An amazing reader sent in a new debt relief mailer through my I Buy Junk Mail program.
Here is a look at that mailer and my observations.
The first thing that caught my eye is the mailer does not appear to identify the company as High Level Debt Solutions. But a search of the street address leads to a website (highleveldebtsolutions.com) for a company called High Level Debt Solutions (HLDS).
A search of registered California companies could not locate a company under the name of High Level Debt Solutions.
The domain name highleveldebtsolutions is owned by a Jimmy Martinez of Elk Grove, California. The domain name was registered on 6-9-2015.
If you read the fine print on the mailer, it does not say the company will be referring consumer out to other service providers.
So a logical assumption is the company provides the solutions it talks about. But if the domain name was registered just five months ago and the State of California has no record of the company being registered to do business, then how much real experience does the company have to backup any claim they make?
The mailer also says the information used to generate the mailer was obtained from public records. But I wonder how they did that and avoided problems other debt relief companies have faced from using such information. Take a look at this case as an example.
The mailer talks about an underwriting department but are they really proposing to take on the liability, support, or guarantee the debt. I don’t think so and my belief is they are using “underwriting” in the wrong context. What would they be underwriting, as in “sign and accept liability under (an insurance policy), thus guaranteeing payment in case loss or damage occurs.”
The mailer seems to omit a lot of important information, like fees, success rates, program terms, creditor acceptance, and on and on.
A look at the High Level Debt Solutions website made me stop for a moment as well. For example, on their bankruptcy information page they say, “Bankruptcy is often considered an option of last resort for the simple fact that the damaging affect to a consumer’s credit remains for 7 years (which can be a long time if you are intending on financing a home, vehicle, or any other major purchase) not to mention the toll a bankruptcy can take on the consumer’s emotional well-being, the consequences of which can be long or permanent.” But what they don’t appear to say is that falling delinquent on your debt or settling your debt results in a similar seven year notation on your credit report.
Then there is this statement, “Bankruptcy does not eliminate all of your debt, since most unpaid taxes and federal student loan balances are not eligible to be forgiven under a Bankruptcy.” Well they don’t talk about how their option eliminates things like federal student loan debt but I think the statement is misleading since many unpaid taxes can be discharged in bankruptcy if they are older than three years.
On tehir debt settlement page they describe the program by saying, “Trained credit counselors, like the ones on staff here at High Level Debt Solutions, will contact your creditors and negotiate to lower the outstanding balance of the debt anywhere from 40%-60% of the original amount owed.” So they are a settlement company? And what about those credit restoration claims. Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) anyone?
And remember that claim about bankruptcy not eliminating federal student loans and taxes? Well on their settlement page they say…
At the very least, consumers who receive this mailer might want to do some homework. That would be especially important before you leap for the claims made and understand the consequences.
Here is what they claim.
But with no apparent track record, how can they claim debts will be eliminate in even 12 months? How can they put an end to collection calls. Bankruptcy is the only legal solution that stops all collection calls. How can they charge for credit restoration? And if they have knowledgeable counselors, then why the apparent misinformation about bankruptcy?
These are just things that have left me scratching my head.
I’ve emailed the company and asked them to look at this article and fill out an error report regarding anything they think I reported in error.
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