Table of Contents
Typically I’m very measured in my remarks. But this time I’ve just got to say what I’m thinking. An attorney contacted me via my email address and pointed out the Robert Mitchell Lindsey, the proverbial debt relief scammer and convicted felon is back at the same “The Credit Card Solutions”, “Credit Collection Defense Network” and “Freedom From Debt Alliance” “I’m a good Christian, trust me” scam. Got some time to kill, learn all about this scam network and the class action RICO suit they were hit with.
At least in this reincarnation he’s got a better haircut.
But you’ve got to ask yourself, if this guy is so honest and trustworthy, why is he running the same basic pitch on two different sites under two different names. You can see a picture of the Freedom Debt Alliance Site here.
In case you can’t read the names of the videos for the different steps of the process, here they are:
- A System That Works Against You
- Credit Cards are Dangerous For Consumers
- Banking and Credit 101
- The Low Down on Debt Collectors
- Justice Debt Relief Services
- JDR Attorney Access Services
- JDR Debt Negotiation Services
- Debt Settlement & Bankruptcy
- What’s Next
Bob’s falling back to his cash cow scam that works in fleecing people out of tens of thousands of dollars under a Christian “trust me” coat. You’ll notice the nice bible quote at the top of the site from Leviticus and the videos with him wearing his same silver cross he wore in the last version of this debt relief charade.
And yet again Bob is operating this enterprise out of a shared office space or a private mail box.
So where is Bob Lindsey really? He is running the same two scams out of Texas (Freedom From Debt Alliance) and Wyoming (Justice Debt Relief). He can’t be in the same place at the same time.
The Pitch
The pitch is almost a textbook con. It has enough information to make it sound plausible to suck people in to get their money, but it’s all based on a bunch of crap.
The sales job goes something like this.
- The debt you owe isn’t really real.
- Tell the banks to prove the debt is real.
- Stop paying your debt.
- Let your debt go to collections.
- You try to piss off the debt collectors and try to make them violate the FDCPA.
- There is a vast nationwide network of attorneys waiting to defend you and sue the collectors.
- Your debt is reduced or eliminated.
The Irony
The ironic point is that Bob is such a convincing serial scammer that even though someone will read this page and be told he is a scam they will fall for his pitch anyway. He makes it all seem so plausible and magical that people are still plunking down tens of thousands of dollars each month to him.
So if think you are about ready to send this man money, post a comment below and tell me why or talk to a friend, show them this page and ask them for their opinion.
Need More Proof
Here is an excerpt from a suit against Bob that mentions the Justice Debt Relief operation.
The Credit Card Solution Resurfaces
678. In or around August 2009, Mr. Lindsey resumed “debt relief” operations under the name “Freedom From Debt Alliance.”
679. Since at least 70 of the 81 customers (Plaintiffs) of FFDA used to be customers of The Credit Card Solution, FFDA is the same as TCCS, just a different name.
680. Mr. Lindsey sent mass emails to former TCCS victims (Plaintiffs) on or about 03 August, 22 September, and 04 November 2009, claiming that TXAG’s lawsuit was based on lies and false evidence, and trying to convince former TCCS Plaintiffs to pay FFDA. (NOTE: You can read some of those emails from a previous post of mine.)
681. With each, Mr. Lindsey completed another count of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
682. FFDA claims to help Plaintiffs “deal with unmanageable credit card debt,” although what Mr. Lindsey means by “deal with” is far from clear, and neither is the means by which Mr. Lindsey renders “unmanageable credit card debt” manageable.
683. FFDA claims to provide “debt negotiation services” through a third party vendor, but will not disclose its identity, and in fact there is no such vendor.
684. FFDA claims to provide “attorney access services,” but at most it just picks names from available lists of consumer lawyers without asking them beforehand.
685. FFDA claims to provide “credit education services” through a third party vendor, but will not disclose its identity, and in fact there is no such vendor.
