You can go ahead and try to negotiate in most countries, and you will find most creditors are willing to, as long as you provide sufficient documentation that you are unable to meet the original obligations, and your offer is reasonable with respect to what you can actually pay.
In many countries (UK for example), there are a long range of legal protections that can be used in such situations too.
In the UK, generally you'd write to each creditor and inform them of your situation, and ask that they freeze interests, and then either offer a reduced lump sump, or more commonly offer all your creditors a weekly or monthly amount that you are actually able to pay.
If creditors refuse this, there are options such as what is called an "individual voluntary arrangement" where you can arrange to settle with the creditors as a group, and where a 75% approval of the creditors binds your remaining creditors with support of the Insolvency Act, and so there's little benefit for creditors to be unreasonable.
The key thing to addressing debt is generally to address it as early as possible - the earlier you are honest with a creditor about payment difficulties, the more amenable they tend to be about flexible arrangements.
So it's not such a crazy notion - the main thing it would achieve would be to give you visibility into what is happening to your debt before it happens.
There is of course the risk that it would create an incentive for some people to try to trigger a situation where the debt is offered for sale.
In many countries (UK for example), there are a long range of legal protections that can be used in such situations too.
In the UK, generally you'd write to each creditor and inform them of your situation, and ask that they freeze interests, and then either offer a reduced lump sump, or more commonly offer all your creditors a weekly or monthly amount that you are actually able to pay.
If creditors refuse this, there are options such as what is called an "individual voluntary arrangement" where you can arrange to settle with the creditors as a group, and where a 75% approval of the creditors binds your remaining creditors with support of the Insolvency Act, and so there's little benefit for creditors to be unreasonable.
The key thing to addressing debt is generally to address it as early as possible - the earlier you are honest with a creditor about payment difficulties, the more amenable they tend to be about flexible arrangements.
So it's not such a crazy notion - the main thing it would achieve would be to give you visibility into what is happening to your debt before it happens.
There is of course the risk that it would create an incentive for some people to try to trigger a situation where the debt is offered for sale.