Debt Settlement Company Attacks Me for Exposing Their Deception

I feel so honored that I have my first official “we hate you review” from a debt settlement company.  It is no secret that I am disliked by debt settlement programs that are out there ripping off and deceiving consumers for profit. When they resort to attacking me personally I know I am really striking a nerve and they are feeling very threatened.

Since they cannot attack my factual content, they must try and discredit me in order to distract consumers from the actual substance of my message, which is, that a majority of debt settlement programs are nothing but a vehicle to separate consumers from their money.  I was surfing the Internet today and came across this little gem written of course by an unknown person afraid to stand behind their claims.  They even borrowed my website header for their website, which I found a bit odd.

Here is a link to the actual attack website. Debt Settlement Company Attacks me Personally

When I saw this review it really brought a smile to my face.  A smile because the anonymous author doesn’t seem to understand that consumers are smart enough to tell the difference between a factually accurate review and a smear tactic.  Notice that there is no name on this review, and whoever created this domain has it set to private.  This site was created simply to smear me personally.  This is the only page on the domain. There are no links or any other information other than this rant about me.  It makes me feel very important and special. Someone is very afraid of what I am educating consumers about, and that tells me I am doing a great job.

If I was stealing clients and ridiculing competitors, then why isn’t this author proud enough of his company to announce who he is and what his company does?  Are they afraid that an honest debate on the substance of what they do will not stand the light of day?  All my reviews are done out in the open with my name on them. I stand by my reviews and never make baseless allegations. Anyone can make anonymous posts on the Internet.

Now since the author of this review would rather remain behind a cloak of anonymity and there is good reason for them to do so, I can only assume that the person that created this is from a company that I have written a review about. They are clearly upset that I have reviewed their contract and exposed what they are doing to consumers. The funny thing is, I have only done two public contract reviews so far, so there are not very many possibilities as to the author of this “anonymous” review.

The writing style is certainly very similar to the the style used by Dan Smith – President of New Era Debt solutions.  And coincidentally enough, this page just happened to get created the same day that Dan Smith threatened to write a bad review about me and post it everywhere.  Now I cannot say for sure that Dan Smith is behind this, but I find it peculiar that he would not own it if he was really behind this attack.

If you would like to know why Dan Smith might feel the need to attack me personally, you should read my review of New Era Debt Solutions.  If you have an hour to kill be sure to read the comments.

The unknown author starts off his rant by claiming my website is “nothing but a tool to make money for Damon Day.”  They claim I lure consumers to me by offering a free review of Debt Settlement company contracts and then I will tell you what a horrible program it is and recommend a better one.

Oh my, I have been caught.  Yes I must confess it is true.  If a consumer sends me a contract for a program that is a complete rip off, I am afraid I will tell a consumer that.  And for good measure I will spend the time to speak with the consumer about their situation and help them understand all of their options.  Not just the one being sold to them by the telemarketer sales rep. Then, I might recommend better programs that are available for the consumer to research and compare to the current one.  I earn a living helping clients make educated financial decisions and avoid rip off programs, which will typically save them from paying thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees.

Next they claim that I steal clients from other companies and point them in my direction so I can get paid.  The funny thing is, I am paid directly by my clients after I do the consultation with them.  If they don’t think I provided value they don’t pay me, it is that simple.  As far as stealing clients, I think all of my clients would agree that it was more like an urgent rescue mission.

If you are a consumer that called me for help and showed me a contract for a program that was clearly ripping you off, and I explained how they were ripping you off and why, then suggested you look at some other options and explained why they made more financial sense for your situation, would you consider that a good or a bad thing to have more choices?   Good for the consumer, clearly upsetting for the rip off settlement program.  They lose a big commission after all.

Now the attack gets personal.  When a debt settlement company is caught ripping consumers off and lying to them, they have to resort to attacking the person that is exposing their fraud.  So here is what this unknown person has found:

They claim that I do not have an SEC, Insurance or Real Estate license so I am not a financial consultant.  What is laughable about this is that I don’t claim to hold any state license.  I have a degree in business/finance and a heck of a lot of experience helping people resolve debt issues.   There is nothing illegal about providing advice about a subject that I have a large amount of education and experience in.

What I would like to know is what financial education or licenses the telemarketing sales people posses in this anonymous organization that is attacking me?  After all you claim it might be illegal, so am I to assume that all of your debt settlement sales people are CFP’s?  Again, there is a reason why this attack is anonymous.

The rant then continues by searching public records for me.  They claim I am being sued by multiple creditors, collection agencies and the IRS.  That is of course false.  I am not involved with any active lawsuits with creditors.  I was many years ago and I openly talk about that on my website.  I was in over my head with credit cards when I was in college and was unable to pay them.  This was the start of my eye opening and first hand experience with creditors and collections, and I have used that experience coupled with my financial education to help consumers ever since.

