National Debt Relief Pros & Cons

So, you’ve decided on debt relief to rescue you from your burdensome obligations. That makes sense since the financial strategy has saved scads of people just like you. You know that National Debt Relief (NDR) is one of the nation’s premier debt settlement companies, right? But no agency is perfect. Here are National Debt Relief pros and cons to help you decide on a company to help you.

What is Debt Relief?

May as well start there. It’s when you get a company like National Debt Relief to go to each of your creditors on your behalf to see whether they would let you pay just a portion of what you owe to close the book on your accounts. The answer is typically yes since if you file for bankruptcy – your logical next step, otherwise – there’s a good chance your creditors get zilch.

How Does Debt Relief Work?

With debt relief, also called debt settlement, you enroll in the program then begin stashing cash away monthly in a savings-type account to have funds for your settlements. Once each deal is struck and approved by you, you’ll make a one-time payment in full to clear the debt.

NDR Pro: Enrolling is Simple

You don’t need to deal with a ton of hard-to-decipher documents to enroll or deal with long meetings. With National Debt Relief, you can sign up over the phone. Trained pros will go over your situation and figure out a plan for you. Check out recent National Debt Relief reviews to get a better feel for how this works.

NDR Pro: You Aren’t Charged Until Debts are Settled

In fact, it’s against the law for settlement companies to charge you up front, although some unscrupulous agencies do just that. National is transparent about its fee structure (you’ll wind up paying between 15% and 25% of your enrolled debt). And the initial consultation is free.

NDR Pro: The Application Credit Check Won’t Damage Scores

National Debt Relief will perform a soft credit pull as part of your application, to see what your debt load looks like and how much you owe each creditor. Unlike hard pulls, soft pulls don’t ding your credit.

NDR Pro: It’s a Reputable Outfit

Remember, the industry has some scam artists, so it’s crucial that you pick an established, credible, reputable company to work with so that you don’t wind up in worse shape.

National Debt Relief is one of the nation’s largest debt settlement companies. It has memberships with multiple trade groups and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. 

NDR Con: A Wee Pricey, But Competitive

As we’ve said, between 15% and 25% is the fee range, depending on your debt load and state of residence. That can be a relatively big bill, but it’s around what other companies are charging. And it’s honestly a small bill when you consider your debt savings: around 50% and sometimes more.

NDR Con: Excludes Some Debts

National does accept a broad variety of debts, including those from medical bills, department store cards, bank loans, personal loans, credit cards and lines of credit. You also must have between $7,500 and $100,000 of obligations.

 

NDR doesn’t cover all debts, though. Excluded debts include back taxes, utility bills and federal student loans.

 

NDR Con: Settlements Take Time

It could take between two and four years to clear your debts, but that’s not unique to National and it’s much faster than if you were to try to pay your debts off yourself.

 

Now that you’ve seen National Debt Relief’s pros and cons, you’ll likely agree that the company, overall, sizes up nicely. You certainly could do much worse than National.

More from NEWS

---