Comments on: Debt Settlement USA – A Not So Glowing Review

By: Damon Day

Damon Day — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:56:02 +0000

Hello Kathy,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am glad it worked out for you and you were able to get out of debt and move forward. Unfortunately for a much larger number of consumers, long – upfront fee debt settlement programs do not work as advertised, and the consumer is much more likely to find themselves in court with no resources available to avoid a judgment.
Damon Day recently posted..No upfront fee-debt settlement is nice-but tell me the risks-you neglected home slice (dofollow)

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:31:01 +0000

DebtSettlementUSA helped me get out of debt, and I could not have done it on my own. I looked into several settlement companies before choosing DSUSA. What helped me decide is that with DSUSA I kept control of my own money, and made my own decisions about when to settle. Yes, the fee was high and came up front, but I was in a debt bind and I needed help. They guided me through each settlement, and stuck with me long after their fee had been collected. Their lawyer helped me immensely with one particularly difficult creditor. Today, I am out of debt, and am better at managing my finances because of the budgeting experience I went through climbing out of debt. Perhaps a debt counselor would have helped me more cheaply, but that at the time I was investigating my options, I did not get a lot of support from them.

By: Oscar At Real Life Money Management

Oscar At Real Life Money Management — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:10:09 +0000

I don’t know much about this. Your writings about this topic are very informative. A lot of what I have heard from other sources seems like they are just taking advantage of peoples poor financial planning in the first place. People need help but the ones who figure out how to help themselves are going to be better off in the long run. I think some of these debt settlement companies use unethical practices too. I was just always taught that if you borrow $100 and agree to pay it back with 10% interest that is exactly what you do. You do not try to get out of paying what you agreed to pay in the first place, that is just unethical.

By: Damon Day

Damon Day — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:31:22 +0000

Hello JD,
I appreciate you coming on to share your thoughts. However I think you pretty much made my point for me. You stated that you have many clients that could not save enough money, and are still enrolled in your program long after they should have been done. They paid DSUSA all of their fees in the first year and now, for various reasons, are unable to raise the necessary funds to complete the settlement program.

However, DSUSA will still call them every month. I certainly commend DSUSA for staying in touch with clients, however, I don’t think the clients paid DSUSA thousands of dollars for a monthly phone call. Clients are paying that kind of money because it sounds like DSUSA will be able to get them out of debt. If the client doesn’t have the ability to raise the necessary funds, do you think it is fair that DSUSA gets to keep thousands of dollars in fees for making some monthly phone calls to the client?

Eventually clients that are unable to raise the funds will potentially be sued by a few of their creditors. At that point they will likely file for Bankruptcy. Now sometimes circumstances can arise that are unforeseen, however, I am willing to bet that a large number of these clients that are unable to raise funds, should never have been sold into a debt settlement program from the beginning.

The problem is, if DSUSA collects all of their fees up front, then what is their incentive to tell a consumer the truth if they do not have the financial ability to likely complete the program? If DSUSA didn’t make their money until after settlements, then bringing on clients that could not raise all the money would actually be a liability and cost DSUSA money, and they therefore wouldn’t do it.

So my point is, that the fee structure that DSUSA uses does not provide one single benefit to the consumer, and simply ensures maximum profit for DSUSA. I consider that to be an unconscionable contract. Also it puts the consumer at great risk for potential lawsuits by stretching out the overall length of the program. Finally, the consumer has no recourse if they are not happy with DSUSA’s services after the first 6 months or so. After they pay all their fees, they are stuck. They can’t quit and get a refund. They are simply at the mercy of DSUSA. What if DSUSA goes out of business? What will happen to the tens of thousands of clients that have already paid all of their fees in full, but haven’t had most of their debts settled yet?

I did hear a rumor last week, that DSUSA is going out of business and has laid off most of its employees. Can you confirm whether or not that is true? If it is true, what will become of the thousands of current clients that have already paid all of their fees upfront and are hoping to receive services over the next few years?

I would appreciate any insight you could share concerning those last two points.
.-= Damon Day´s last blog ..New Era Debt Solutions Review =-.

By: JD

JD — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:15:47 +0000

I understand your expressed concerns regarding the “up front fee” that DSUSA charges but you don’t take into account other items involved with DSUSA. First and foremost under NO contract with DSUSA is the savings for settlements each month under $130.00 per month. Example: your total monthly deposit into YOUR OWN account equals $500 your monthly fee (for the first 11 months) could be no more than $370, and you save AT LEAST $130 in your own bank account for settlements. After 11 months is up until your settlements are paid $500 still goes into your bank account without being touched by DSUSA. ALL settlements offered at or below 70% of a clients balance is relayed to the client. THE CLIENT makes the decesion on whether or not a settlement gets paid. Thus total length of the program lies on the client. Now I will tell you since DSUSA places the resposibility of saving funds for settlement solely on the client and doesn’t escrow funds, not all clients complete the program in the estimated time frame because a lot of people aren’t serious about taking care of their debt. I have seen people enrolled in the program since 2006, paying $4-5k in fees and have settled NOTHING. DSUSA still makes a monthly call to these clients and still takes settlement offers on these clients although their estimated time in the program has LONG surpassed. I will tell you that in the DSUSA contract it does state all fees paid are non refundable, but I will assure you every request for a refund is reviewed and if the request is warranted DSUSA will refund some if not ALL of the fees paid. This company is not and has never been a company to just take your money and run. I have worked in near every department with that company and I contunie my employment becuase the company is really in business to help people out of debt not just collect their money and run. I can advise you 3 times prior to a clients “start” date with the company they are advised of the fees, the savings for settlements, and everything is an ESTIMATE. I myself have completed many programs where the savings is 70-80% of a clients ENROLLED debt amount. You don’t see DSUSA asking for more money because they saved somebody more than they estimated.