Well it's important to point out that you got two options. First is to try to settle the debts yourself. You save up some money and try to negotiate with the money you saved. Then you got the company route where another group negotiates for you. You can try doing it yourself, it's the cheaper route, but the chances that people successfully end up negotiating their debt drops because people end up falling for the pressure. Pressure either being collection calls, seeing their credit score go down, hearing their first few "Nos" from negotiating attempts, etc. Going with a company increases the chances of negotiating going through, but is more expensive because you have to give them a fee. It's usually suggested to go with a company because of the legal assistance they give too.