You’ve seen the commercials and heard them on the radio: “don’t pay your debt, don’t go into bankruptcy, eliminate your debt!”
Eliminate your debt without bankruptcy? Really? What the hell am I advising my clients then?
So I did some poking around… which is big fancy lawyer talk for “legal research.” And I think I was able to put my finger on what some of these companies are actually selling.
There are ads on local radio stations that make this declaration. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit in New York against a couple that operated a variety debt settlement companies: The Debt Settlement Company, The Debt Elimination Center, Pay Help, Inc., Money Helps and Edge Solutions. According to the FTC, unsuspecting consumers looking for help visited websites such as idebthelp.com and moneycares.com and lured into a “debt meltdown program.” According to the FTC,
The complaint alleges that, as a result of being in the defendants’ program, many consumers experience substantially increased debt because of late fees, finance charges, and overdraft charges, and suffer damage to their credit rating because of significant negative information such as late payments, charge-offs, collections, and garnishments, all of which may appear on their credit report for up to seven years.
Read more from the Arizona Republic.
Read more from the Federal Trade Commission.