Debt Settlement Vancouver
Essential Information

It entirely depends on your situation. On average, with bankruptcy people end up repaying about 17% of their debt. With a consumer proposal, a lot of people probably average repaying 40% to 60% of their debt, but with both bankruptcy and a consumer proposal, each results in a permanent legal record and terrible credit for 6 to 7 years after you finish the program. With a debt settlement, Canada has rules set by the credit reporting agencies that result in bad credit for 6 to 7 years if you negotiate the debt settlement yourself or through a for-profit agency, but this drops to only 2 years if you work with a non-profit credit counselling agency. So if you work with a non-profit credit counselling organization so that your credit is only negatively impacted for 2 years after the settlement and the settlement amounts negotiated are comparable to what you’d pay through a consumer proposal, then yes, a debt settlement could be worth it because your credit would bounce back sooner and you’d avoid a permanent legal record (which can impact employment opportunities for some people). If, however, you are trying to repay the absolute lowest amount possible on your debt, don’t care about your credit over the next 7 years, and don’t care if you go bankrupt, then filing for bankruptcy could be your best option (assuming your income isn’t too high and you don’t have valuable assets).

You can attempt to negotiate directly with creditors, which is why some people search for “personal debt settlement Vancouver” or “free debt settlement Vancouver.” However, negotiating on your own is not something we generally recommend. If you are dead-set, though, on negotiating yourself, the way to approach it is to offer your creditors more than they would expect from your next-best alternative. For example, if bankruptcy would likely yield about 17% of your debt repaid to creditors, offering 30% might be attractive. If you wouldn’t consider something as drastic as bankruptcy and a consumer proposal is your alternative, an offering near 50% could make more sense. Before taking any steps, we strongly recommend speaking with one of our non-profit credit counsellors to assess your options. They can help you in assessing your situation and help you figure out what your realistic best debt relief options happen to be. If a consumer proposal is one of these options, they can estimate how much one might end up settling for based off of your situation and your specific creditors. If bankruptcy is a realistic option for you, they’ll also let you know that too.

In the end, though, there are some key reasons we wouldn’t recommend doing a settlement on your own and why it’s probably better to work with a non-profit like us:

• Some creditors won’t negotiate with individuals or are very tough to work with. We have relationships with over 20,000 creditors across Canada. We have good relationships with major creditors and know how they are most likely to respond to different scenarios. We can come up with the optimal way to approach each of your creditors based on your unique financial situation.
• We’ll be upfront, honest, and transparent with you. If settlement isn’t your best path, we’ll tell you. If through the negotiation process we see that another option is better, we’ll let you now.
• We don’t do this to collect fees. We do this to help people.
• You only pay us if we successfully negotiate a settlement and you receive written confirmation. If you don’t like the settlement amounts we negotiate, you can walk away with no obligation and pursue another debt relief option.
• If you negotiate on your own or work with a for-profit company, your credit will typically be affected for about six years after the settlement takes place. If you work with a non-profit credit counselling organization like ours, the negative credit impact lasts only two years.

If you’re looking for the best debt settlement in Vancouver, speaking with one of our experienced credit counsellors is a great place to start. At the very least, you’ll learn a whole lot and have a much better idea of how to move forward.