I just saw a Houston Texas TV story about Suzanne Black, an elderly 70 years old woman involved with a nonprofit debt management company, Money Management International. She paid $63,000 over the last five years with their help to get out of debt. While this may sound all fine and good on the surface, I … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, My question is about credit counseling courses. What are the chances this bill will pass and credit counseling done away with? Don Answer: Dear Don, I believe you are referring to a proposed bankruptcy law that would adjust the current bankruptcy law and do away with the requirement for bankruptcy credit counseling. … Read more
An email went out recently that said it should be shared with a friend, and that’s what a friend did. In January of 2021, the debt settlement industry started a new trade group, Consumer Debt Relief Initiative (CDRI). – Source But then another debt settlement industry trade group swept the legs out from under the … Read more
“Dear Mr. Knickman and the Board of Directors of the NCOA: My Name is Eric Olsen, Executive Director of HELPS, a national 501 (c) nonprofit law firm that assists lower-income and poor seniors. I am writing concerning a topic of grave concern where the NCOA may be providing harmful information to seniors. Your website makes … Read more
A tipster (send in your tips here) sent in an alleged image of an advertisement that appeared on Facebook. The advertisement is purportedly to be from Golden State Debt Management. The ad presents an issue with the recent crackdown by Google on debt relief industry advertising. The new Google policy is apparently designed to only … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a very interesting report that paints a very different position on debt settlement than you might hear from say a credit counseling agency. While non-profit credit counseling agencies may talk down for-profit debt settlement companies, creditors seem to be embracing them. According to the CFPB, it appears a … Read more
The majority of Americans carry some sort of debt — and many of them struggle with it. According to an analysis from The Urban Institute, 71 million Americans had debt in collections in 2017. If you have so much debt that you feel you’ll never see the end of it, you may need to enroll in … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has published this request for information regarding the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act or Act). Additionally, they are looking for feedback regarding debt settlement programs as well, the appropriate section of the request says, “How are the practices of for-profit debt settlement companies … Read more
At one time Damian Kutzner was living the debt relief high life. He had participated or even concocted the mass joinder mortgage elimination scheme at the height of the real estate meltdown. A large number of good people believed the sales hype. The end result was a couple of attorneys who are suspended, a couple … Read more
Here is a recent press release from Riptide Recovery who is branching out from collecting money from consumers to offering credit counseling services. It is an interesting position that they have special expertise because they are debt collectors who engage in litigation and judgments. – Source It might just be a tough hurdle to persuade … Read more
Sometimes the strangest stories come out of the simplest questions. In this case it was an inquiry about National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) agencies in Connecticut. From the NFCC credit counseling agency locator page for Connecticut there were 25 agencies listed. So having some time to kill, research ensued. But what was perplexing was … Read more
One of the options you can use to get out of debt is a Debt Management Plan (DMP) from a non-profit credit counseling agency. These groups can organize many of your unsecured debts into one monthly payment that consumers make to the agency. It is then divided up and sent along it’s merry way to … Read more
It’s always nice to see groups in the debt relief industry come together for the greater good. Effective in the early hours of 2016, two trade groups, mostly representing credit counseling organizations, decided to merge to become something bigger and better. The Association of Credit Counseling Professionals, Inc., known as ACCPros, and the Financial Counseling … Read more
Let me be perfectly clear here, while this article is about a job posting from Trinity Debt Management, I’m not beating up on them. It’s just that their job posting is a good example to help consumers understand the reality of nonprofit debt help. And look, I totally understand the back office issues of needing … Read more
Recently a couple of statements from people I know inside the debt relief industry have struck me. It seems there is a general lack of understanding why it is getting harder to sell debt relief services. Some blame the Consumer Financial protection Bureau (CFPB) for cracking down and some blame me for writing about the … Read more