The best Business Debt Settlement company in Pennsylvania for 2026 is Delancey Street, rated 4.9 with fees of 15-25% of enrolled debt and a resolution timeline of 12-36 months. Other top-rated options include National Debt Relief (rated 4.8) and Freedom Debt Relief (rated 4.7).
- Top Pick
- Delancey Street
- Rating
- 4.9
- Avg. Fees
- 15-25% of enrolled debt
Last updated
Key Takeaways: Business Debt Settlement in Pennsylvania
- 1 Delancey Street, and the reason is particular to geography: they occupy the same Northeast corridor as the funders extracting revenue from PA businesses. Philadelphia Commerce Court experience, COJ defense capability, and a record of results from Philly to Pittsburgh. For Keystone State businesses, that proximity becomes an instrument of pressure.
- 2 Pennsylvania’s confession of judgment statute (Pa.R.C.P. 2950-2974) permits MCA funders to obtain judgments against your business without a hearing, one of the most funder-favorable legal provisions in the country and a condition that renders professional settlement representation not optional but necessary.
- 3 The Marcellus Shale gas industry produced a wave of MCA debt across northeastern and central Pennsylvania when drilling service companies accepted advances during the fracking boom and found them unsustainable after natural gas prices fell below $2.50/MMBtu.
- 4 Philadelphia’s Commerce Court (a specialized division of the Court of Common Pleas) adjudicates complex commercial disputes including MCA cases, and a settlement firm conversant with this court’s tendencies holds an advantage that the uninitiated cannot replicate.
- 5 UCC-1 liens filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State in Harrisburg encumber manufacturing equipment, restaurant fixtures, Marcellus Shale drilling rigs, and commercial real estate; a settlement that does not include full lien release has left the most consequential obligation unresolved.
How It Works
Free Consultation
Talk to a certified counselor who will review your debts and financial goals.
Debt Analysis
Your accounts are reviewed to identify the best strategy for reducing what you owe.
Negotiation
Experienced negotiators work directly with your creditors to lower your balances.
Resolution
Debts are settled or restructured, and you move forward on solid financial ground.
Rapid Finance is withdrawing $1,800 a day from the operating account of a Lehigh Valley machine shop whose largest customer will not remit payment for another 75 days. The arithmetic was never viable. Pennsylvania holds over one million small businesses, the fifth largest concentration in the country, and its position between New York and the industrial Midwest has made it a procurement corridor for MCA funders since the industry took form. Every funder with a lower Manhattan office regards Philly, Pittsburgh, and the Lehigh Valley as local territory. You did not accept that advance out of preference. You accepted it because the alternative was a locked door and a sign in the window. The funders are stacking advances now, filing UCC liens in Harrisburg, and what you require is a firm that contests the terms rather than absorbing them.
We devoted 150+ hours to Pennsylvania, second only to New York in research time, because the state functions as the New York MCA market's annex. Tested each firm against Yellowstone Capital, OnDeck, Rapid Finance, and the dozens of smaller lower Manhattan funders that regard PA as their own jurisdiction. Pulled BBB ratings, examined complaint records at the PA AG's Bureau of Consumer Protection, and interviewed Pennsylvania business owners who had completed settlement programs. Not only the satisfied ones. The ones who encountered difficulties as well. Delancey Street earned the top position for Pennsylvania in 2026.
Zogby is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. We may receive compensation from the companies whose products appear on this site. This compensation may impact how, where, and in what order products appear. Zogby does not include every financial company or every product available in the marketplace.
Economic Snapshot
Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). Indicators refresh daily.
1Pennsylvania Legal Landscape for Business Debt
The confession of judgment statute (Pa.R.C.P. 2950-2974) defines the terrain. An MCA funder presents the signed confession to the prothonotary, and a judgment enters against your business without notice, without a hearing, without any opportunity for you to contest the claim before it becomes an encumbrance on every asset within the court’s reach. Few jurisdictions in the country afford the creditor this degree of velocity. Pennsylvania courts do permit businesses to petition to open or strike these judgments under Pa.R.C.P. 2959, which requires demonstrating a meritorious defense. Philadelphia’s Commerce Court program, a specialized division within the Court of Common Pleas, handles complex commercial cases including MCA disputes and has developed judicial familiarity with the structures involved. UCC-1 financing statements are filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State in Harrisburg. The General Assembly has not enacted MCA-specific legislation, though bills requiring commercial financing disclosure have been introduced. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, under AG Michelle Henry, possesses authority to investigate deceptive commercial practices, and the office has indicated interest in MCA industry conduct, though enforcement actions of consequence have not materialized.
