Best Debt Settlement Company

Lending Club is not a true debt settlement company. What Lending Club does is act as a intermediary between investors and a person looking for a personal loan. In most cases this is better for the individual because it will go on your credit report as a personal loan and not as debt being written down with creditors which sometimes causes your credit score to drop.

How Lending Club works is a group of people lend money to some body looking for a loan. This can be any type of loan. As an example. Let’s say you were trying to consolidate $10k in credit card debt. The monthly payments are too high and the interest rates are over 20%. When you contact Lending Club you will write a posting about your self and what you intend to use the money for. You will have to list everything about yourself including your income, assets, and job history. You will want to be as thorough as possible. If you do not tell potential investors as much as they want to know you will more than likely not get the money you are looking for.

The investors are normal people looking for a great return on their money. Think of it as borrowing money from your neighbor instead of the bank or a credit card. This is a win-win situation for everybody because you are getting the money to help pay down your credit cards and the investor is making a fixed rate of return on their money. The loans are made to be paid back over a 3 year period. This is nice because you will know what your payment will be for the entire time. Lending Club can automatically deduct payments from your checking account if you want. Many of the loans are funded in less than a week and are automatically deposited into your checking account.

You will have to have good credit to be accepted in to Lending Club. The minimum credit score to be accepted is a 660. Anything lower and you will be denied. You cannot have any bankruptcies, foreclosures, current delinquencies, collections or open tax liens, a credit history of 12 months, no more than 10 credit inquiries in the last 6 months and at least 3 open accounts on your credit report. You will also have to have a debt to income ratio of less than 25% after you accept the loan. The largest loan that can be offered is up to $25,000. To get the loan you will need to have credit scores over 760.

 The amount of interest you pay will be determined by what the investors are willing to risk on you. When you create your listing, Lending Club will determine what your interest rate will be by a format they have which looks at all of your qualifying factors. If you like the terms, the listing is created. If the loan is not funded you have the option to take half of the money at that interest rate. The rates you pay with Lending Club are going to be lower than your bank or a credit card. It does not cost anything to join. They take 1% off of the interest you are paying to the investors and keep that money.

If you default on a loan, Lending Club does work with collection agencies which will be contacting you. The loan does go on your credit report so if you do not pay your credit scores will drop and you will no longer be allowed to borrow or invest with Lending Club again. Many people borrow and invest with Lending Club. Its a great way to make some money helping people in need. With it costing nothing to join you might as well give it a try. Lending Club is perfect for someone looking for a quick and cheap way to consolidate their debts.

Pertuity Direct is a unique place where people who are looking to consolidate debt can go. The company itself does not do the lending as this site is considered a Peer To Peer site. How a Peer to Peer site works is you put a listing up about yourself and your current situation and people put money into a pool equaling up to the amount you are looking for. Normal people put in money earning interest on the money you borrowed. This is a win win situation as you get the money and now everyday people can make some money and not a bank. 

What makes the Pertuity Direct process a little bit more unique than other Peer to Peer sites is that there is no bidding involved. Once the amount of money you are asking for has been reached your application goes in front of a underwriter who reviews it. Most applications take less than a couple hours to view and you will know something that day.

You can apply for a loan amount from $1,000 to $25,000. There are no points or prepayment penalties. Each loan will have different pay back periods and will be determined at the time of application.

The Details

Only loan applicants with a credit score of 660 or higher will be considered for approval and we do not offer any subprime loans. Pertuity Direct handles the individual credit bureau review, credit approval and setting the individual loan interest rate.

1. Approval
All borrowers must first be credit approved. During the credit screening process, a borrower’s credit history is reviewed. There are approval requirements that take into account risk factors such as:

• Credit score (minimum credit score of 660 required)
• Debt to income ratio
• Loan amount
• Delinquencies
• Number of recent credit inquiries
• Number of open credit lines
• Utilization of open credit lines
• Years of credit history
• Bankruptcies

2. Interest rate determination
Once approved, an interest rate will be calculated for each loan. To determine the appropriate interest rate, Pertuity Direct will review a borrower’s credit score and any additional risk factors (things like debt-to-income ratio, number of open credit lines and others listed above) to better assess a borrower’s risk. Those additional risk factors, combined with the credit score, allow their credit risk model to calculate the final interest rate for a loan.

Fees

They have a strict policy of showing you everything up front. There are no fees to create an account or apply for a loan. The only time fees apply are once a borrower has a funded loan.

Borrower Fees

• 1-2% closing fee (depending on credit score)
• $15 failed payment fee
• $15 late payment fee (on average, may be slightly lower/higher in some states)
• 1% Electronic Funds Transfer discount

Pertuity Direct does not specialize in debt settlement. It is a avenue for people to consolidate and get a low interest rate while helping out other people earn a rate of return on the money they lent you instead of a bank.

Freedom Debt Relief is a company that prides itself on getting clients debt reduced. They have a step by step program that goes over what to expect from start to finish of the process. This should be taken into consideration when you are looking to work with a company. They let you know that this is not going to be taken care of over night and it will take some work from you before they are willing to represent you. These are the steps involved in the process:

Step 1: Call or e-mail for a free consultation. Freedom Debt Relief will assess your financial situation and determine your potential for debt reduction.

Step 2: They will work with you to determine the appropriate monthly dollar amount that you plan to save towards a negotiated settlement. This amount is typically significantly less than your current minimum payments, and goes toward paying off your debt (not simply paying credit card interest charges). These funds will be saved every month in a new account that you set up and control.

Step 3: Once you enroll in the “Debt Reduction Program” they will contact your creditors in an attempt to handle future creditor communications. You are requested to avoid using credit while on the program.

Step 4: After funds have accrued to make reasonable offers, Freedom Debt Relief will begin negotiating with your creditors individually. They attempt to reduce debts by at least 50% of your current balances. During the process you will be kept in contact with. It may take several months of you saving money before they are in a position to make settlement offers.

Step 5: Once a settlement is negotiated with a creditor, you will be notified via a “Good News” notification from them.

Step 6: After the account is paid, your creditors may report to the credit rating bureaus that your accounts are “settled in full,” “settled,” “paid,” “paid by settlement”, or “settled for less than the full amount.” You no longer owe on this account and the balance is zero. 

Once the debt is taken care of Freedom Debt Relief claims they can help you get set up with purchasing a home, car, or related financial products. They do not deal with secured debts like mortgages or car loans. Medical bills, credit cards, personal loans, or other forms of unsecured debts is what they deal with.

When you hire Freedom Debt Relief they do not charge any upfront fees. It is charged over a span of 18 months. A retainer fee is paid in the first 3 months and then a service fee over the remaining 15 months. The fees are withdrawn monthly from a account you set up with them. Your creditors are contacted within two weeks and are notified that you have given them Power of Attorney on those accounts and that all calls need to be directed to them. However, the negotiating process does not really start until you have saved up enough money to be taken serious by your creditors.

The company was founded in 2002. They operate out of California and Arizona with over 500 employees. In that shore time period they have helped out over 30,000 customers reduce their debts and advise them on the next steps towards being financially free. Freedom Debt Relief has all the backing to be considered one of the best debt settlement companies out there.