This matches what I’ve seen as well. A lot of “debt relief” and “settlement” services are essentially rent-seeking intermediaries that leave consumers worse off or stuck in long programs with unclear outcomes.

Non-profit credit counseling (with transparent fee structures and regulatory oversight) tends to be the only consistently legitimate option. Anything that promises easy reductions or fast fixes should probably be treated with extreme skepticism.

Consumer finance is one of those areas where incentives are misaligned enough that doing nothing is often safer than trusting a glossy solution.