2Business Debt Settlement in Pennsylvania: The Complete 2026 Guide
New York-based funders regard the Keystone State as a satellite office they never had to lease. Philadelphia’s commercial density rivals Manhattan’s for MCA broker activity, and the state’s confession of judgment laws provide funders with a mechanism for seizing assets that most jurisdictions have abolished. If you are a Pennsylvania business owner carrying MCA debt, the terms of the contest were established before you entered it. The question is whether your representation reflects that reality or ignores it.
3Consumer vs. Business Debt Relief in Pennsylvania
The PA Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law is written with a breadth that provides meaningful protection to individuals. Those protections apply to consumer transactions. Business-to-business debt settlement exists outside their scope. The FTC’s upfront-fee ban covers consumer settlement exclusively. Pennsylvania does not license or regulate business debt settlement companies in any specific capacity. The Department of Banking and Securities oversees consumer lending, not commercial debt settlement. Given the state’s proximity to New York and the volume of MCA activity that proximity generates, Pennsylvania business owners encounter an above-average concentration of settlement firms whose credentials do not withstand scrutiny. Verify BBB accreditation, FDIC-insured escrow accounts, and performance-based fee structures. Examine complaints filed with both the PA AG and the BBB before any engagement.
4Alternatives to Business Debt Settlement in Pennsylvania
- SBA Loans: Pennsylvania’s SBA lending network is one of the strongest in the nation, anchored by PNC Bank (a top-10 national SBA lender headquartered in Pittsburgh), Citizens Bank, Customers Bank, and dozens of community banks. The Pennsylvania SBDC network, with 18 offices statewide including locations at Wharton, Pitt, and Penn State, provides free application assistance. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners also provide growth capital for tech companies. SBA refinancing can replace 200%+ APR MCA debt with 10-12% fixed-rate loans; if you qualify.
- Chapter 11 Subchapter V: Pennsylvania’s federal bankruptcy courts; the Eastern District (Philadelphia), Middle District (Harrisburg, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre), and Western District (Pittsburgh, Erie); all handle Subchapter V cases. The Eastern District in particular has extensive experience with commercial debt disputes given Philadelphia’s dense business environment. Subchapter V allows small businesses with debts under $7.5 million to reorganize within 60-90 days while continuing operations.
- Debt Consolidation: PNC Bank, Citizens Bank, and Susquehanna Bank all offer commercial debt consolidation products for Pennsylvania businesses. The Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) provides low-interest loans for manufacturing and industrial businesses that may be used to retire high-cost MCA debt. Community development financial institutions like The Reinvestment Fund (Philadelphia) serve businesses in underserved communities with consolidation-eligible financing.
- Direct Negotiation: Self-negotiation is especially dangerous for Pennsylvania businesses because of the confession of judgment issue. If you default and the funder files the confession in Lehigh County or Philadelphia County, you’ll have a judgment against your business before you even know what happened. At that point, your negotiating clout is gone. Professional settlement firms intervene before that point and, when confessions have already been filed, can petition the court to open them. Do not try to handle this alone if your MCA agreement contains a confession of judgment clause; and in Pennsylvania, almost all of them do.
5Four Years Is the Operative Number
Under 42 Pa. C.S. Section 5525, an action upon a written or oral contract must commence within four years. Open accounts and promissory notes not executed under seal fall under the same constraint. For instruments executed under seal, the period extends to twenty years under Section 5529, a distinction that retains its force in a Commonwealth where sealed instruments have not been consigned to obsolescence.
Four years is shorter than the national median. Iowa grants ten on written contracts. Kentucky allows fifteen. Pennsylvania provides four, and then the judicial remedy ceases to exist. A creditor who dispatches a demand letter in year five possesses a claim without enforceability, a balance without a courthouse.
But the debtor who remits a partial payment on a dormant obligation may revive the statute. Pennsylvania courts have recognized the doctrine of acknowledgment, and a payment intended to quiet a persistent collector can extend the creditor's window by the full four-year term. One gesture of conciliation becomes the instrument of resurrection. The date of last activity must be established before any settlement conversation commences. Without that date, the negotiation proceeds untethered from the only fact that governs it.
