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Frequently Asked Questions
How do the creditors get in contact with you?
They can call our recorded information line (661) 257-9755. They can fax a settlement offer to (661) 702-0317 or they can send a letter to:
The Debt Solution
25115 Avenue Stanford Suite 300
PO Box 801090
Santa Clarita, CA 91380-1090
We rarely communicate to collectors by phone between the time we send them the notification you're in our program and the time we begin discussing settlements. There are good reasons for this. In our experience it has little effect on whether or not you will also be called by aggressive collectors. We at one time had several staff dedicated to trying to field all creditor calls and trying to get them to stop calling our clients. It didn't work. We found that when one of your accounts gets to a particularly aggressive collector in your creditors' collection department they will constantly call you and they will constantly call us and they won't stop no matter what we say or do unless they get the payment they're seeking. Since we're not going to make monthly payments to them we have found the best tactic to take is to have a recorded message for them to listen to that tells them how we work and how to make a settlement offer. That is what the creditors now hear when they call the number in our letter or that you will give them when they call you.
It does NOT help you get your accounts settled faster or for less money if you or we try to talk to all the collectors who are trying to collect on your debt. The only thing we will accomplish by attempting to talk to all of these people is wasting your time, our time and the collectors' time resulting in some degree of upset for all concerned. That's all.
Why can't you just call the creditor and tell them to stop calling?
In our experience it has little effect on whether or not you will also be called by aggressive collectors. We at one time had several staff dedicated to trying to field all creditor calls and trying to get them to stop calling our clients. It didn't work. We found that when one of your accounts gets to a particularly aggressive collector in your creditors' collection department they will constantly call you and they will constantly call us and they won't stop no matter what we say or do unless they get the payment they're seeking. Since we're not going to make monthly payments to them we have found the best tactic to take is to have you use the script and to have a recorded message for them to listen to that tells them how we work and how to make a settlement offer. That is what the creditors now hear when they call the number in our letter or that you will give them when they call you.
It does NOT help you get your accounts settled faster or for less money if you or we try to talk to all the collectors who are trying to collect on your debt. The only thing we will accomplish by attempting to talk to all of these people is wasting your time, our time and the collectors' time resulting in some degree of upset for all concerned. That's all.
What can I do to the creditor that calls family and neighbors?
If you are being harassed by any creditor(s), there are several steps that may be taken depending on who the creditor is that is harassing you. These steps are:
1. If the bank has the word National or N.A. in its title, the complaint should be sent to Comptroller of the Currency, Customer Assistance Group, 1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3710, Houston TX 77010, 1 (800) 613-6743.
2. A complaint about a state-chartered bank that is a member of the Federal Reserve System should be sent to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Director, Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20551, (202) 452-3693.
3. Complaints regarding state-chartered, federally insured banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System should be sent to the Office of Bank Customer Affairs, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Washington, D.C. 20429, 1 (800) 934-3342.
4. Complaints about federal-chartered savings banks should be sent to the Office of Thrift Supervision, Division of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC 20552, 1 (800) 842-6929.
5. If the complaint is on a collection agency, collection attorney or any other debt collector who is not employed by the original credit-issuing bank as described above complaints should be made to the Federal Trade Commission by calling 1 (877) FTC-HELP or going to www.ftc.gov and clicking on "file a complaint".
How do I know you won't keep my money?
Your money is not being held by The Debt Solution. It is being held in an account at a designated bank that's in your name. You own it. The only money The Debt Solution gets is for our fees as you agree to when you enroll in our program. If, for some reason, you leave the program before we have settled your debts any money in that account is yours. We customarily send it back to you and close the account with the designated bank. If you have any funds left over after we have settled all of your debt they are returned to you the same way.
Can my wages be garnished?
Unfortunately we cannot give a specific answer to this question. We cannot give legal advice of any kind. However, in our experience we have observed that some situations arose where creditors have garnished debtors' wages. Every person's situation is different and more a more specific answer can only be given by a licensed attorney.
We have therefore made arrangements with a national provider of legal services to provide our clients with legal support at discounted rates. The best way to take advantage of their services is to click on the link to their website from our client site. This will take you to a special web page for TDS clients and will facilitate the smooth transfer of information from our computer systems to theirs, which will be more accurate and less time consuming than having you try to enter a lot of information we will already have in our systems. This link is also the way you get the discounted rates we have arranged.