686. Mr. Lindsey admits that all FFDA managers and directors have poor credit records themselves.
687. Mr. Lindsey hired Tracy Webster to perform support tasks, Mr. Lindsey defining “support” as answering customer questions and “to help deal with stress.”
688. Mr. Webster receives documents and telephoned questions regarding debt and debt collection practices from Plaintiffs, and dispenses legal advice as to what to do.
689. This constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.
690. Mr. Brisco wrote or compiled FFDA’s “Debt Relief Services Manual,” given to Plaintiffs after they pay money, which he closely based on CCDN’s “enrollment manual.”
691. Mr. Brisco wrote at least the following untruths into this manual: Page 5 promises “support services,” which actually are the unauthorized practice of law, by a “knowledgeable person,” even thoughMr. Brisco knows that nobody at FFDA has any useful knowledge on how to “deal with” debt; Page 6 promises “Attorney Access Services” allegedly featuring “our screened group of knowledgeable credit card defense and FDCPA attorneys” even though Mr. Brisco knows (and Mr. Lindsey admitted) that no such “screened group” exists; Page 6-7 promises “Debt Negotiation Services” and referral “to a professional debt negotiator” even though Mr. Brisco knows (and Mr. Lindsey admitted) that FFDA has neither its own debt negotiators nor any contract or referral arrangement with any debt negotiators; Page 7 promises “a comprehensive credit education course” by a “third party vendor” with years of experience, even though Mr. Brisco knows (and Mr. Lindsey admitted) that FFDA has no contract with any “credit education” vendors; Pages 8-11 refer to “Accounts Entering Process” even though Mr. Brisco knows that FFDA has no process; Pages 20-26 are a guide to “Dealing With Collector Phone Calls” that encourages Plaintiffs to take collector calls and say stock phrases calculated to lead collectors into violating collection law, and provides caller log sheets and call statements, even though Mr. Brisco knows that nonlawyer consumers should generally cease communicating with collectors and not talk to them, and that FDCPA damages are too low to offset most debt; and a “Conclusion” on Page 34 that includes: “Please remember that this is a process. You did not get into debt overnight and you will not get out of debt overnight,” which implies that FFDA’s program can eventually get Plaintiffs out of debt, even though Mr. Brisco knows that it cannot.
692. Any true and useful information in the Manual can be found online in a few minutes with standard search techniques and downloaded for free, and even if not, what little true and correct information is in the Manual is, as Mr. Brisco knows, not worth anything close to Mr. Lindsey’s admitted$2,000 minimum charge, or even $20.
693. Mr. Brisco intended for this manual to be transmitted online to FFDA’s paying customers, and thereby committed wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
694. Mr. Webster wrote “dispute letters,” based on CCDN’s dispute letters, intended for Plaintiffs to use to challenge the legal validity of debt, but Mr. Webster has no legal training or knowledge suitable to write effective dispute letters.
695. This material is as useless and worthless as CCDN’sand its only function is as a tool of mail, wire, and bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1344.
696. To pay Mr. Webster for his services to their fraudulent scheme, Mr. Lindsey agreed beforehand with Mr. Webster to wire or otherwise transmit money to Mr. Webster that had been obtained from Plaintiffs by mail, wire, and bank fraud.
697. FFDA advertises its services at freedomfromdebtalliance_info.
698. This site claims to provide “attorney access services” even thoughFFDA has no access to any attorneys that any Plaintiff could not find separately, “debt negotiation services” even though FFDA does not negotiate debts, “credit education” even though its “educational materials” consist only of a copy of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, “unlimited support services” by phone, fax, and email even though its “support” is only the unauthorized practice of law, and even Mr. Lindsey admits that he knows of no Plaintiff’s debt being reduced or zeroed by means ofany FFDA service.
699. FFDA does nothing of any value for any Plaintiff, does not live up to even its vague promises, and with its website commits constant wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
700. Those Plaintiffs who originally paid money to The Credit Card Solution did so only because of Defendants’ scheme of mail, wire, and bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341,1343, 1344, which offenses were already complete before any Plaintiff sent any money.
