As of Oct. 27, 2010, a new law called the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) will be in place. This rule will keep debt settlement companies from practices such as charging upfront fees for their services. This rule will make debt settlement companies wait until the debt has actually been settled before they can collect their fees.
The TSR will require that debt settlement companies offer full disclosure to clients seeking help. In the past, companies could charge upfront for services without full disclosure. Sometimes companies overstated their abilities. Now, debt settlement companies must disclose the various aspects of their services such as the fact that the clients will continue to receive collection calls during the process. The debt settlement companies under the TSR have to be forthright and disclose that no specific results are guaranteed and that their client’s credit report will be adversely affected.
Debt settlement companies under the TSR debt settlement will have to stop stating that they can settle your debt for pennies on the dollar, or that they can make the collection companies stop calling you.
Many people became victimized by the economic state of the last few years. People who normally were on top of their finances lost jobs, and the ability to pay their bills. Many people were and still are struggling to keep a roof over their head.
These people were feeling helpless, and they needed a lifeline. Unfortunately, certain predatory debt settlement companies saw a way to take advantage of people. They conjured up debt settlement programs that overstated their abilities to help people, and ultimately took their money.
The way that these companies got their hooks into people is by charging an upfront fee for their services. People might not have been able to afford this, but they were desperate to save their credit and to stop the collections activities. So they did what they thought they had to do.
I usually feel that the government should leave people’s personal financial issues alone. But now, I agree with this law because too many people are being taken advantage of. They believed that these debt reduction services could help them out. Now under the TSR, debt settlement companies will either have to be honest or basically go out of business.
I’ve worked in this industry since 1995 and there are plenty of reputable debt relief firms that provide valuable services at reasonable rates. People experiencing financial difficulty deserve the option to get professional help, but they don’t deserve being ripped off or mislead. In time, I believe this law will clean up the industry and ultimately be a good thing for consumers.
Mark Brinker is a leading authority on credit card debt solutions. Please check out his website to access his free videos where he addresses the most common questions concerning credit card debt settlement.