Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved final amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including a change that will help protect consumers from fraud by prohibiting four discrete types of payment methods favored by con artists and scammers. “Con artists like payments that are tough to trace and hard for …
So what is the truth about Mogan Drexen? On one hand they claim, as was stated in the recent West Virginia Attorney General suit about them to “merely provide paralegal services to lawyers engaged in debt settlement activities on behalf of clients.” Even their own website says: Morgan Drexen provides integrated legal software and paralegal …
Here is a recent video appearance I made with some of my fellow personal finance blogger friends on Financially Fit TV where we discuss new FTC rules covering debt relief services. http://youtu.be/a29XyW3Rz60 Transcript Hi everybody. I’m Nichole Kelly, and this is Financially Fit TV. What is Financially Fit TV? It’s a series of episodes that …
On November 13, 2010 we held the Rally in Raleigh, a meeting of debt relief professionals. At the meting we talked about a number of issues. Below you will find the video of the 3:00 p.m. session with Allison Brown from the Federal Trade Commission. The agenda: 10:00 – 10:30 Welcome and Who’s Here. 10:30 …
This past weekend I held a meeting titled the “Rally in Raleigh” where a number of debt relief companies, and some guest regulators got together to talk openly and honestly about the current state of the debt relief industry. We wound up focusing more on debt settlement since it is a subset of the debt …
Yesterday I made my first secret shopper call after the FTC TSR went fully into force. My vote of the call yesterday was a FAIL. You can read my comments on that call here. So today I decided to call the exact same company back and confirm what the sales representative had told me yesterday. …
Here is a nice video from our friend Allison Brown at the FTC about the new telemarketing sales rule and some last minute clarifications for consumers. Transcript Allison Brown: Hi I’m Allison Brown, an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency. If you’re in the debt relief services industry, you may …
Starting October 27, 2010 the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule will prohibit for-profit debt settlement companies from charging fees to consumers until the company has preformed an actual service. The Telemarketing Sales Rule applies to debt settlement companies that solicit consumers by phone, and to settlement agencies that receive calls in response to ads. …
Enforcement Deferred for Tax Debt Relief Services, but Most Companies Are Now Prohibited From Collecting Advance Fees The Federal Trade Commission has issued an enforcement policy statement on a new FTC rule that protects consumers by barring debt relief firms from collecting up-front fees. In its statement, the FTC says that while most companies that …
One of the rumors I’ve heard lately is from some debt settlement companies that claim they are going to get around the ban on advance fees, starting October 27, 2010, for debt settlement by calling the fee they will ask for, a retainer. The argument goes something like this. “But because I’m an affiliate of …