During the Debt Relief Master Class I held in Raleigh, NC in July 2011 we had the pleasure to meet with Michael Dye, Esq. who pursues legal action against debt relief companies.
Now your initial reaction after watching the video will be intense. You will want to vilify Mr. Dye for the statements he makes and actions he takes against debt relief companies. But wait…
I ask you to consider this, attorneys like Mr. Dye exist all over the country and pursue actions against debt relief companies on a regular basis. The reason I invited Mr. Dye to speak to the class was so people could be aware of what litigators are looking for and from that we can learn what to avoid.
What you won’t see in the video was that by 15 minutes into his presentation all of the faces in the room were pale realizing the liability and exposure they may have.
Mike Croxon, from Care One had left before this presentation so about halfway through the presentation, Howard Dvorkin from Consolidated Credit Counseling reached over and grabbed Croxon’s name card and put it in front of him. Smart, and funny.
The key lessons learned are the most obvious ones:
- Make sure your company is fully compliant with the laws of the states you operate in.
- The exposure for a litigator to catch you not being compliant with the law can cost you at least three times the amount of money the debtor has paid plus legal fees.
- He has not lost a case yet and has a return is $7-$13 for ever $1 the consumer paid the debt relief company.
- Attorney model debt settlement companies are not outside the litigator radar.
- Mr. Dye explains how turnkey debt relief programs expose the not only the company but the affiliates and sales people as well.
- On top of that the litigator will name directors personally in actions against the debt relief companies.
- He talks about how the debt relief world is infiltrated by organized crime and pornography money to fund some debt relief companies.
- He advises companies should avoid offshore entities if you are running a debt relief company.
- Later in the video he talks about defensible positions that companies can have if they have provided a good service for value.
- He states he has never sued a debt settlement company that does not charge an advanced fee.
Mr. Dye has made a very profitable business of pursuing litigation against debt relief companies when people come to him for assistance filing bankruptcy.
For years now I’ve been saying that the key to moving forward is to start local, focus on your local market and explained slowly as long as you can be legally compliant.
After you watch the video above, I’d be interested in your comments which you can post below.
By the way, if you have a client in North Carolina that has an FDCPA claim, you can reach him to pass it on through his website here.
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