<prompt> Human: My parents are in debt. My mother alone is in 50k range. My father around 40k. They have it spread across 10 different credit cards each. The interest rates are killing them. They barely make enough for the minimum payments. They tried to look up businesses that would help them repay all this and maybe even save them money in the end, but I fear they only are getting scam callers. A company called Finance Solutions from New York called and offered to create a savings where they will deposit money into, where it can accrue interest. At the end of the 4 year period, the money will be enough to negotiate a full payment with all cards and cancel them. Now they also will have large fees for the first 44 months and this will tank her credit score since she will not be paying the credit card companies at all for 4 years. This sounds like a really bad idea or am I over reacting? Is there other solutions, such as taking a 50k loan to pay off the cards where the loan will have a much lower interest? I am open to any suggestions.  <response>: Finance Solutions is, at best, a source of really bad ideas, and more likely closer to a scam. Steer your parents away from them. If they want an outside opinion, look for a non-profit credit counseling agency. An important service they can also provide is pre-bankruptcy counseling - which is an option they should be considering unless they have substantial income. 