I was actually sued on 3 credit cards that I could not pay. I represented myself in court on all three cases. On the first case I caught the attorney in a bold face lie and he was forced to dismiss the case.  On the second case I settled because it was a ridiculous 1300 dollar lawsuit.

However, the 3rd case is very interesting.  I was being sued for about 20,000 by a third party debt collector with absolutely no evidence against me.  I fought the case for 3 years and was confident going into trial that I would have a slam dunk case as the Plaintiff would be unable to meet its burden of proof.  The burden of proof in a civil case is by the preponderance of evidence. Since the attorney had no evidence, how could I lose?  However, the judge ruled against me and I received a judgment for about 20,000.

Not willing to take the unlawful ruling by the judge, I appealed the case myself and won.  The appellate court agreed with my position and the judgment was overturned.  Didn’t the author see that in the public records search? Perhaps, me defeating the creditors on appeal while representing myself didn’t fit into their narrative that “I didn’t know what I was talking about, therefore didn’t really help consumers.”  Oops.

The reason I am so passionate about warning consumers about rip off settlement programs is because most of them will absolutely get consumers sued.  I know most consumers would not prefer to defend themselves in a lawsuit as I was forced to do many years ago.  I expose these rip off settlement programs that convince consumers to sign up into 4 and 5 year settlement plans that will very likely lead to the inside of a court room.

Now on a more serious note, yes, I do owe back taxes to the IRS.  As any small business owner knows, the IRS is not very forgiving and you are always guilty until proven innocent. There were numerous circumstances that led to back taxes being owed to the IRS, the biggest one is that I am unwilling to sell out and put profit above people.  My passion is to help consumers.  I use my knowledge, skill and experience to help consumers get out of debt and avoid getting ripped off by blood sucking companies along the way.

When you start a business from scratch and focus on helping people first and getting paid second, sometimes cash flow can get very tight. Especially when the programs that I am warning consumers about spend 10′s of 1000′s of dollars a month in advertising to peddle their BS programs to unsuspecting consumers.  It can be very expensive to reach consumers with so many programs flooding the market place, ripping off consumers, and then using the excess money to drive up advertising rates. There were times over the years that I literally had to choose between formula for my baby boy, gas in the car or the quarterly payment to the IRS. Any parent would know the option that I chose.

When the chips where down, I stuck to my principles.  It would have been very easy for me to give up on helping consumers.   With my knowledge and skill set I could easily make several hundred thousand dollars a year by selling consumers into rip off debt settlement programs.  I know many people that do it.  Or I could make millions by starting my own rip off program. Again, I also know many people that do that as well.  More and more of them pop up every day.

However I chose to do the hard thing and continue to provide consumers with the one thing that is so difficult for them to find. Honest, unbiased, education and help to create a realistic strategy to get out of debt given their specific set of circumstances.  I am very glad that I stuck with my “little company that could” even when it seemed that it would be financial suicide to do so.  I am now being rewarded for my efforts and my business grows every day with referrals from existing clients and professionals that are aware of the help I provide consumers. Even more than that, I go to bed at night with the satisfaction of knowing that I helped a few more families from being led down the path of financial ruin by rescuing them from companies that put profits above people.

Next the author attempts to cast suspicion because my assistant lives in Tennessee and I do not.  That is true.  I don’t hide this fact from anyone.  I tell all my clients that I work from my home office.  Lower overhead means I don’t have to charge as much money for my services.  No commute means that I can spend more time with my family. Why in the heck would I want an office?  Now, I don’t particularly like the taste of beer, but yes, many times I help people with their finances while I am wearing my pajamas and drinking a Pepsi.  If I put one of my suits on before walking to my office, would that make me more “legitimate” in this authors eyes?

Most Debt Settlement companies make millions of dollars by ripping off people that can least afford it.  I represent a threat to their bottom line and these attacks are expected.  This is the first one I have seen but I know it certainly won’t be the last.  If these blood sucking companies weren’t attacking me, I would fear I wasn’t doing a good enough job looking out for consumers.

If you are a consumer in debt looking for real help, and are curious to know why the education I share is such a threat to these multi million dollar debt settlement companies, feel free to call my assistant in Tennessee to schedule a phone consultation with me in California, and I will don my pajama pants, crack open a Pepsi and tell you what debt settlement salespeople are afraid of you finding out.

Here is a link to the actual attack website. Debt Settlement Company Attacks me Personally

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About Damon Day

As a Debt Coach and a Financial Advocate, I have saved my clients Millions of Dollars by exposing the debt relief scams that other consumers fall victim to. I work directly for my clients, showing them who the good guys are and negotiating steep fee discounts on their behalf. Consumers who speak with me first, come out far ahead of those who don't, every single time. Guaranteed. +Damon Day

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