Have you finally decided to face your crippling debt once and for all? Like all life problems, the first step is acknowledging the issue and being committed to solve it. But with a problem as rigid as big debt, acknowledgement and commitment only get you started.

If you’re really determined to shed a stressful financial life and build a future free of creditor calls, decision paralysis and a potent cocktail of overwhelming emotions, keep these questions and answers in mind as you research debt settlement plans.

Can Debt Settlement Wipe Away All My Debt?

Simply put, debt settlement cannot wipe away all your debt. If you really want a fresh start, you need to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which will eliminate your debt but also strip you of your assets and decimate your credit score. Debt settlement, generally, isn’t as harsh a strategy, as it involves a company negotiating with creditors on your behalf to reduce your debts by a certain percentage. However, it’s highly unlikely if not impossible for a debt settlement plan to erase all your debt.

How Will Debt Settlement Affect My Credit Score?

Debt settlement is often referred to as a “last-resort” option for debtors because of the damage it does to credit scores. While debt settlement usually doesn’t affect credit as bad as bankruptcy, at the end of the day, the debt settlement process usually involves you not paying your balances as a company negotiates to a lower, lump-sum payment so it’s unreasonable to think your credit won’t be affected if you lapse on payments. It is worthwhile to note that many debt settlement candidates have already fallen behind on their payments. In these cases, a debtor’s credit score is already badly damaged thus debt settlement can only hurt a score so much.

How Much Will Debt Settlement Cost Me?

This will entirely depend on how much debt you have, the services you end up using and the main variable—how successful they are at reducing your debt. For starters, debt settlement fees typically range from 20–25 percent of the amount of reduced debt, but some companies charge fees upward of 30 percent. Let’s say you have $20,000 in debt and your debt settlement company charges a 20 percent fee. If they’re able to cut your debt in half, to $10,000, you’d be paying that $10,000 to your creditor, then another $4,000 to the company as part of the 20-percent fee. This doesn’t take into account taxes, since the IRS considers forgiven debt as taxable income.

How Long Does Debt Settlement Take?

All good things come to those who wait, right? Even if debt settlement can help you get out of a financial hole, don’t expect it to happen overnight. Most debt settlement companies state their process will take anywhere from two-to-four years to carry out. Chapter 13 bankruptcy requires court-ordered repayments for three-to-five years whereas chapter 7 can be resolved in as little as three-to-six months, but with the aforementioned drawbacks of losing your assets and seeing your credit plummet to its worst possible state.

What Are My Odds of Getting Scammed?

It’s impossible and counter-productive to provide odds of falling for a debt relief scam because if you know what to watch out for, then scams shouldn’t be a possibility. On the other hand, debt relief scams have become so pervasive that even legitimate debt relief providers are making efforts to distinguish themselves and prevent stressed debtors from falling prey.

For example, there are thousands of Freedom Debt Relief reviews online proving the company’s authenticity. Yet they’ve still devoted a page of their website to list common red flags of a debt relief scam, such as charging fees prior to settling debts, promising to settle all debts for the same percentage reduction, telling you to stop communicating with your creditors, and other signs showing a company doesn’t have a debtor’s best interests in mind.

These are just a sampling of how to gauge whether a debt settlement plan is for you. In the end, focus on the customer service, fee rate and track record a company has and you should be all right.