A reader forwarded me a copy of this document from the State of Colorado regarding debt settlement. It contains some interesting sections. For example there is this one. Recommendation 2 – Limit settlement fees to 15 percent of the debt forgiven from a completed settlement. “A Settlement Provider negotiates with a creditor to convince it …
This is a story that I’ve been working on for a few weeks. I’ve been asking people and groups for feedback and information to write this, but I’ve run into a wall. I have received some feedback from groups and people that don’t wish to be publicly identified to protect themselves, but what I have …
An interesting article out of illinois, Our Opinion: Put curbs on debt settlement companies, contains a very interesting quote from the Attorney General of Illinois, Lisa Madigan. “What we have learned is that 65 percent of people who initially enroll with debt settlement companies drop out before any communication (with creditors) has been made. Before …
A report on the CBS “Early Show” had some very strong warning about debt settlement companies. Minnesota Attorney General Lisa Madigan said, “You would be more likely to settle your debt by buying a lottery ticket than by signing up with a debt settlement company.” You can watch the report from CBS below.
“Hi Steve, I’m drowning in debt–about 60,000–but was managing to pay off some accounts and really wanted to do the John Commuta thing, debt avalanche…go that route. To do it, I had to do some juggling between accounts because I’m freelance and my income varies from month to month, but still, it was working and …
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that he has co-sponsored a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking it to amend a federal rule that would require debt relief service companies to provide services before collecting any fees. The letter was also sponsored by the Attorneys General of Illinois, Maryland, and Washington. Debt …
I previously wrote an article The Truth About The Failure Rates and Completion Rates of Credit Counseling, Debt Settlement, and Bankruptcy. Some people scoffed at my findings and said they could not possibly be true, but they are. Fewer than 10 percent of consumers completed their agreements with Colorado debt-settlement and credit-counseling companies, by either …
“Dear Steve, I acquired a debt of over $15,000 dollars trying to help my sister who was going through a very tough divorce with no income being supplied. When I couldn’t seem to get the overall bill down because the money I was paying back was all being eaten up with interest each year I …
An article in The Hill talks about how the Debt Settlement industry is now hiring lobbyists to meet with members of Congress in order to make their case to continue to exist. Many states and the Federal Trade Commission have reloaded their regulatory shotguns and taken aim at rogue debt settlement companies in the past …
Nationwide Asset Services, a company under investigation by the New York Attorney General, has disclosed that while Nationwide Asset Services promised consumers debt reductions of between 25 to 45 percent, in fact only 64 customers out of 1,981 actually completed the debt settlement plan. This means that 97% of people that enrolled in the debt …