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Debt Resolution Frequently Asked Questions

Will the Think Debt Relief program make me debt-free?

The Think Debt Relief debt resolution program can only help you with your unsecured debt, like credit cards and medical bills. You’ll still be responsible for any secured debt you have, as well as certain other debts — including student loans, government loans, back taxes, and utility bills — that our debt relief program won’t be able to help you with.

Although we won’t be able to help you resolve your secured debt, once your unsecured debts are resolved, you’ll be able to focus all your resources on paying off your secured debts and any other outstanding obligations.

What’s the difference between unsecured debt and secured debt?

Unsecured debt isn’t tied to any collateral and includes things like credit cards, department store cards, and medical bills. These are the types of debts that are eligible for debt resolution through the Think Debt Relief program.

Secured debt is tied to some form of collateral; it includes accounts like a home mortgage, a home equity line of credit, or a car loan. If you fail to make your payments and end up defaulting on a secured debt, the collateral guaranteeing that debt may be repossessed by your creditor. In the case of a home or car loan, for example, you could end up losing your house or your car. Unfortunately, secured debts aren’t eligible for debt resolution.

What’s a Debt Reduction Account?

Your Think Debt Relief Debt Reduction Account is an FDIC-insured special-purpose savings account established by you in your name and under your complete control. The money you deposit into this account is yours, and you control access to the account at all times.

The purpose of the Debt Reduction Account is to give you a federally protected account into which you can make your program payments while you’re enrolled in our debt relief program. The funds you build up in your Debt Reduction Account will be used to resolve your enrolled debts, as our attorneys or debt negotiators reach resolution agreements with your creditors on each outstanding debt.

Payments to your creditors will be deducted from your Debt Reduction Account, as will your program fees. However, no payment, withdrawal, or transfer will ever be made out of your Debt Reduction Account without your prior express authorization.

How will debt resolution affect my credit?

Unlike a bankruptcy or a credit counseling program, our debt resolution program won’t show up directly as a notation on your credit report. Although any of your debts that are resolved for less than the full amount you owe will typically be noted as “settled” rather than “paid” on your credit report, no one will be able to tell just by pulling your credit that you’re working with Think Debt Relief or with our network of debt-negotiation attorneys.

However, as with other debt relief programs, your credit score will be negatively affected during the debt resolution process. How much your credit is affected will depend on your current credit score and your individual situation.

Keep in mind that if, like many of the people who come to us looking for debt help, you’re currently struggling to keep up with your monthly bills and you’re missing or falling behind on your monthly credit card or other bill payments, your credit is already being adversely affected. If you continue to fall behind on any required minimum monthly payments on your debts, your credit score will be negatively affected, regardless of whether or not you’re enrolled in our debt resolution program or some other debt relief program.

When you enroll in our debt relief program, while you’re likely going to see a negative impact to your credit score in the short term due to the debt resolution process, the goal of the Think Debt Relief program is to help you in the long term: We want you to be able to take control of your debt and get your life back on track.

After you’ve successfully completed the Think Debt Relief program and your unsecured debts are resolved, you may be able to begin taking steps to rebuild your credit as you get your life and your finances back on track.† (Please note, however, that our debt resolution program isn’t designed to be a credit repair program, and we don’t offer any assistance with your credit score.)

Is the Think Debt Relief program a debt elimination program?

Simply enrolling in our debt resolution program won’t eliminate your debts. As our debt attorneys or debt-negotiation professionals negotiate resolution agreements with your creditors on your enrolled debts, you’ll have to pay those negotiated amounts in order to successfully resolve those debts and close those outstanding accounts.

Any successful debt resolution program is highly dependent on your ability to build up your Debt Reduction Account by saving a specified amount of money consistently each month. And debt resolution will only be able to help you with your eligible unsecured debts, not with any secured debts like a home mortgage or car loan.

Will I have to take out another loan?

No. Unlike a debt consolidation program, our debt resolution program doesn’t result in yet another loan or a new line of credit that you have to take out.

How much does the Think Debt Relief program cost?

