New Era Debt Solutions Review

About a year ago I wrote a review article about New Era Debt Solutions. At the time of the review, there seemed to be some confusion in the marketplace about the fee structure of their debt settlement service. Dan Smith, the President of New Era, disagreed with several of the things I pointed out in my review and if you read the ensuing comments on my original article what you will see is a clear disagreement between two people (Dan and myself) who are passionate about helping consumers in our own respective ways.  Over the past year, several things have changed both with New Era Debt Solutions and the debt settlement industry itself.  If you can believe it, I actually bumped into Dan and Alex Viecco the VP and co founder of New Era on an airplane of all places.

The chance encounter and ensuing three and a half hour flight allowed us to get into some pretty deep discussions about what makes their company different in an industry predominated by shysters.

Here are the highlights:

1. The BBB has raised the ranking of New Era Debt Solutions to an A+. Most consumers are not aware that the BBB has taken a pretty aggressive stance against the debt settlement industry as a whole.  While I certainly understand why they would take this stance (because the industry is full of companies basically stealing money from consumers) I do not believe that the BBB’s position serves a beneficial purpose for consumers.  I asked New Era what they did to have the BBB raise their score up to an A+ when the BBB gives most settlement companies an F.

We had to jump though quite a few hoops and provide the local chapter of the BBB quite a bit of information.  I believe in light of the level of bad actors the BBB took a very conservative approach, which affected us for a VERY long time but due to our performance and our continued focus on improving, the BBB was open to  receiving the data they required to re-consider our grade. I will also say that many if not most companies will have a very hard time meeting the stringent requirements and information we have provided. We are very proud to have our A+ rating and work diligently to help consumers daily.

2. The investigation by the New York Attorney General did not result in any action.  In my review last year I mentioned that New Era was one of 15 companies that the New York Attorney General opened an investigation and requested information from. I asked New Era to update me on the results of that investigation.

We were asked to provide some basic data as to clients enrolled and some general success rates.  Also a copy of our agreement and some general client information.  We followed up with calls to see if there was anything else that they needed and we never heard back.  At this point we have to conclude that our original thoughts were confirmed.  We believe they needed to get documentation and contract from a company that was NOT an advance fee model and they saw we were performance based.  I believe that they were surprised to see that not ALL companies charged all  their fees up-front.  We have always been a Performance Based Model.

3. The independent review site that incorrectly reported New Era’s fees has been updated.  The review site that I felt was one of the main causes of confusion in the marketplace about New Era’s fee structure was updated soon after my review. However, due to some recent changes in the industry New Era Debt Solutions has further revised their fee structure so that they do not charge any retainer and collect no fees until they are able to successfully settle a debt for their client.

4. New Era Debt Solutions has publicly terminated their membership with TASC. This was the one action that really made me stand up and pay attention to what New Era was doing.  I have been raising awareness for quite a while that TASC did not actually do what debt settlement sales people always claimed they did and I even called for a public boycott of TASC.  To my surprise New Era Debt Solutions stepped up and publicly did just that soon after.  I am not saying they did it because I said it should be done.  They had been considering it for a long time prior to that and the timing of their announcement was a coincidence simply because of the things that were happening within the TASC organization at the same time.  I asked New Era what the final straw was for them to renounce their membership.

After going to the so called “Leadership Conference” we saw too many companies discussing the potential loopholes and the whole group actually entertaining such conversations. We have been helping families in trouble for over a decade and now that the new rules were passed, I could not consider being involved and getting accidentally mixed in with companies that are looking for loopholes.  We took a bold stance and wanted to make our point very clear that the new rule is here to stay and we fully support the FTC. Furthermore any of us who have been in the industry for any length of time and have actually helped people know exactly what consumers face and not making a stance for the consumers is just irresponsible.

Fee Discount for My Readers

5. New Era Debt Solutions has offered to extend a very generous discount off of their fees for any of my clients who have a need to hire a debt settlement company. To receive the discount simply request a consultation with New Era by following this link and letting them know that you read about them on my website.

My what a difference a year makes.  With the passage of the new FTC law banning settlement companies from collecting front loaded fees, many companies have gone out of business, many more soon will, but a small handful of companies that are committed to putting consumers first, have started to rise from the industry ashes and New Era Debt Solutions is certainly one to keep your eye on.

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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