701. Mr. Lindsey claims to have at least one client in North Carolina, whom he claims (without a speck of proof) to have saved from a $50,000 lawsuit by referring said client to an attorney, whose appearance supposedly frightened the creditor into giving up.
702. While this is plausible (and has been done for Ms. Hunt and Ms. Southwood) in cases of small debts, creditors owed $50,000 will typically not surrender solely because a debtor retains a lawyer.
703. Besides Mr. Lindsey, FFDA has at least seven “contractors” or “directors”that do its work, although they perform the same functions as an employee or associate would.
704. Mr. Lindsey charges at least $2,000 in advance per Plaintiff for FFDA services, and more if the Plaintiff owes a very large amount of debt.
705. FFDA receives this money in a Bank of America checking account, from which Mr. Lindsey can withdraw cash, transfer money out, and write checks as he pleases.
706. Bank of America, N.A. is federally insured, FDIC certificate number 3510.
707. In September 2009, this account received $20,642.67 in deposits from Plaintiffs.
708. Over $10,000 of this was in the form of checks, drafts, or other monetary instruments that arrived through the U.S. Mail or private delivery services.
709. The rest arrived by wire transfer, PayPal, or similar use of interstate wires.
710. In five separate ATM or in-person teller transactions during September 2009, Mr. Lindsey withdrew $14,200 in U.S. currency for his own use and/or for distribution to other FFDA personnel.
711. In three separate transactions during September 2009, Mr. Lindsey wired $1,500 to Tracy Webster in Alabama.
712. In 13 separate debit card transactions during September 2009, Mr. Lindsey spent $1,165.06, mostly on restaurant meals and consumer electronics.
713. Mr. Lindsey wrote three checks totaling $2,500, probably payable to himself.
714. Mr. Lindsey online-transferred $200 to another BOA account on 22 September.
715. As they conspired to do so beforehand, Mr. Lindsey thus completed at least 25 counts, and Mr. Webster at least 3 counts, of laundering and conspiring to launder the proceeds of mail, wire, and bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1344, in order to promote the carrying on of such activity and to conceal or disguise the source or nature of such proceeds, 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i), (1)(B)(i), (2)(A), and (h).
716. Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Webster also completed at least one count of knowingly engaging and conspiring to engage in monetary transactions of property of more than $10,000 derived from mail, wire, and bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a).
717. Also in September 2009, $885.17 went to assorted transfer fees, checks ordered, returned item chargebacks and fees, and interest on uncollected balances.
718. In September 2009, total deposits and credits were $20,642.67 and total withdrawals and debits were $20,950.23.
719. Of this, Mr. Lindsey withdrew at least $16,900, or 81.9% of Plaintiffs’ money, for his personal benefit and/or to give to his favored associates as he pleased.
720. Some of this cash, which he actually knew from information gathered as FFDA’s and Mr. Lindsey’s lawyer to be criminally derived from specified unlawful activity against Plaintiffs, went to Mr. Brisco’s legal fees, but he conspired beforehand with Mr. Lindsey anyway to receive Plaintiffs’ money to promote the carrying on of mail, wire, and bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, 1344, and to disguise the source or nature of such proceeds, completing at least one count of laundering of monetary instruments, 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i), (1)(B)(i), (2)(A), and (h).
721. Mr. Brisco has in this way received $10,000 or more of Plaintiffs’ money as legal fees, and has completed at least one count of 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a) money laundering.
722. None of Plaintiffs’ money went to any third party vendor for debt negotiation services, or to any useful product or service whatsoever.
723. A logical inference is that Mr. Lindsey has always run his debt elimination and credit repair schemes this way, i.e., as his personal piggybanks without the slightest care for Plaintiffs or the slightest intention of helping Plaintiffs “deal with” debt and credit.
724. If September 2009 was a typical month for Mr. Lindsey, he has an annual income of at least $202,800 derived entirely from mail, wire, and bank fraud and money laundering, even while subject to a court order intended to prevent his doing just that.
