There are a wide variety of lawyers that specialize in debt settlement cases.
Unlike settlement companies that are usually comprised of an entire office staff, an attorney may be only one individual using their expertise to negotiate with the credit card companies.
Since a lawyer may be acting on their own when dealing with debt settlements, large amounts of lengthy paperwork that will stretch on for years becomes an unattractive prospect.
For this reason, many lawyers will want to have the settlement occur as quickly as possible to avoid protracted recordkeeping.
The actual fee that is charged for their services can be done in one of several ways.
The most common style of billing is for the attorney to charge based on the amount of money that is reduced from the total amount of debt owed.
If the balance in arrears is reduced by 30%, then the lawyer would take a percentage of that 30%.
There are even some lawyers who will take absolutely nothing should the negotiations not result in a settlement.
Another way to bill is on a monthly basis.
This would be a fee, again usually a percentage, that is paid directly to the attorney.
This type of payment occurs usually when the settlement involves monthly payments to be made over the course of a year or more.
Finally, there is flat-rate billing.
This is when an attorney will ask for a single payment before starting on negotiations and will keep that money no matter what the outcome.
This can be very beneficial in some situations.
However, it can also be the sign of a scam.
Make sure that the attorney asking for an up-front, flat fee is legitimate.
A debt settlement attorney can work wonders when someone has found themselves under a mountain of credit card debt.
The fee that is charged for their services are an unavoidable part of the process.