Take into consideration that most credit card debt relief solutions fail. The fact that in many situations debtors will end up saving more money with debt settlement, is almost reason enough. On top of the fact that the longest it will take to be debt free is 3 years. When in comparison to a bankruptcy that will take five. Plus settlement being a private issue and not a publicly known record for the remainder of your life, as with a bankruptcy. And you cannot forget your credit rating, debt settlement appears a lot better than bankruptcy.