 TITLE: What Is a Payment Protection Plan? CONTENT: How Do Payment Protection Plans Work?\n-------------------------------------\nPayment protection, sometimes called debt protection, is meant to offer peace of mind by providing the ability to pause monthly payments on your credit card balance or loan for a certain time period if you experience certain hardships. Depending on the plan, you may not owe those payments at all during that time or you can have some of the balance forgiven.\nWhile this may sound like a great deal, payment protection plans typically carry fees that vary based on your balance, and the criteria for getting them can be strict. Additionally, these plans are now harder to find; following a 2011 Government Accountability Office report that criticized their fees and numerous consumer complaints about the products, many credit card issuers stopped offering payment protection services. END