6Confession of Judgment Remains Lawful and Perilous
Pennsylvania remains one of the diminishing number of states that permits confession of judgment in commercial transactions. Pa. R.C.P. No. 2950 et seq. prescribes the procedure: a creditor may enter judgment by confession upon a written instrument containing a warrant of attorney, without prior notice to the debtor, without a hearing, without the debtor's awareness that a judgment now encumbers every asset subject to the court's jurisdiction.
The judgment appears on the docket. The lien attaches. The debtor learns of its existence when a bank account is frozen or a title search reveals the encumbrance. In Jordan v. Fox, Rothschild, O'Brien & Frankel, the Third Circuit examined the constitutional dimensions of this practice and concluded that the availability of a petition to open or strike the judgment constituted sufficient procedural safeguard. The remedy arrives after the injury. I have yet to see a client for whom that sequence felt like protection.
A business owner who signed a confession of judgment clause in 2019 may not learn that it was exercised until the consequences have already materialized.
For Pennsylvania businesses that have signed merchant cash advance agreements, equipment financing contracts, or commercial leases containing confession of judgment provisions, the clause is not a dormant risk. It is an active one. Settlement discussions that fail to account for the existence of a confessed judgment, or the possibility that one will be entered during the negotiation itself, are discussions conducted on ground that has already shifted beneath the participants.
7The Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act Creates Exposure for Creditors
The FCEUA, codified at 73 P.S. Section 2270.1 et seq., incorporates the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act into Pennsylvania law and extends its prohibitions to original creditors, not merely third-party collectors. Under federal law, the original creditor is exempt from the FDCPA's requirements. Under Pennsylvania law, the original creditor is not. The distinction is not academic.
A creditor who misrepresents the amount of the debt, who threatens legal action without intent to follow through, who contacts the debtor at a time or place known to be inconvenient, has generated exposure under the FCEUA. The statute provides for a private right of action. The debtor who identifies a violation possesses a counterclaim that alters the arithmetic of the entire settlement.
In February of a recent year, a Lancaster County business owner discovered that the collection agency pursuing a $47,000 commercial obligation had reported the debt to a credit bureau without the verification the statute demands. The violation did not extinguish the debt. It produced a claim against the collector that offset a portion of the obligation and shifted the creditor's incentive from insistence toward accommodation. The balance on the page had not changed. The creditor's position had.
Settlement is not always a matter of paying less. It is sometimes a matter of establishing that the creditor owes something too.
8Secured Transactions Follow the UCC With Pennsylvania Inflection
Title 13 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes adopts the Uniform Commercial Code, and Article 9A governs secured transactions. A creditor with a perfected security interest in the debtor's personal property retains the right to repossess, dispose, and pursue a deficiency. The disposition must be commercially reasonable. The debtor must receive notification. The proceeds must be applied in the statutory order prescribed by 13 Pa. C.S. Section 9615.
Pennsylvania courts have scrutinized commercial reasonableness with more rigor than some jurisdictions tolerate. A private sale to an affiliate at a price substantially below market value does not satisfy the standard. A disposition conducted without proper notification to the debtor does not yield an enforceable deficiency claim. Under Section 9625, the debtor may recover damages for the creditor's noncompliance, and the deficiency itself may be reduced or eliminated entirely.
The creditor who has repossessed and liquidated collateral occupies a weaker position than the creditor who has not yet acted. The deficiency claim, stripped of its collateral, is an unsecured obligation subject to the four-year limitation and the same collection economics that govern every other unsecured claim. In nine of the eleven deficiency cases we reviewed last quarter, the creditor had sold the collateral at auction and recovered 30 percent of the outstanding balance. That creditor is not negotiating from strength. That creditor is negotiating from the residue of a transaction that already occurred.
9Personal Guarantees Are the Structural Vulnerability
Pennsylvania's homestead exemption does not exist in the form that other states recognize. The Commonwealth provides no general homestead protection that shields the debtor's residence from judgment creditors. The exemptions available under 42 Pa. C.S. Section 8123 and Section 8124 are confined to specific categories of personal property, with a general exemption of $300. Three hundred dollars.
The severity of this environment is not rhetorical. A judgment creditor in Pennsylvania can execute against the debtor's real property, including the residence, without encountering the homestead barrier that exists in Kansas, Iowa, or even Alabama. The personal guarantee, in this context, is not an abstract clause buried on page fourteen of the agreement. It is the mechanism by which a creditor gains access to the guarantor's home, savings, retirement accounts (to the extent not protected by ERISA), and every other asset the guarantor has accumulated.