725. In or around October 2009, The Credit Card Solution assumed yet another identity, “Justice Debt Relief with Robert Lindsey” of 109 E. 17th Street Suite 13, Cheyenne WY 82001, justicedebtrelief_com (interestingly, “Notice: This program is NOT available in Texas or Wyoming”),wherein Mr. Lindsey posts alleged testimonials from ten allegedly satisfied alleged customers at justicedebtrelief_com/testimonies_htm, is still quoting the Bible (Lev 19:15), is still claiming “affiliation with attorneys,” and is still wearing what looks like the same Christian cross pendant. Source: Amended Complaint 7:09-CV-183-FL
Let’s Say You Do Fall For It And Want Your Money Back
Let’s say you can’t help yourself and do fall for this scam and then want your money back. You need to face the fact your money is gone. Even though you have paid for ongoing support and debt relief services, as evidenced by the information above, Bob is spending all the money you paid as soon as he gets it. There will be nothing left to pay to help you in the future when you actually need the help. There certainly won’t be any money available for refunds.
Transcript of Justice Debt Relief Videos
http://www.justicedebtrelief.com/
[Bob Lindsey is wearing suit and tie, and silver cross on silver chain, standing in front of a projection of the United States Supreme Court building]
Hello, I’m Bob Lindsey, and if you’re struggling with debt, any kind of debt, credit card debt, business debt, mortgage debt, medical debt, you’ve come to the right place. It doesn’t matter where you are, whether you’re totally current or wondering how you can pay next month’s bills. Or perhaps you’re already behind. Perhaps you’re in collections. You might be in an active lawsuit or even have a judgment. We can help, and it doesn’t matter how you got where you are, whether you lost your job or your business failed or someone in your family got sick, or there’s simply rising interest rates and minimum payments have made it impossible for you to continue to pay. We can help. Our goal is to bring economic justice and real debt relief to you and your family. We do this by utilizing existing federal and state laws that are designed to protect you, as well as our extensive knowledge of how the credit and collections systems work. Now I’ve posted a short series of videos here that go into some detail about the credit and collections system, how your rights are being violated, how the system takes advantage of you, and what you can do about it. I want you to watch the videos. Look over our site and let us know how we can help you. Let us know what questions you have. We’re here to help you and bring genuine justice, economic justice, to you. Thanks for visiting.
http://www.justicedebtrelief.com/theprocess.htm
Video 1: “A System That Works Against You”
[title “Legal Disclaimer”]
[Bob Lindsey is wearing a dress shirt and tie, and silver cross on silver chain, standing in a library with many books, some of which appear to be old law books]
A system that works against you. Ours is an economic system that is debt driven, which simply means that it’s a system designed to get you in debt and keep you there, because it makes some people an awful lot of money. Credit cards alone cost American consumers 90 billion dollars a year in interest and fee payments. Now most people don’t really think about the system and how the system works against them until they get in trouble. As we work with people all over the United States, the people that we work with are basically good people. By that I mean they’re people who have always paid their debts and their obligations on time. But something happened, whether it be the loss of a job, and we’re in an economy where lots and lots of people are losing their jobs. It could be a business failure, and again, we’re in an economy where lots of businesses are closing their doors. It could be the critical illness of a family member. It could be the death of a spouse. There are so many different things that happen to people that put them in a position where they can no longer pay like they once did. And if that’s happened to you, what do you do? Well, let me tell you what doesn’t work. What doesn’t work is to call your creditors to let them know you’re having difficulty, and ask them to help you, because by and large, they’re not interested in helping you. Again, it goes back to the system, how it works against you because it makes them so much money. But help is possible. That’s where we come in. We’ve got a process designed to bring you genuine debt relief.
