From what I understand, debt settlement is only good IF you have the money to pay off the debt.  How can you settle the debt at 50% if you do not have money?

There are many companies that will help with this and what they do is set up an account that you make deposits to and once you have enough in there to pay off a creditor then they try to settle the debt with them.  The creditors of course can still take you to court for not paying while you wait for your account to build up enough to settle the debt.  I think it best that you talk to a professional debt consolidation service to work a a plan that is best for your situation.