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Written by Phillip Emerson

Thoughts about debt settlement wreak havoc on people's minds when they realize they can no longer keep up with their credit card debt payments or know it's going to become a pressing problem in the very near future.

Mortgage the house, find a new part-time job, get a consolidation loan, seek credit counseling or even consider the disaster of bankruptcy are all the wrong type of thinking and you should forget everything you think you know about debt settlement and instead learn to play the "game" with the banks and debt collectors.

If credit card companies are holding you by the ears and have you enslaved with a 30% interest rate then you might look for help from your favorite "Uncle" and a fabled "Rabbit" both of which are masters of the "game" and can help guide you through your debt settlement dilemma.

"Uncle Sam" provides you with the laws under which credit card companies operate and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that regulates debt collectors. Yes it's true that Uncle has let the credit card companies charge outrageous interest rates but he also allows you to stop paying the card companies if and when you choose to do so.

After six months off nonpayment, banks are required to "write off" credit card debt and that officially ends your account. About the fifth month you can call the credit card company and offer them a debt settlement amount of six or 8% of what you owe. They might refuse you but you have offered them more than the three or 4% they'll get from a debt collector.

When the Bank writes off your account, it's ended, finished, done, over and closed forever but the bank feels that dropping you in the "briar patch" by selling your information to a debt collector will be "humiliating" because you refused to play their game anymore but in the briar patch is exactly where you want to be. You have actually regained your financial freedom and here's why.

Information supplied to a debt collector by the bank proves absolutely nothing. It is the collector's job to get you to "admit" that you owe "him" an alleged debt, but you must force him to "prove" that you owe him money and he cannot prove it.

Phone harassment and collection notices are the only ways he has of getting you to "confess" that you owe "him" the money instead of the bank. Do you think "Brer Rabbit" would run out of the briar patch to get caught by the ears again by some silly debt collector?

Never give a collector any information whatsoever. Tell him to communicate with you in writing only and do not verify or give him your mailing address! When the collector is forced to write you a letter, send a copy of the letter back with your letter "demanding proof" and send it by registered mail with a return receipt.

If you don't answer his letters then the collector will get a "default" judgment against you because somewhere in his letter it says "if you do not dispute this debt in writing, we will assume that the debt is valid." Note the word "assume" in his letter. The collector bought some information and even he does not know if it's true!

Once a collector sees that you're smarter than the average rabbit he will probably sell your information to another debt collector and the process will begin again. Just respond to all written communications with no information given on the phone and your briar patch settlement will succeed.

What? You're worried about your credit report? Well the rabbit is on a roll so here is one last bit of game information. The FCRA or Fair Credit Reporting Act, compliments of Uncle Sam, says a reporting agency must show "proof" that any derogatory information in your credit report is true. When you demand proof, the agency can't prove it and can be fined if the disputed information is not removed.

You can win the debt settlement game and the odds are actually stacked in your favor but just remember to give no information on the phone and answer those collection notices or you'll wind up as "rabbit stew" in the debt collectors pot!

Visit http://creditcarddebtprotection.com/ and download the free eBook "Control Your Creditors" to begin educating yourself with the wisdom to stop any debt collector in his tracks. Find out why collectors will gladly accept 10% of what you owe just to get rid of you and watch your credit score jump 60 to 120 points in a matter of months.