Video 2: “Credit Cards Are Dangerous for consumers”
Credit cards are dangerous for consumers. There’s two things you need to know and understand about credit cards that make them so very different from any other type of financial transaction you ever enter into. And so very, very dangerous. One of them is that in a credit card situation, the credit card company can change the terms and conditions, including your interest rate, at any time for any reason. And change it is what they love to do. They lure you in with a zero or a 4.9 or a 9.9 promotional rate, or whatever it might be, with the idea absolutely of changing it once you’ve charged up the credit. This is how credit card companies make such enormous profit. Now there’s some new federal regulations that do limit the ability of the credit card companies to arbitrarily unilaterally change your interest rate. However, they’re not going to be strictly prohibited from doing that, and it’s a situation that even with the new federal regulations that people who are currently in credit card debt are not going to benefit from this new federal regulation. Because the other thing that’s also very different about credit cards is not only can the credit card company change the interest rate anytime, there’s no limit to how high that interest rate can go, even though most people live in states that have what are known as usury laws. Those are laws that limit the amount of interest that can be charged on a financial transaction. Your state’s usury law does not apply to the credit card companies. They’re exempt, which simply means they can charge literally whatever they want. We have seen rates already in excess of 40%. And there are some bottom feeder credit cards out there that possibly fee people to death, and if you figure the effective rate of those, it’s often over 300%. So in a credit card situation, the credit card company has the right to change the interest rate any time they want, and there’s no limit on how high that rate can go, fundamentally an unfair concept, an unfair transaction, one that violates some very basic principles of contract law. But that’s why credit cards are so particularly dangerous.
Video 3: “Banking and Credit 101”
Banking and credit 101. Did the bank lend you money? Or was the money that you utilized, the money that you quote borrowed, come from a different kind of process? Under the fractional reserve lending system, which is the economic system that we operate here under the Federal Reserve System, the money that comes from a bank is not literally lent to you, because the bank doesn’t lend you its depositors’ money, it doesn’t lend you its own assets. Under fractional reserve lending, the bank is literally able to create money, to extend credit to you, based on deposits that it has. A thousand dollars deposited into the banking system literally allows an additional 9,000 dollars in brand new money to be created and brand new credit to be extended. Now I’m going into a lot more detail about this in our education section, the section you’ll have access to once you sign up. I want you to understand that I’m not saying this is illegal, because it’s not. It’s how the system operates. But I do think it’s important for you to know that the bank doesn’t risk its own assets. In fact, the bank has very little risk in extending you that loan. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any risk, but the risk is small. Now I also want you to understand that banks have other ways of getting paid even when you stop paying. For most of these credit card loans for instance, and even most mortgage loans, the loans have been securitized. By that I mean they’ve been sold off to investors as asset-backed securities. In credit cards, banks use vehicles known as master trusts. They literally sell the receivables the amount of money that you have borrowed, the amount of money that you owe, goes into a master trust that is then sold to investors. So the bank literally doesn’t even own the amount of money that you owe. It’s already gotten paid, and when you default, the master trust is the one that you’re defaulting to, and the master trust has other ways of getting paid. Typically it has default insurance. It could be other things that are known as collateral enhancements that protect the master trust. Additionally, when you stop paying, the banks typically also get a very generous tax credit for the bad debt, and then they’ll typically sell, not the debt, but the collection rights for the debt, off to a debt collector for a few pennies on the dollar. So that credit card account that you think you owe the bank for, the bank has literally gotten paid multiple ways, multiple streams of income. That’s how the system actually works, and we’re going to educate you in far more detail on that in our education section. 2:33
Video 4: “The Low Down on Debt Collectors”
The low down on debt collectors. Now when you haven’t paid the bank on a credit card typically for a period of six months, the bank is required to charge your debt off, to write it off, to take it off their books as a performing loan. Typically at that point it will end up in the hands of a debt collector. Now it’s possible for the debt collector to be hired by the bank and to work for the bank, but many times, it’s a debt collector, it’s a third party debt collector that’s not hired by the bank, but rather has purchased from the bank, not your debt, but literally simply the rights to collect on your debt. The bank actually retains the debt but simply sells off, slices off, what’s known as the rights to collect. When this third party debt collector comes into the picture, his activities are governed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as well as various state laws that govern debt collection. Debt collection, however, is an industry that is out of control, and these debt collectors knowingly and willfully violate the law, violate your rights, and they can be held accountable. Now as part of the Justice Debt Relief process, we’re going to educate you in terms of what constitutes violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and perhaps some of these other state laws as well. We’re going to instruct you on what to look for in terms of the actions and