“Dear Steve,
I think this is a scam, but wanted to check and see if you have seen this company before.
Christina”
Dear Christina,
Do You Have a Question You'd Like Help With? Contact Debt Coach Damon Day. Click here to reach Damon.
Let’s look at the letter you got for what it is, a sales pitch to sell you debt relief services. The correspondence hides behind and pretends to be something that it is not.
The mailer has an official seal that says National Credit Assistance and references something that sounds like a government program, the “Economic Stimulus Act.”
This mailer appears to be a sales pitch for a debt settlement program. The advertised performance of being out of debt in 12-36 months and paying 50% is typical debt settlement marketing from the old days.
In fact it’s only the last line of this mailer that seems honest, “Existing consumer debt and settlement amounts are estimated and may vary based on individual situation.”
My impression of the mailer is that is a disingenuous pitch made to appear to be some official government program. If they are working so hard to make that appear to be something it’s not, what else are they lying about?
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
The first thing you should have done is to suggest the writer that she check the company’s BBB references. If she did, she’d see that the company has an A- rating with the BBB.
Secondly, every mailer anyone gets from any company be it legit or not is formatted as a sales pitch. The Economic Stimulus Act included with it the creation of new programs to help people out of credit card debt. These programs are handled through various law offices – who themselves are bound by certain rules of fair play.
Third – You state, “My impression of the mailer is that it is a disingenuous pitch made to appear to be some official government program. If they are working so hard to make that appear to be something it’s not, what else are they lying about?”
You have, with no regard to common sense, logic or even bothering to call the company to find out, made a series of conclusions based purely on speculation and you conclude your conclusions with even more speculation.
Your impression matters not – what matters is the truth and answering this person’s question faithfully and honestly – which you have failed to do since honesty requires knowledge of the truth – which in this instance you clearly do not possess.
While there are companies out there that are bent and corrupt and do not help people, there are also the ones that do and National Credit Assistance is one of them. It seems that you have faulted the company entirely on the basis of their sales pitch. There is even a toll free number and I did not see you suggest that she call the number – which would just be common sense.
Another common sense thing to do – assuming you don’t trust the BBB – is to call the state attorney’s office. They don’t lie.
I don’t see how you can claim to help people when you are incapable of suggesting the most basic advice.
That’s what you do to find out the truth of scams or not.
Who is Steve Rhode anyway? What qualifications does he have to assist people with their debt? His dosier says he went bankrupt in 1990 and then opened some non profit company to help people out of debt in 1994 – a company which grew to 70 people – which was then closed in 2006 when the “big office lease expired.”
Am I the only smelling the pungent odor of bullshit?
How about this – nowhere does he say what he did between 1990 to 1994, nor does he tell us what he did from 1994 to 2006 when his lease ran out. Nor does he tell us at any moment how he got out of bankruptcy. Or how he makes money – since he couldn’t have from his “non profit”. So what gives?
Nothing like someone who’s gone through a bankruptcy to give you advice on how to best handle your debts, huh?
If you want some reading about Steve Rhode and what his angle is – because believe me he has one – check out http://www.debtmanagementguys.com/blog/144/rebuttal-to-steve-rhode-the-get-out-of-debt-guy-dork/
Good luck Christina and shame on you Steve
Everyone’s opinion is welcome, even yours Nick.
I actually have links above that lead to a number of posts about how to avoid being scammed when getting debt help. See https://getoutofdebt.org//48270/how-to-avoid-getting-scammed-when-getting-debt-help
I’d be interested to see what part of the language of the Economic Stimulus Act you feel led to consumer debt relief programs like debt settlement.
My statement about the mailer required no call to the company since it is a visual observation of the mailer.
The reader asked me if I’d seen this before. The mailer references the Consumer Debt Initiative which I’ve seen referenced before: https://getoutofdebt.org//tag/consumer-debt-initiative/
Economic Stimulus Act: https://getoutofdebt.org//tag/economic-stimulus-act/
You are free to smell an odor you wish to smell. My story is true. You can read it at https://getoutofdebt.org//about-steve-rhode/
Between 1990 and 1994, it’s on my linkedin public profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverhode
You say I don’t say how I got out of bankruptcy? That doesn’t make any sense. What do you mean?
And you end with a link to some page of lies, yet you accuse me of not seeking the truth. But I already addressed all those points in that link you gave a long time ago. See https://getoutofdebt.org//26257/ok-i-finally-have-to-answer-the-debt-management-guys-rebuttal-to-steve-rhode-the-get-out-of-debt-guy-dork
Also see https://getoutofdebt.org//the-getoutofdebt-org-and-steve-rhode-faq/
I just got one in the mail. Same exact thing as the picture!
Thanks for posting this! We’ve received letters like these too.