How many debt settlement programs are in US? As of today there seems to be as many as a couple of hundred legitimate contenders for the debt settlement industry, with obviously a few industry leaders.  Most however are not equipped to truly handle a large number of clients and still perform the service correctly.  To find out if a company is good you should look them up in the BBB Better Business Bureau.  This will help people to figure out whether the company is good or not and to know how long they have been doing business for.  So don’t waste time if you are in debt it could cost you a fortune in the future.