activities of the debt collector, the things that they’re doing that they’re not entitled to do, they’re not allowed to do. We’re going to teach you how to recognize these violations of law and how to properly document these violations of the law, because these things can be used against a debt collector in a court of law. And there’s so many different things that they do. For instance, they might be calling you multiple times a day. They’re literally just making your phone ring to the point of harassment. Well, they’re not allowed to do that. The debt collectors might be calling family, friends neighbors, calling you at work. There’s so many different things that under the law they’re not allowed to do that these debt collectors do. We’ve got a process that holds them accountable. We’re actually going to provide you some incredibly strong dispute letters that put the debt collector on notice of your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, that instructs them not to call you, that will stop the harassing and demeaning calls. And if they do violate the law, you’re going to have proper instruction on how to document that, so we can use it against them in a court of law and make them pay for every single time they violate the law and violate your rights. It’s an incredibly effective process.
Video 5: “Justice Debt Relief Services”
What services does Justice Debt Relief provide? Well Justice Debt Relief, we offer a wide range of services designed to help you deal with unmanageable debt, designed to literally get you the best possible outcome in any given situation. It starts with our education services. We have a full range of educational materials on the banking and credit system, on the debt collection system, telling you and teaching you the truth about how these systems work against you and how you can not only know your rights but protect your rights. We also offer incredible support services. We know that dealing with debt is a very difficult and stressful thing for most people, so the very knowledgeable and caring Justice Debt Relief staff is available to you. We’re available by phone, by fax, by email. We offer an online portal, an online message system. We offer conference calls staffed with attorneys and other knowledgeable professionals to assist you in the whole issue of dealing with credit card debt. We also offer other services such as credit restoration services, a service designed to help you remove inaccurate and unverifiable negative information from your credit report. And if you’re dealing with mortgage debt, we also offer loan modification services designed to get you genuine principal and interest reductions, and designed to get you a payment that you can live with on your mortgage. These are just some of the services that we’re offering through Justice Debt Relief.
Video 6: “”JDR Attorney Access Services”
Justice Debt Relief attorney access services. One of the big questions people have is, can I be sued and what happens if I do get sued? Well, absolutely you can be sued. In fact, we’re seeing a tremendous increase in the number of lawsuits being filed by creditors and debt collectors. They’re filing these lawsuits because they find it an easy way to get a judgment and to be able to collect from you. And unless properly defended, the odds are, if you get sued, that a judgment will be rendered against you and based upon a successful judgment, the creditor or collector can garnish your wages, put a lien on your property. In some states they can literally take your household possessions and sell them in order to satisfy the judgment. So it’s very, very important that you have a solution to a lawsuit, and at Justice Debt Relief, we not only have a solution, but we have the right solution. Because we have a very knowledgeable and screened group of attorneys who understand defending credit card lawsuits. The truth is, very few attorneys have experience and knowledge in this area. We actually had a situation in a state on the eastern coast recently. A gentleman that became a client of ours, but he had a lawsuit from a major bank, and he called all over his state looking for an attorney, unable to find an attorney to even take his case. He had money to pay, but just couldn’t find an attorney that wanted the case. We put him with one of our attorneys, a very knowledgeable attorney, who literally was able to make it go away. It’s so critical, so important, to have the right attorney in these type of scenarios. That’s what we’re able to provide you. Additionally, the attorneys that are referred to you by Justice Debt Relief. We’ll work for you on credit card lawsuits at a substantially discounted rate, a far less rate that you would pay should you even be able to find an attorney on your own. And the good news is, attorneys that have experience in this area of the law often enjoy a success rate of 90 to 95% in beating these cases, especially cases from debt collectors. So that knowledgeable, effective group of attorneys is available to you through your association with Justice Debt Relief. Now there’s another kind of lawsuit that comes into play as well, because not only could the creditor or collector sue you, you could sue the collector based upon violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other state debt collection laws as part of your involvement with Justice Debt Relief. We’re instructing you, we’re teaching you how to recognize and document these violations. A properly documented case can result in a lawsuit against the debt collector and can also result literally in money being recovered for you. We have a very knowledgeable, screened group of attorneys that understand how to prosecute these cases. Now these types of cases are actually handled by our attorneys on a contingent fee basis. You don’t pay any money up front. The attorney gets paid out of whatever money he collects from the debt collector, and with the right documentation, these type of cases are incredibly successful, and the amount of money that can be recovered, it does vary, but it depends on what the debt collector has done. But again, these cases can be prosecuted very successfully by our screened group of attorneys, all a part of the services provided to you by Justice Debt Relief.