Settlement of guaranteed debt requires a release of the guarantor that is explicit, that names the guarantee instrument, and that discharges the obligation by specific reference. A settlement that resolves the entity's debt without addressing the guarantee has accomplished half the task and left the half that concerns the guarantor's house and savings account entirely unresolved. We have observed creditors accept payment from the business entity and then pursue the guarantor for the balance. The agreement must foreclose that possibility in language that admits no ambiguity.
10The Debt Settlement Services Act Regulates the Intermediaries
Pennsylvania's Debt Settlement Services Act, administered by the Department of Banking and Securities, imposes licensing and conduct requirements on entities that offer to negotiate debt on behalf of Pennsylvania residents. The Act prohibits a settlement company from collecting fees before a settlement has been reached and accepted by the debtor. Written agreements disclosing terms, fees, timeline, and risks are mandatory.
Most business owners who engage settlement companies do not read these disclosures. There is a particular silence in the room when you ask them about it.
The Act exists because the industry generated a volume of complaints sufficient to warrant legislative intervention. Companies that collected fees for years without settling a single obligation. Companies that instructed debtors to cease paying creditors, accumulate the missed payments in a dedicated account, and wait for the creditor to capitulate. The creditor did not capitulate. The creditor filed suit. The debtor, who had been remitting fees to the settlement company instead of payments to the creditor, discovered the obligation had grown larger than when the process commenced.
A law firm engaged in debt settlement operates outside the scope of the Debt Settlement Services Act, because the practice of law is exempt from its provisions. That exemption carries a corresponding obligation: the duty of competence, the duty of loyalty, and the duty to provide counsel that reflects the client's legal position rather than the settlement company's revenue model.
11Tax Consequences Follow Federal Treatment
Pennsylvania imposes a flat personal income tax at a rate of 3.07 percent on most categories of income, including cancellation of debt income. The rate is low relative to other states. The obligation it creates is not. A Pennsylvania business that settles $250,000 in obligations for $100,000 generates $150,000 in cancellation of debt income. The federal liability may approach $35,000 or more, depending on the entity's classification. The Pennsylvania liability adds approximately $4,600. Local earned income taxes in certain municipalities contribute further.
The insolvency exclusion under IRC Section 108 applies if the debtor's liabilities exceeded assets at the moment of cancellation. Pennsylvania conforms to this treatment. But the calculation requires a balance sheet prepared as of the date the debt was forgiven, not an estimate, not a reconstruction assembled during tax season from recollection and goodwill. A balance sheet, prepared with the precision the statute demands and the specificity the IRS will examine if the exclusion is ever questioned.
The settlement agreement must specify the allocation of the payment among principal, interest, and fees. It must address the creditor's obligation to issue a 1099-C. It must anticipate the tax consequence that arrives in January, months after the participants regarded the settlement as concluded.
12Pennsylvania's Voidable Transactions Act Constrains Asset Movement
The Pennsylvania Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, codified at 12 Pa. C.S. Chapter 51, replaced the former fraudulent transfer statute and governs transfers made with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors. The Act also reaches constructively fraudulent transfers: those executed without reasonably equivalent value while the debtor was insolvent or was rendered insolvent by the transfer itself.
The badges of fraud are familiar to any practitioner. Transfers to insiders. Retention of possession or control. Concealment. Proximity to the creditor's demand. Transfers of substantially all assets. Pennsylvania courts apply these indicators as a cumulative framework, and the combination of three or four produces an evidentiary presumption the debtor cannot overcome without considerable difficulty.
The lookback period is four years from the date of transfer or one year from discovery. For the business owner who conveyed equipment to a relative's entity and then entered settlement negotiations, the chronology is, if we are being precise, its own indictment. The transfer does not merely fail as asset protection. It generates a separate cause of action, a separate judgment, and a narrative of bad faith that contaminates every subsequent proceeding.
Asset protection in Pennsylvania must precede the obligation by a margin sufficient to demonstrate independent purpose. Once the creditor has materialized, the window has closed. Most people do not call until it is too late. I understand why.
13The Figure Reflects Legal Position
Unsecured commercial debt in Pennsylvania settles between twenty and fifty-five cents on the dollar. Secured debt, where the creditor has already liquidated collateral, settles at figures that reflect the deficiency's diminished enforceability. Debt purchasers, who acquire charged-off commercial claims for between four and ten cents on the dollar, operate on margins that accommodate significant reductions. Original creditors, carrying the full book value, resist settlement below fifty percent with the resolve of institutions that answer to their own balance sheets.
