The debt settlement process typically takes between 6 and 24 months. Sometimes, an individual will have a lump sum of money that can be used to pay off a debt that is already aged—and in some of those cases a settlement can be reached with the creditors in a matter of weeks. In other cases, an individual will need to make monthly payments (to a trust account) to pay off the debt. In any event, we like to keep the debt settlement process to less than 24 months.

There are some firms out there that like to extend the process over three, four, even five years, but we don’t recommend that. If you can’t find a way to get out of debt through settlement within two years, you should look at your bankruptcy options instead.