How to Get Debt Relief (Ultimate 50 State Guide 2024)

Dena Standley | February 23, 2024

Legal Expert, Paralegal
Dena Standley, BA

Dena Standley is a seasoned paralegal with more than 20 years of experience in legal research and writing, having received a certification as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal from Southern Technical College.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: If you are drowning in debt and seeking relief, SoloSuit's ultimate 50-state guide can help you find programs that will lighten your load.

Do you find that you are not making progress in managing your debt? Are you on the brink of giving up and wondering what to do? You are not alone. Thousands of Americans are overwhelmed by debt. They often find themselves with a lawsuit that results in wage garnishments and creditors gaining access to their bank accounts.

You can break free from debt by signing up for a debt relief program. Each state has local debt relief programs, while other national debt relief organizations help consumers across the country with tailor-made programs specific to their state's laws.

Debt relief programs help consumers make affordable payments while assisting them with reducing expenses and eliminating debt. The debt relief approach chosen could mean:

Requesting lenders to reduce monthly payments by lowering the interest rates.
Asking the creditors to reduce the total debt amount.
Requesting for an extended period to lower the monthly payment.

Whichever method you implement, the primary goal is to manage the chaos, worries, confusion, and frustration you experience with overwhelming debt. Before giving you the debt relief programs available in your state, let us first look at the three main debt relief options.

Consider debt consolidation

Debt consolidation is a viable option if you have multiple debts with high-interest rates. Having numerous debt obligations also makes it challenging to organize. Consolidation works by merging multiple debts into a single manageable debt.

In addition, debt consolidation helps reduce the interest rate and lowers your monthly payments. This debt relief option has helped countless consumers manage their debt by removing the burden of keeping up with multiple bills from different credit card companies. Several options for debt consolidation exist to cater to your needs. They include:

Personal loans: A bank lends you the money with better interest rates or a monthly repayment plan.
Credit card balance transfer: Transfer debt to a new credit card with 0% interest for the first 12–18 months.
Equity loan: Borrow against 80% of your equity, such as your home.
Retirement account: Taking a 401k loan with reduced interest to cover the debt.

For successful debt consolidation, you need a steady source of income to make the payments to avoid penalization that might cancel out the benefits gained. You will also be risking losing your assets or life savings.

Secondly, you must have a relatively good credit score of about 670 and above to get a loan with a reasonable repayment plan and interest rates.

Debt settlement may be the best option for you

Debt settlement offers consumers relief from overwhelming debt when a lender agrees to lower the overall debt amount to a figure that the borrower can pay off at once or within a limited period. For example, if you owe $8,000 on a single credit card, you can offer to pay the credit card company $3,500. In return, they agree to erase the remaining $4,500.

You may be curious why a credit card company would accept such an offer. They take such offers because they fear you may be unable to pay the entire balance or you have convinced them that you have no means to pay the whole amount. Debt settlement works by:

The lender initiating the settlement: If you receive an offer from a creditor, negotiate further, and they are likely to accept your offer.
The borrower initiating the settlement: Plan how you will convince the lender to settle for a reduced amount, and they may accept the offer.
Using a debt settlement company: These companies have a business relationship with some creditors and can often get a better compromise than you can as an individual.

Debt settlement may not be an option for you if you do not have substantial money to pay the settlement deal. You also risk getting your credit card account closed for having a bad debt track record. The closure will affect your credit score and lower your chance of getting a new line of credit.

Bankruptcy should be the last resort

Bankruptcy is a court-approved debt management option where the debtor seeks relief from some or all their pending debts because they have no means of repaying the creditors. Bankruptcy for some consumers is the last option because they do not have money to enter into the debt-relief options we have discussed. Two types of bankruptcy are most common for individual debtors. They are:

Chapter 7 bankruptcy: This option allows you to walk away from your unsecured debt, but you are still obligated to continue paying non-dischargeable debts such as child support and alimony.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy: This option includes a 3–5 year repayment plan that gives you time to reorganize your debt and pay without liquidating your assets. If you keep up with the payments for the specified period, the remaining unsecured debt will be discharged.

There you have it, the three main types of debt relief options to choose from to manage your debt. Let us now look at the debt relief programs available in each state to help you find relief from overwhelming debt.

Check out these programs to help with debt in your state

And now, here's a guide to gov programs for debt relief and other debt relief organizations available in all 50 states.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Solosuit can help

As you research the best debt relief program to sign up for, we can help you get creditors and collection agencies off your back using our legal documents. Our software helps you create professional documents acceptable to the courts. Our documents and in-app tool help you to:

Request for debt validation: Send our Debt Validation Letter if the creditors have contacted for an unpaid debt. This document asks the creditors to confirm the debt belongs to you and that the figures are accurate.
Prompt the creditor to honor the arbitration clause: Our Motion to Compel Arbitration requests the creditor to settle out of court as per the arbitration clause on the credit card agreement.
Requests them to settle out of court: Our SoloSettle tool helps you resolve debt quickly by requesting the creditor to settle the debt out of court to avoid the extra expenses for both parties.

We effectively help consumers find relief from the concerns they have over their debt. Here is a review from a satisfied customer on our Google review platform.

Let's take a look at a real customer who used SoloSuit,

Example: "I found SoloSuit on YouTube, and they made everything so simple from the start. I was a little worried when I got summoned by the sheriff and intimidated, but after watching SoloSuit videos and following their advice, I felt the weight lift off my shoulders. I'm very grateful for their speedy response to all my questions and concerns. Will definitely recommend them to friends in need of advice with credit collection issues." - Lydia Galvan

What is SoloSuit?

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You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

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"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate