{"id":46559,"date":"2016-03-31T12:34:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T16:34:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:43:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T20:43:04","slug":"how-do-debt-settlement-companies-work","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-do-debt-settlement-companies-work","title":{"rendered":"How do debt settlement companies help?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A debt settlement company will ask you for all your bills. Then they set up a debt repayment account that you pay a certain amount of money into every month.<\/p>\n

They negotiate with your creditors to reduce the amount you owe them. But some creditors may not agree. And some may refuse to work with the company.<\/p>\n

The company will usually focus on paying one bill at a time at the amount a creditor agrees upon.<\/p>\n

They pay the bill only when there’s enough money in your debt repayment account. Then they wait again until there’s enough in the account to pay the next bill. They do not always ask you which bill you think should be repaid first.<\/p>\n

They might not contact all your creditors to let them know you’re trying to pay your debts. These creditors might keep contacting you or hire collection agencies to collect what you owe them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46559","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHow do debt settlement companies help? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/how-do-debt-settlement-companies-work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do debt settlement companies help? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A debt settlement company will ask you for all your bills. 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