If you are considering signing up into a Debt Settlement program and you have some reservations about whether or not it is the best move for you to make, you can send me a copy of their contract and I will review it for you for free. I will tell you exactly what the contract says in terms of how much you are going to be charged and when it will be charged to you. I will also let you know any other information that I might be aware of about that specific company and tell you if I think the program is the best option for you.
If you have been paying attention to the Debt Settlement industry lately, you would know that the industry as a whole is coming under heavy scrutiny from both state Attorney Generals and the FTC. There are many reasons for this increased scrutiny, but one common thread that continues to show up is that the sales pitches and promises that consumers are given up front, don’t actually match what their contracts say.
It is clear that a vast majority of consumer complaints against Debt Settlement companies are because consumers are promised things that are either blatant lies or perhaps misleading half truths. Once the deception is discovered by the consumer, typically they have already given thousands of dollars in fees to the debt settlement company with little hope of recouping it. One way to prevent these consumer horror stories is to make sure that consumers are fully aware of all the potential hidden fees, service charges, and other realities of working with a debt settlement company.
I find that a majority of Debt Settlement Programs absolutely act in their own self interests and not in the best interests of their clients. Of course these things are clearly spelled out in their contracts, but most consumers are not aware of where to look for them. I will give you a perfect example. There is a very large debt settlement company that seems to routinely mislead clients into thinking that their fees are half of what they actually are. At least a few times a month I will speak to a consumer that is considering hiring this company. They are an accredited member of TASC, they advertise everywhere and are recommended on a lot of consumer review sites.
The problem is that when I ask the consumer to tell me what the fees of this company are, they will tell me that the fees are performance based and only 15% of what the company saves a client. However the reality is that the fees are not performance based. The fees are actually 17% of a clients total debt plus a monthly service charge for the life of the program. That means the fee is more than double what many consumers are led to believe that it is. Where does the confusion come from? Well, to be honest, I had to read the contract 3 times to figure it out the very first time I saw it. If I had to read the contract 3 times to catch the trick, and I knew what I was looking for, how is the average consumer going to figure this out?
Is this company misleading people on purpose? I don’t know, but when I talk to 2 out of 3 people that are considering hiring this company and think they are going to pay half of what they are really going to pay, that is a problem. Somehow the consumer was confused into thinking that they had one of the best fee structures around, when the reality was, they were one of the most expensive programs out there.
Why do I offer this review service for free?
Well, I certainly want to help consumers from making a bad financial situation much worse by hiring a program that is not going to look out for them, but I must confess I do have an additional motive. I am asked by consumers every day to give them my thoughts on this company or that company. I of course can look up their BBB and rip off reports, do various google searches and try to find whatever I can about them on the web. However without having their actual contracts to review, I cannot provide an honest assessment of the program.
For obvious reasons, most companies will not openly publish their contracts. By offering my review service for free there is a real win win for you and for me. You will get the benefit of having me review the contract and make sure you are not taken by surprise by something you may have missed, and I will get the benefit of being able to review these contracts and provide honest and accurate assessments to my future clients of how these companies operate.
If you have a contract that you would like me to review for you, please email me using the contact form below.
Please tell me the name of the company, and your understanding of how the program works, including the length of time in the program and the fees that you were told you would be charged. If you have any other questions or possible reservations about this program feel free to ask those questions as well.
I will then email you back with information for you to either fax or email the contract directly to me to review for you.