Your fees will depend on whether you enroll in our attorney-assisted debt resolution program or our non-attorney-assisted program.

In our non-attorney-assisted program, there’s a program fee of 19.9% of each debt amount being resolved and a monthly account maintenance fee of $10.75, charged by the company that hosts your Debt Reduction Account.

You won’t be charged any program fees on any account you enroll in our non-attorney-assisted program until the account has been resolved. As each account is resolved, the program fee of 19.9% of the debt amount at the time of enrollment will be deducted from your Debt Reduction Account.

In our attorney-assisted debt resolution program, there’s an attorney fee of $900, a program fee of 15% of the total debt amount you enroll in our debt relief program, a monthly account maintenance fee of $10.25 (charged by the company that hosts your Debt Reduction Account), and a monthly legal retainer fee. The monthly retainer fee is $50 if you enroll less than $25,000 of debt in the program and $79 if you enroll $25,000 or more.

You won’t have to pay these fees upfront. Instead, we spread out these fees over several months so that more of your money each month can go toward building up your Debt Reduction Account and resolving your debts.

The attorney fee is divided up into nine monthly installments of $100 each if you enroll less than $35,000 of debt in the program. If you enroll $35,000 or more, the attorney fee will be divided up into six monthly installments of $150 each. The program fee is spread out over a period of 16–18 months, depending on the length of your personalized Think Debt Relief program. For your convenience, the fees will be deducted from the Debt Reduction Account you’ll be using to pay your creditors.

We’ll never try to hide our fees from you: We’ll always disclose our fees to you before you enroll in any one of our debt relief programs, and all fees are included in any quote or monthly program payment plan you get from us.

How much of my debt will you be able to negotiate away?

The goal of the Think Debt Relief program is to resolve your enrolled debts for less than what you owe at the time the resolution agreement is reached.* Your actual resolution write-off amounts will vary depending on your creditors, your payment history, the size and type of each debt you enroll, and other individual factors.

While our debt negotiators and our network of debt-negotiation attorneys strive to negotiate the best possible resolution offer for you with each of your creditors, please note that we can’t guarantee that any creditor will agree to resolve your outstanding account for less than what you owe.

Do you offer any kind of guarantee or refund policy?

Although we can’t guarantee that each of your creditors will agree to resolve your outstanding accounts for less than what you owe, our network of debt attorneys does offer a 35% minimum performance standard* for our attorney-assisted debt resolution program: If our debt attorneys aren’t able to negotiate away at least 35% of your debt amount at the time a resolution agreement is reached, they’ll refund your fees on that account and still continue to work to successfully resolve that debt to your satisfaction, at no additional cost to you.

For our non-attorney-assisted debt settlement program, if our debt negotiators aren’t able to negotiate away a percentage of your debt amount at the time a resolution agreement is reached that is at least equal to what your program fee on that account would be, we’ll remove that account from our program, and there won’t be any fees due for that account.

Will I be charged interest and late fees on the debts I enroll in the Think Debt Relief program?

Being enrolled in a debt resolution program won’t stop any interest, late fees, collection charges, or other penalties from accruing on your accounts. Your creditors will continue to charge interest, late fees, and penalties as they normally would, and you’ll still be responsible for paying these charges.

The goal of our debt attorneys and debt negotiators, however, is to negotiate a resolution amount with your creditors that’s 35%–60% less than what you owe at the time the resolution agreement is reached.*

How long does the debt resolution process take?

Although our debt attorneys and debt negotiators typically aim to resolve all your enrolled accounts within 14 to 36 months, your actual debt relief timeline will depend on who your creditors are, how much debt you enroll, the size of your monthly program payments, and other individual factors.*

When do your attorneys start negotiating with my creditors?

As soon as you’ve enrolled in the Think Debt Relief attorney-assisted program, our debt attorneys will begin sending letters of representation to your creditors on your behalf. These letters will inform your creditors that you now have legal representation, and you can begin referring all creditor communications to the attorneys representing you.