Video 7: “JDR Debt Negotiation Services”
Justice Debt Relief debt negotiation services. Sometimes people come to us and they’re totally current, and they’re in a situation where preserving their credit rating is incredibly important. Perhaps they’re in a sensitive job or simply they have a desire to maintain that credit rating. So the question asked is, it is possible to simply settle these accounts, to negotiate some cents off on the dollar, and still preserve my credit rating? And the answer is absolutely yes. A phenomenal, professional team of debt negotiators that understand the ins and outs of this business, that have access to the back offices of major banks, and can save you a substantial amount of money should you desire to settle your accounts. Now many times people will want to know, is this something I could simply do on my own? Well sure you could try, but just like I wouldn’t want to rewire my house myself, I’d rather hire a professional. In this case, it makes much more sense to hire a professional. We have a great team. Everyone that we’ve referred to our team has been very, very happy with the results. Now sometimes, it also makes sense to settle an account that you’re being sued on, particularly if it’s an original creditor, or perhaps it’s a small account. Again, our professional debt negotiation team will do this, and they work for an incredibly discounted rate for Justice Debt Relief clients. Now this is a substantial discount to what they would otherwise charge. This is one of the services provided to you through Justice Debt Relief. 1:27
Video 8: “Debt Settlement & Bankruptcy”
What about debt settlement and bankruptcy? Two very common options that people examine when they’re dealing with debt. Well, let’s talk about it, first of all, about debt settlement. Now when you’re dealing with a debt settlement company, they’ll put you on some debt payment plan, typically lasting from three to seven years. A plan designed for you to pay them, and for them to pool the money they collect, with the idea of being able to settle your debts with the debt collectors, knowing the debt collectors buy your debt or the collection rights to your debt for a few pennies on the dollar. Sounds workable, sounds like it makes sense, but the reality is, debt settlement is a poor choice for most people and really doesn’t work very well. In fact, it has an incredibly high failure rate, and I’ll use a real life example to help you understand why. I talked to a gentleman who had signed up with us, but prior to signing up with us had been with a debt settlement firm. He showed us his contract. Now this particular gentleman had a debt settlement plan of 60 months worth of payments at $900 a month. In other words, over the five years, he would pay back 60% of his debt. Now that’s a fairly common figure you find in dealing with debt settlement companies. But when you look deeper into the contract, some other details came out. One, first of all, the fee charged by the debt settlement company was $16,000, an incredibly high percentage of the money he would pay. In fact, for the first number of months, his $900 a month went to pay the debt settlement company, and then most of his $900 a month went to pay the debt settlement company for a period of 30 months. In other words, it wasn’t until two and a half years into the arrangement that his $900 a month would actually go to settle some debts. There’s some things that debt settlement companies don’t tell you. If they settle your debts, they’ll typically settle your smaller debts first. They’re the easiest to settle. When they settle a debt for you, you’re going to get a 1099. You’re going to have that amount you don’t pay reported to the IRS as income, and you’re going to have a tax liability, and you can also be sued, because a lot of times your creditors, your debt collectors, don’t want to wait. So while the debt settlement company is pooling this money, it’s quite possible for a debt collector to sue you, and a creditor to sue you, and get a judgment and garnish your wages and seize your property. These debt settlement companies do not help you if you get sued. In fact, often times they give very poor advice. We’ve seen situations where debt settlement companies have advised clients to simply ignore a lawsuit. You never ignore a lawsuit. They don’t help you should you get sued. For these reasons that I’ve already outlined, debt settlement has an incredibly high failure rate and absolutely does not work very well. My advice is to avoid debt settlement.
