Debt settlement vs. filing for bankruptcy: Pros and cons

Dear Liz: I owe a credit card company about $16,900. I have not been able to make payments for almost two years and have no money. They recently sent me a proposal to pay off the entire amount at 30 cents on the dollar by making 24 payments of a little over $200 per month. I’m concerned they can then resell the unpaid amount to a debt collector and that it really isn’t a solution for the entire debt to be extinguished, even if I agree to their proposal. Am I right?

Answer: In the past, poor record-keeping and unethical behavior meant some debt buyers routinely re-sold debts that were supposed to be settled. While that can still happen, it’s less likely, especially if you’re dealing with the original creditor or a company that’s collecting on the creditor’s behalf, rather than a company that purchased an older debt.

You’ve been offered a pretty good deal, says Michael Bovee, president of debt settlement company Consumer Recovery Network. Typically debts are settled for 40 to 50 cents on the dollar.

That doesn’t mean you should take it, necessarily. You have to be able to make the payments to get the debt settled, for one thing. Also, any debt that’s forgiven can be treated as income to you. The creditor will send you (and the IRS) a Form 1099-C showing the forgiven amount and you’ll typically owe income taxes on that amount unless you’re insolvent. If you’re in the 25% tax bracket, that would add roughly $3,000 to the cost of settling this debt.

Many people who can’t pay what they owe are better off skipping debt settlement and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which erases credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans and many other unsecured debts in three to four months. Chapter 7 typically has a bigger impact on your credit scores than debt settlement, but it legally erases the debts and prevents creditors from filing lawsuits against you. If you try to repay this debt and fail, or if you continue simply ignoring it, you could get sued.

You can get a referral to an experienced attorney from the National Assn. of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys at www.nacba.org. Discuss your situation and your options before you decide how to proceed.

Your debt lives even after you die

Dear Liz: I live in a senior building and we had a discussion about our debt after we pass away. I said, “If we have any money in our estate, that will pay it off.” One woman who lives here claims that all you have to do is send in a copy of a death certificate and that will get rid of any debt. Hope you can settle this for us.

Answer: Debt doesn’t just disappear when someone dies. Whether and what creditors get paid, though, depends on a lot of factors.

After someone dies, the executor of the estate (or the personal representative, if the deceased had a living trust) is supposed to notify creditors of the death. The first bills to be paid usually are the costs of administering the estate, followed by secured debt such as mortgages, liens and so on, then the funeral and burial expenses, says Los Angeles estate planning attorney Andrew Steenbock. Next in line typically are medical bills from the final illness and the dead person’s last tax bill. Then other creditors are paid from what’s left, if anything. Only after creditors are paid can any remaining assets be distributed according to the will, trust or state law if there are no estate planning documents. If the estate is insolvent — with more debt than assets to pay those debts — then heirs typically get nothing and the creditors are paid a portionate amount of whatever assets are available.

Things can get more complicated if there is a surviving spouse or co-signer, since debt that’s jointly owed would become the survivor’s problem.

Ignoring these rules can have serious repercussions for the executor, who can become personally liable for mistakes made in settling an estate. If your neighbor’s executor ignores state law and distributes assets to heirs before paying off creditors, for example, the creditors could sue the executor. That’s a pretty powerful incentive for learning and obeying those rules.

Liz Weston, certified financial planner, is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com. Distributed by No More Red Inc.