While specific debt relief companies have their own requirements for candidates, there are a number of fields that individuals can examine in order to determine whether or not they will likely be good candidates for such programs. 

To begin with, most companies require their applicants to be at least ten thousand dollars in debt, and they must also possess a deep desire to become free of debt.  Many individuals who are in the military cannot be aided by such programs because debt negotiation and debt consolidation may jeopardize the individuals who need security clearance.  Individuals who are employed by the federal government need to be carefully screened in order to determine whether or not they are choice candidates for such a program.  The following details the main guidelines that need to be explored in order to have the best odds of being approved for such a financial assistance program.

First, it is vital that individuals have a strong desire to be debt free.  Debt relief programs are not just to get people out of debt.  There is an educational process that takes place in order to help enrolled candidates learn about debt and how to avoid it going forward.  There is no reason for companies to help individuals who do not honestly want to be debt-free for the long run. 

Individuals must also want to avoid having to declare bankruptcy.  This is often an option for individuals in debt, but it can be very hard to recover from such a process - and recovery can take a number of years to accomplish.  Next, such financial aid programs help to take care of unsecured debt.  For many people, this means that their debt will need to be comprised primarily of credit card debt.  This can include major credit cards, financing contracts and department store credit cards.  Miscellaneous bills, secured loans, government or federally funded student loans and other similar debt cannot be included in debt relief and their programs.  Medical bills can often be negotiated by debt relief programs and the administrators working for the programs.  Based on the background of the medical bill, it can be determined whether or not the specific bill can be included in a candidate's debt relief program.

During this time period, candidates must prepare to have a certain kind of budget planned out.  For many people, this means that they will need to expect to pay roughly the same amount of money that they are already paying when it comes to their individual bills over the course of a month.  Most of the money that has previously been paid goes toward the interest owed on the money that an individual has been borrowing.