? Are any of them likely to sue? I owe Navy over 60k. Penfed over 40k and Chase over 10k. Thank you
Chase settlements are better than the other 2.
PenFed settlements are often 40 to 50 percent, but they sell to debt buyers now too, and that can change things depending on who is collecting.
Navy Federal settlements are in the middle.
There is at least some chance of being sued on all 3.
I received a civil summons packet informing me about a civil lawsuit for the amount of $1500 started by a law firm representing Midland Credit Management 2 days ago. I went ahead and contacted MCM through their website chat and was directed to the law firm handling the lawsuit. I contacted the only local bankruptcy lawyer near my county that was willing to handle my case for consultation and he suggested me to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy(which I don’t want). I was looking more to settling the debt with them and asking Midland to remove the derogatory remarks from my credit report. After giving it thought I called the law firm representing MCM today and they were very polite and came to an agreement and I scheduled a payoff on the account on April 9. They agreed to send me a letter and email agreeing to dismiss the case in court once the payment is made and they would send the payoff info to MCM as well. I asked them about Midland removing the derogatory remarks from my credit report but they told me I would have to speak with MCM because they were not authorized to negotiate credit bureau and they advice me to speak to them before the payment was made. I proceeded to call MCM and they said once they are informed the account is payed off by the law firm that it is their policy to remove the accounts that are over 2 years from credit bureau, which he confirmed it was 2 years in February. I just want to get advice if this sounds right? Am I doing the right thing? The local attorney I spoke to was not very nice and was not willing to represent me if I took the route of settling with the law firm and was pushing for chapter 13 bankruptcy.
That all sounds about right and normal from my perspective Lino.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your feedback. I have been reading and watching your blogs and you just don’t know how much I have learned in the past 2 days.
My sole income is SS. I have been treating for terminal cancer for more than 3 years. My medical bills and other debts are astronomical. What type of bankruptcy do I file?
Talk to a local bankruptcy attorney about chapter 7.
I am trying to negotiate a settlement with a creditor in response to a court summons over the debt. They are asking me to provide questions about my rent/mortgage payments, income etc. The rep said they cannot offer a negotiation without this information and I would have to pay the total amount. It is not a lot $1900 but over $500 of that are interest and late fees that accrued. Should I give this information to negotiate down for the principal of the matter or just make an arrangement to pay the bill?
Who is the creditor suing?
Who is the law firm involved?
Generally, providing that level a detail, unless it shows a fixed income and no asset scenario, is not conducive to getting a better settlement outcome.
I really need help woth an AMEX issue, please call me i could really really use help. Have tired for over a week to find a solution and nothing. Spent 8 hours on the phone with AMEX today.
You can schedule a phone call with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min