Debt negotiations in both our attorney-assisted program and our non-attorney-assisted program will begin once you’ve built up enough funds in your Debt Reduction Account for a reasonable resolution offer to be made to one of your creditors — typically, around eight to 12 months after you enroll.* Our debt-negotiation attorneys and debt-negotiation professionals will generally reach a resolution agreement soon after the negotiation process has begun.

Your own debt relief timetable for successfully resolving all your enrolled debts will vary depending on how much debt and how many accounts you enroll, the size of your monthly program payments, and other individual factors.

Couldn’t I negotiate with my creditors on my own instead of paying Think Debt Relief to do it?

You could. Keep in mind, though, that through the Think Debt Relief attorney-assisted program, you’ll be working with a proven law firm that has over 14 years’ experience in debt relief proceedings, and you’ll be getting a national, established network of experienced debt attorneys on your side.

The attorneys who will negotiate with your creditors on your behalf are professional debt-negotiation specialists who deal with creditors every day. Our attorneys’ legal expertise, extensive debt resolution experience, and established relationships with certain creditors may allow them to negotiate a better resolution agreement than you would be able to get negotiating on your own. But the choice is completely up to you.

Can your attorneys stop the phone calls I’m getting from creditors and collectors?

Our debt attorneys will begin sending letters of representation to your creditors on your behalf as soon as you’ve enrolled in the Think Debt Relief program. These letters let your creditors know that you now have legal representation. When any creditors do contact you, you can tell them not to contact you directly anymore and that all their communications need to be directed through your attorneys.

Creditors and collectors may become more aggressive in their collection efforts when they find out you’re enrolled in a debt resolution program — after all, creditors don’t like the idea of writing off debt and collecting less money from you than what you owe. But there are federal and state laws that protect you from collectors who cross the line and resort to harassment and threats.

We can’t promise that all calls from creditors and collection agencies will stop — no debt relief program can make you that guarantee, since creditors and collectors have a legal right to attempt to collect on debts owed to them. However, our debt attorneys are in a position to help you address creditor harassment and deal with creditors who violate debt collections laws.

When you’re enrolled in our debt relief program, you can report any creditor harassment to our debt attorneys, and they may work on your behalf to report violators of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and other collections laws.

Can my creditors sue me for not making payments on my debts while I’m enrolled in the Think Debt Relief program?

The vast majority of the time, creditors will want to negotiate a resolution on your account: Since creditors and collection agencies are in the business of collecting on debts, a negotiated debt resolution with a partial debt write-off is better for them than no payoff at all.

You do need to be aware, however, that although uncommon, a creditor may take legal action on the accounts that you enroll in a debt resolution program. As a result of nonpayment, a creditor could seek, in court, to garnish your wages, seize your bank account, or put a lien on your property.

Our debt attorneys can’t stop a creditor from pursuing legal action against you for nonpayment, but in the event of a creditor legal action against you, our debt attorneys will still work to negotiate and resolve that account, and the minimum performance standard will still apply. Our attorneys will also discuss with you the possibility of discharging your debts in bankruptcy, if and when you do ever face a creditor’s legal action. The possibility of you discharging your accounts in bankruptcy may sometimes encourage creditors to work to find another resolution to your outstanding debts.

In those cases where an unpaid debt that you’ve enrolled in our debt resolution program leads to a lawsuit, it’s likely that a creditor is trying to force a larger resolution amount or a resolution agreement with more favorable terms.

Please note that, in the event of a creditor legal action against you, our debt attorneys won’t be able to represent you in court against the creditor. If you’re the subject of a creditor’s lawsuit, you should seek out legal advice from an attorney, Legal Aid, or other qualified legal professional.

How will debt resolution affect my taxes?

In a successful debt resolution, your creditor agrees to reduce your total debt that you have to pay back by a certain dollar amount. This dollar amount is called “forgiven debt” and can be considered taxable income by the IRS.

IRS Form 982 allows for certain people to avoid having to pay taxes on forgiven debt due to economic hardship. Please contact a tax advisor for more information.