Now let’s talk about bankruptcy. Typically bankruptcy is a last resort for people. Well, it should be even more so now, because the bankruptcy laws have changed. In 2005, the bankruptcy laws were changed by Congress. Now it was the credit card companies themselves that were behind the change. The credit card companies lobbied Congress. They spent over $40 million to be able to change the law. The motivation is simple. It’s all about money. Prior to the law change, when the credit card companies would squeeze people with higher interest rates and fees, when it got to be unmanageable, people could find relief in bankruptcy court. They could file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and discharge their credit card debt. Well when the law changed, filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy became more difficult, and repaying credit card debt took a higher priority. In fact, under the current law, repaying your credit card debt has a higher priority than paying your child support or your alimony. What happens right now under the current bankruptcy law, virtually everyone is put into a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, can’t qualify for a Chapter 7, and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a repayment plan designed to get you to pay what you owe plus accrued interest and fees. Now the amount of money you actually pay does depend somewhat on your individual circumstances, upon your income and expenses. Not your real expenses, but your expenses as determined by an IRS table based upon your geographic location and the size of your family. What we’re seeing happen right now under the current bankruptcy law is that people are being asked to pay way too much. In fact, because of this, nonprofit organizations and attorneys have concern that bankruptcy failure rates are approaching 90%, that literally almost 90% of the people that file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy have to withdraw because of the amount of money they’re having to pay. Now if you get a Chapter 7, if you don’t have any income, you don’t have any assets that would be at risk in bankruptcy, it would probably be a way to go. But most people are absolutely put into this Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and it’s typically not a good option for people. Now if you want to explore that further, I would naturally recommend that you would talk with a qualified bankruptcy attorney in your state. But the fact is that what we’re doing at Justice Debt Relief will work far better for most people than debt settlement or bankruptcy. 5:33
Video 9: “What’s Next”
I hope you found this brief series of videos educational and informative. And of course, feel free to take the time to re-watch the videos. I’ve communicated a lot of information, although only a small amount of information compared to the information you’ll receive once you affiliate with Justice Debt Relief. I wish you could see what I see, you could hear what I hear, you could read the letters that we get, you could take the phone calls that we get, of the people that we’ve helped. Situations where judgments have been averted, lawsuits have been won, or lawsuits have been settled for a fraction of the amount that the creditor had been asking. The fact is, is that Justice Debt Relief is about bringing economic justice to you and restoring hope to you and your family. Dealing with debt is a very difficult and stressful thing. People find themselves oftentimes in depression when dealing with credit card debt. Marriages are often in trouble. In fact, one of the leading causes of divorces is financial difficulties. And of course, we’ve talked with people dealing with depression, marital problems, even potential suicide. Again, there is hope. The truth is, you’ve been victimized. You’re not a bad person. You made some choices based on bad information. Well, we can help you. We can help you get through and deal with this whole issue of unmanageable credit card debt. There is genuine, real hope available to you. But you’ve got to take the next step. You’ve got to pick up that phone and call our office. You’ve got to send us an email letting us know you want to communicate with us. You’ve got to fill out the form on this page that simply says I’m ready to talk to someone today. Take that next step. One of our very knowledgeable and caring staff will contact you by telephone to get your information and invite you to a live presentation where I’m available personally to answer your questions. We’re here to help you take the next step. Let us know what we can do to assist you in dealing with your debt. Thank you. 2:11
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