You can visit their website directly. However if you contact them for service in this way, you may not be able to get the discounted rates we have arranged.
When will you start settling accounts?
We begin negotiating settlements when you have accumulated enough funds in your settlement account to settle with your first creditor.
Here's how the process works: We have specific contacts we work with in all of the major banks and collection agencies. When funds are available, we contact the appropriate person with a settlement offer. We record that offer in our computer systems and you will be notified about the offer by e-mail. As we progress through the negotiation process you will be sent further e-mails letting you know when the creditor has accepted our offer and when you need to approve the terms of the settlement. If an offer is rejected or negotiations break down for some reason, you will also receive e-mail notifications. Due to the rapidity of the settlement process we cannot use regular mail for these notices. By the time you receive a letter to notify you that we have made an offer, the account could be totally settled. If you don't have e-mail, then you will be notified about settlements by phone after we have gotten an agreement from one of your creditors.
Once we have written approval from you and one of your creditors on a settlement, funds are taken from your Settlement Account at Bank of the West to pay the creditor and our settlement fee.
When the settlement is paid, you start all over again accumulating funds to settle with. When you have sufficient funds for your next settlement we'll negotiate that, and so on until all of your unsecured debt is settled. Our goal is to get you through our program in less than the expected time if at all possible. We may not always be able to do that, but we will try.
Occasionally, while you are accumulating funds for your next settlement, one of your creditors will contact us with a settlement offer. When this happens we will evaluate the offer being made against the funds you have available and your monthly deposits into your settlement account. If you have insufficient funds and are not likely to be able to accumulate those funds within a few months of receiving the offer from the creditor, we will usually send the creditor a letter acknowledging their offer and stating that you do not have sufficient funds to settle at that time. The letter usually asks the creditors to check back with is in few months. If it looks like we might be able to get you a settlement by either asking you to come up with more money or by getting the creditor to work with us on the terms of the settlement we will usually pursue the settlement. In these cases, we may arrange to spread the settlement payments out over several months.
Sometimes creditors send settlement offers directly to our clients, despite the fact that they know they're on our program. If you receive such an offer directly from a creditor it is important that you do not attempt to negotiate directly with the creditor. What you should do is forward a copy of the offer you received to our office. If there is any way to complete the settlement we will see that it gets done. We will contact the creditor and negotiate the terms of the settlement on your behalf. Once we have worked out the settlement with the creditor you will be contacted to approve the final settlement as described above.
How to do I change or add money to my settlement account?
If you have extra money to add to your settlement account, simply send us a letter, fax, e-mail or customer service request letting us know the amount and the date it will be available and we will schedule the transfer of funds from your home account to your Settlement Account at Bank of the West. For your protection we do not accept such requests over the phone. You may also mail extra funds directly to the bank.
If I need to stop/change a scheduled deposit into my settlement account, what do I do?
If you experience any additional financial setbacks during this program, you may request that we adjust or temporarily stop a monthly deposit into their Settlement Accounts. Adjustments can include changing the amount of the deposit, the deposit date or both. For your protection, we require that all such requests are made in writing by letter, fax, e-mail or online request form from our client website. We must receive such requests at least 1 WEEK prior to the scheduled deposit date. TDS will make every effort to accommodate your needs but cannot promise adjustments will be made on time if the request is received less than 1 week prior to the scheduled deposit date.
In extreme circumstances, you may request to have some of the balance in your settlement account returned to you. These requests must be made in writing by letter, fax, e-mail or online request form from our client website. TDS will facilitate the transfer of funds between your settlement account and your account in your hometown. Any funds returned to you will extend the length of your settlement program.
TDS discourages both delaying deposits and return of funds from the settlement account as much as possible. These delays will lengthen the amount of time needed to get you out of debt. This can increase the amount of stress involved in completing the program as well. For this reason, our Customer Service staff is trained to ask you for details about your requests and the reason(s) for them. They will ask you to come up with ideas as to how the funds can be made up so you can get back on schedule for getting out of debt. Please understand that it is their job to get you through the program on or ahead of schedule.
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