It is always good to go for an early credit card settlement. This is because the older your loans grow the greater trouble you have with them. And so it always makes good sense to take account of your loans earlier and clear them out before they make trouble for you.

So if you are keen to take the wisdom of the debt consolidation service provider go ahead. You should be clear that when you are just one mo0nth behind your payment schedule it might be possible for your creditor to reduce 70% - 75% of the total debt amount. This is the best decision making stage as not much interest or late fees have been added to your schedule. 

Things are still within your control if it is six months behind schedule. At that point of time your creditor might accept a 50% settlement offer. However it does not mean that you end up paying lesser amount if you settle lately, as you already must have accumulated lots of late fees and other financial charges consequently there must have been an increase in your principal account. 

However if the account is charged-off, it is likely that your creditor would sell the account to a debt buyer and this could cause a whole deal of trouble for you. At that point of time it is a must that you seek help of a debt consolidation company as it will aid you in getting out of the mess.