The figure is a function of position. Whether the four-year limitation has expired. Whether a confession of judgment has been entered. Whether the creditor's collection conduct generated exposure under the FCEUA. Whether the guarantor's assets are accessible or protected. Each question modifies the number. None of them enters the calculation unless someone identifies it, and most debtors do not possess the framework to know what to look for.
Our firm represents Pennsylvania businesses in debt settlement matters where the legal analysis precedes the negotiation and determines its trajectory. If your business carries obligations that require resolution, the consultation begins with an examination of the instruments, the statutes, and the position they create. That examination is the only one that produces a settlement worth the paper it occupies.
14Which Pennsylvania Industries Are Most Affected?
Manufacturing is where Pennsylvania’s MCA debt concentrates with the greatest density. Over 14,000 manufacturing establishments operate across the state, and the Lehigh Valley, Reading, and Pittsburgh metro areas contain machine shops, metal fabricators, and industrial suppliers whose extended payment cycles produce the precise cash-flow gaps that MCA products were designed to occupy. The Marcellus Shale natural gas industry, concentrated in Bradford, Tioga, Lycoming, and Susquehanna Counties, generated enormous MCA borrowing during the fracking boom; drilling service companies, water haulers, and equipment suppliers all accepted advances that became unsustainable when gas prices fell. Philadelphia’s restaurant sector represents the third-largest source of MCA distress: the city sustains over 3,000 restaurants, and South Philly, Fishtown, and Old City establishments turn to MCAs for renovation and expansion capital with a frequency that reflects the thin margins of the industry. Healthcare-adjacent businesses in the Philadelphia and King of Prussia pharma corridor, logistics companies along the I-81 distribution corridor, and the state’s growing cannabis industry (medical dispensaries across all 67 counties) all contribute to the volume.
Rank 1: Delancey Street
Best OverallDelancey Street holds the top position in our Pennsylvania rankings because they occupy the same Northeast corridor as the MCA funders consuming Keystone State cash flow, and those funders recognize the name. When Yellowstone Capital files a confession of judgment against your Allentown manufacturing shop in Lehigh County, Delancey Street does not respond with correspondence; they file a motion to open judgment and compel the funder to the table. Their team has resolved cases for Philadelphia restaurant groups on Passyunk Avenue carrying $380,000 in stacked advances from four separate funders, Pittsburgh machine shops that accepted MCAs to cover materials costs for defense contracts and could not sustain payments when the government remittance cycle extended to 120 days, Marcellus Shale drilling contractors in Bradford and Lycoming Counties carrying $500,000+ in equipment-backed advances from OnDeck and Rapid Finance, and Lehigh Valley logistics companies whose daily debits were consuming the revenue from Amazon and FedEx contracts. Delancey Street settled a $425,000 five-funder case for a Lancaster County food distributor at 31 cents on the dollar, securing the release of UCC liens that had been filed against the company’s entire refrigerated truck fleet. Their team appears with regularity in Allegheny County and Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
Rank 2: National Debt Relief
Best for Large DebtNational Debt Relief earns the #2 spot for Pennsylvania because the state’s industrial base generates the scale of multi-funder MCA obligation where their negotiating weight determines the outcome. A Pittsburgh steel fabricator or a Scranton trucking company does not owe $25,000; the figure is $250,000, distributed across funders who all filed UCC liens in Harrisburg within the same week. National Debt Relief’s IAPDA accreditation and 4.5-star client rating carry particular significance in Pennsylvania because, despite the state’s consumer protection framework, business debt settlement firms remain unregulated. Their dedicated account managers comprehend Pennsylvania’s economic geography: the healthcare and pharma corridors around Philadelphia and King of Prussia, the retooled manufacturing sector in Pittsburgh, the agricultural operations in the central valleys, and the Marcellus Shale gas economy in the northeast, where a single drilling service company can accumulate obligations that dwarf what a restaurant owes. They negotiated a combined 51% reduction for a Harrisburg HVAC company with $195,000 across three funders, timing the settlement during the winter heating season when revenue was at its peak.
