http://www.debt-free-info.com/debt/n161.html A debt negotiation program can save you a lot of money. Read this page to see if a debt negotiation program is right for you. en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT Weblog Editor 2.0 Negotiating Reductions That's exactly what a debt negotiation program does. When you have a lot of debt, you can contact a debt negotiation firm to get enrolled in some sort of debt negotiation program like debt consolidation or debt settlement. Both of these debt negotiation programs rely heavily upon the negotiation skills of the debt negotiation counselors. To understand why, you must first understand what debt consolidation and debt settlement are. When you enroll in a debt consolidation program, the counselors will contact your creditors and begin the negotiation process. They will negotiate to get past fees removed, interest rate reductions and possibly get finance charges removed. The result? Your unsecured debts get reduced by up to 57%! Then they take those new, lower balances and combine them into one, and you make one payment to the debt negotiation company. This is a popular debt negotiation program because it doesn't require a large sum of cash to be available immediately, it doesn't require collateral and it doesn't require that you be a homeowner. Debt settlement is a debt negotiation program that requires even better negotiation skills. A skilled debt settlement professional can score you balance reductions of 60-80%! What they do is contact your creditors to see if they'll reduce your debt by that much. In return, however, you must pay that new, lower balance in full. Sometimes you get 1-3 years to get it all paid off. In addition, your creditors will likely report your participation in this debt negotiation program to the three credit reporting agencies, and it will effect your credit much in the same way as a late payment. To see if one of these programs is right for you, contact one of the many debt negotiation companies out there today. You can shop around and find the right debt negotiation services for you. Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT