Category Archives: Debt Settlement Related

Love Irony? You’ll Love This. Debt Settlement Industry Upset About Greed and Quality of…Itself.

A press release from Live Transfers USA really caught my eye, especially since they were bitching about the very same debt settlement infomercial I mentioned to you many months ago in “The Selling of Debt Settlement Services. It’s Easy to Sucker You In.” The release also complained that some in the debt settlement industry were [...]

Debt Settlements May Be Voided And the Money Due Anyway

A recent posting, “An IRS 1099-C Form Does Not Mean Debt is Discharged” caught my eye. It highlights a great potential risk for people that use debt settlement to eliminate their debt. The surprise is that while they think the debt settlement process has discharged their debt, it absolutely might not. A third circuit bankruptcy [...]

Now You Know the Debt Settlement Industry is in Trouble When Alaska Cracks Down

Alaska, otherwise known as the last of the rough and tumble frontiers in America, is often the last bastion of lawlessness. Have you watched the Alaska State Trooper television show? A story by KYUU in Alaska made me chuckle. Apparently Alaska is outraged by the actions of debt settlement companies that are charging up-front fees. [...]

New York Attorney General Wins $200,000 Penalty Against Debt Settlement Company

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his office has won a lawsuit against a national debt settlement company, barring the company from doing business in New York state unless it posts a $500,000 performance bond to protect consumers. The decision also levies nearly $200,000 in penalties against the company for defrauding thousands of [...]

Fewer Than Ten Percent Get Out of Debt With Credit Counseling or Debt Settlement Companies

I previously wrote an article The Truth About The Failure Rates and Completion Rates of Credit Counseling, Debt Settlement, and Bankruptcy. Some people scoffed at my findings and said they could not possibly be true, but they are. Fewer than 10 percent of consumers completed their agreements with Colorado debt-settlement and credit-counseling companies, by either [...]

Global Client Solutions & Rocky Mountain Bank & Trust, Good People Tangled in Some Bad Debt Settlement Business

First, let me say that in my life in the credit counseling and debt management world I have had an opportunity to interact with the folks at Global Client Solutions (GCS) and Rocky Mountain Bank & Trust. I always found them to be professional and competent at what they do, manage client accounts. The Global [...]

Attorney General Nails Debt Settlement Companies CreditAnswers and Liberty Settlement Group.

The Vermont Attorney General announced that CreditAnswers, LLC, and Liberty Banc Mortgage Group, Inc. (doing business as Liberty Settlement Group), two companies that offer to negotiate debt settlements for consumers, have entered into settlements with the Attorney General’s Office that will result in refunds and payments to the State totaling over $70,000. In doing so, [...]

New Debt Settlement Software Helps to Not Kill Sales and Increase Closing Percentage and Retention Rates

Here is a recent press release from a company that makes software for the debt settlement industry, in case you did not understand that debt settlement is a sales oriented business. The bolded sections were added by me for emphasis. — MSTARS, LLC is pleased to announce that its new Virtual Training System (VTS) has [...]

Arizona Takes Care of Taken Care of Investments and Hope For Homeowners Now for Screwing Consumers.

Airizona Attorney General Terry Goddard announced that he has gained a total of more than $1,370,000 in civil penalties and restitution for consumers as a result of two mortgage fraud lawsuits filed earlier this year. These enforcement actions come as part of Goddard’s crackdown on businesses that prey upon homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure. “The [...]

Everest Debt Solutions and FDN Solutions. These Debt Settlement Companies Are Really Starting to Piss Me Off Now.

Previously I wrote a post “What Do You Think of Everest Debt Solutions? – Margo“. In that post, a reader sent in a question about a company I had never heard of before, Everest Debt Solutions, a debt settlement company. If you look at the comments section of that question you will see that someone [...]

Attorney General Cracks Down on Abusive Debt Settlement Industry

Illionois Attorney General Lisa Madigan took further action to reform an abusive debt settlement industry that wreaks havoc on financially strapped consumers who are increasingly desperate to manage their rising debts in these difficult economic times. Madigan proposed legislation to prohibit debt settlement firms from engaging in unfair practices that harm consumers including charging upfront [...]

Illinois Attorney General Cracks Down on Debt Settlement Industry

Attorney General Lisa Madigan today took further action to reform an abusive debt settlement industry that wreaks havoc on financially strapped consumers who are increasingly desperate to manage their rising debts in these difficult economic times. Madigan proposed legislation to prohibit debt settlement firms from engaging in unfair practices that harm consumers including charging upfront [...]

New Regulations to Restrict Debt Settlement Forms Becomes Law, Now.

Last year Attorney General Blumenthal in Connecticut fought to get new laws in place to protect consumers from debt settlement and debt negotiators that charge consumers and up-front fee to settle debts. The law has the following provisions: Obtain a Connecticut debt negotiators license and file a surety bond Not refer to state licensing or [...]

American Debt Control and Debt Relief USA Unfortunately Back in the News

Interesting article worth reading out of Texas about debt settlement and the Debt Relief USA mess. People in desperate financial straits will sometimes go to desperate lengths to get out. And some companies use questionable practices to capitalize on their plights. The most recent example is an Addison-based company that promised to cut consumers’ credit [...]

Debt Settlement Companies Watch Out. Debt Settlement Talks Getting Serious Now About Banning Up-Front Fees.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster will meet with both Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner and Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington, D.C. to discuss Missouri’s efforts to pursue businesses engaged in mortgage fraud. Geithner and Holder invited Koster and several other Attorneys General from around the nation to meet with them to discuss the [...]