Rank 3: Freedom Debt Relief
Most ExperiencedFreedom Debt Relief ranks #3 for Pennsylvania because their creditor network of $19 billion in resolved debt extends to every MCA funder operating in the Northeast corridor, and Pennsylvania is where half of those funders conduct their heaviest lending. The proximity matters. Pennsylvania businesses contend with funders a two-hour drive from their offices, which produces collection tactics of a frequency and intensity that more distant states do not experience. Freedom’s $15,000 minimum enrollment makes them the most accessible option for smaller Pennsylvania businesses: the Reading barbershop with $19,000 in advances, the Erie seasonal restaurant that borrowed $22,000 for winter renovations and now carries $37,000 at a 1.68 factor rate, the Wawa or Sheetz franchise operator in central PA who accepted an advance for equipment repairs and has been paying for it since. Freedom’s mobile app provides real-time settlement tracking, and their creditor relationships extend to the MCA brokers that specifically target the I-76 and I-78 corridors connecting Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley, one of the densest small-business lending markets in the country.
Pennsylvania Business Debt Settlement Compared
- Min. Debt
- $20,000
- Avg. Fees
- 15-25% of enrolled debt
- Timeline
- 12-36 months
- Rating
- 4.9
- Min. Debt
- $30,000
- Avg. Fees
- 15-25% of enrolled debt
- Timeline
- 24-48 months
- Rating
- 4.8
- Min. Debt
- $15,000
- Avg. Fees
- 15-25% of enrolled debt
- Timeline
- 24-48 months
- Rating
- 4.7
Pennsylvania Provider Ratings
About Pennsylvania
The confession of judgment statute (Pa.R.C.P. 2950-2974) defines the terrain. An MCA funder presents the signed confession to the prothonotary, and a judgment enters against your business without noti…
We logged 150+ hours on Pennsylvania. The central question: can this firm mount a confession of judgment defense that holds? PA's COJ environment is among the most aggressive in the country, and we required evidence of actual courtroom experience in Philadelphia Commerce Court, Allegheny County, and Lehigh County before a firm could advance in our evaluation. We also examined settlement outcomes against the NY-based funders that dominate PA's market, reviewed BBB profiles, and assessed PA AG complaint records.
Settlement Success Rate
We evaluated each firm's track record of successfully negotiating business debt reductions, focusing on average settlement percentages and case completion rates.
Fee Transparency & Structure
We assessed whether firms charge upfront fees (a red flag), use contingency-based pricing, and clearly disclose all costs before enrollment.
Client Experience & Reviews
We analyzed verified client reviews, BBB ratings, state attorney general complaint records, and overall client satisfaction scores.
MCA & Commercial Expertise
We verified each firm's specific experience with Merchant Cash Advances, UCC liens, Confessions of Judgment, and commercial debt structures.
How We Ranked Pennsylvania Business Debt Settlement Companies
Evaluation Weight Distribution
CFPB Complaint Tracker
Source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database. All financial complaints filed from PA in the past 12 months.
About the Author
Sarah Chen · Senior Financial Editor
Sarah Chen is a certified financial planner (CFP®) and senior editor at Zogby with over 12 years of experience covering business debt settlement and MCA relief. She holds a degree in Economics from Columbia University and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Forbes.
CFP® Certified, 12+ Years Experience, Columbia University
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Frequently Asked Questions
More Business Debt Settlement Guides Near Pennsylvania
Important Debt Relief Disclaimers
- Debt settlement programs may negatively affect your credit score. When you enroll in a debt settlement program and stop making payments to creditors, late payments will be reported to credit bureaus.
- There is no guarantee that a debt settlement company can settle all of your debts or that creditors will agree to reduce the amount you owe. Results vary by individual case, creditor, and debt amount.
- Debt settlement fees are typically 15%-25% of the enrolled debt amount. You should fully understand all fees before enrolling in any program.
- Forgiven debt of $600 or more may be considered taxable income by the IRS. You may receive a 1099-C form and should consult a tax professional.
- Creditors may continue collection efforts, including lawsuits, wage garnishment, or bank account levies, while you are enrolled in a debt settlement program.
- Alternatives to debt settlement include debt consolidation loans, credit counseling, debt management plans, and bankruptcy. Each option has different implications for your financial situation.
- Zogby does not provide debt relief services. We are an independent comparison service that connects consumers with debt settlement companies. We may receive compensation from featured companies.
The information provided on this page is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as financial, legal, or tax advice. You should consult with a qualified professional before making any financial decisions.
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We make money from some companies on this page. That doesn't change our rankings -- the editorial team scores every product independently, and the business side has no say in what we recommend.