Posted on October 24, 2010 at 6:52 pm There is no reason to pay a debt settlement company upfront ANYTHING. Legitamate companies have now moved to the performance based fee structure. This is where you only pay a percentage of the amount saved AFTER the settlement is negotiated.... EXAMPLE: I had a client come to me with a Discover account balance of $13,688.12 He had been checking around to other debt settlement companies that were wanting to chrage him about $2,000 to settle this account and they wanted this amount paid upfront! My question is what incentive does a settlement company have to work hard to negotiate the best deal for the client if they have already been paid in full??? Anyway, I told this client that I would negotiate this account for him and that I would charge him 10% of the saved amount AFTER we reached the settlement in writing. This way, I get paid more when I negotiate a better deal! I ended up getting Discover to take $3,950 in six payments over 6 months. My client liked the deal and accepted it. I saved my client $9,738.12, he then paid me $973.81 for my services. Do you see how this worked for me AND my client? The best part is that my client had absolutlely NO RISK!!! And you shouldn't either.