In the last few years I
have done several
consultations with consumers that were considering enrolling into New
Era Debt Solutions
for assistance in negotiating their debts with
creditors. One thing that I have noticed pretty consistently is
that consumers are confused as to the amount of fees that New Era Debt
Solutions actually charges their clients. Part of this
confusion
comes from the fact that sometime toward the end of 2008 or the
beginning of 2009 New Era changed their settlement fee from 33% of the
amount that they saved their clients to 15% of the total debt
enrolled.
(high fee, typical of most companies in the industry) Another reason for the confusion is that even though New Era charges their fee on total debt, it is charged at the time the accounts are settled as opposed to upfront and before settlements are reached. Charging fees at the time of negotiations as opposed to upfront like most settlement programs is a much better situation for consumers. However, because the fees are charged at the time of savings, many consumers mistakenly believe that the fee is 15% of what is saved as opposed to 15% of total debt. Considering that this fact could double what a client believes the actual fees are, it is imperative that clients understand this difference.


Unfortunately
this is going to be an all too common headline in the coming months.
With Debt Settlement companies ripping off consumers at an
alarming rate, the 





1.
American Debt Foundation Inc.
Credit
Solutions of America is another of a long line of Debt Settlement
companies currently in hot water with State Attorney Generals
throughout the Country for unfair and deceptive business practices.
As is almost always the case, the unfair and deceptive
practice
stems form the structure and the amount of fees charged to consumers
upfront. In the case of Credit Solutions of America, after 17
months in their program, nearly 50% of client payments would
actually go toward their fees. (What a Deal huh)


You
are in Debt, you are struggling, you can't pay your bills.
What do you do? Like most people, you turn to the
Internet. After all, the Internet has all of the answers.
It is true that you probably can find the answers you are
looking for online. However, you are definitely going to also
find all of the wrong answers, and no shortage of websites, sales
people, and hucksters more than willing to sell you down the river to
make a dollar. 


A
question that I am asked quite often is, "who is the 




During
my 




