I just stumbled upon an interesting article warning people from Los Angeles Credit counseling plans. What do you think about it? (The article talks about LA, buts applies to the rest of the country as well.)
This is probably the best piece of advice out there. I personally think these counseling services are taking advantage and the only real way to get debt help is from a financial institute or advisor, or, if you know one, a debt relief advice charity. You have to be so careful that you are not being charged to reduce your debt when it is actually making things worse for you in the long run.
You can never be too careful when it comes to your money and these bad debt relief places are everywhere now. One good and legitimate one is Consumer Credit Counseling Services. They are a non-profit and have been in the business of helping people for many years now. If you find that you do need their services, here is a link to their website:Log In Another bit of advice, always check the Better Business Bureau's website to see if a company is a good one to work with or not. You can also Google or Bing the company name and enter words like "problems" or "complaints" in your search to find out potential problems.
It's pretty disgusting that these debt relief places would prey on people who already don't have enough money. They are targeting the poorest of the poor and leaving them even worse than they found them. I think there's a special place in hell for those who scam the blue collar, working class people.
Almost all of the advice these services offer is available for free, either online or from consumer charities. Just stop and ask yourself this: Is paying out more money when I'm already crippled with debt a sensible option? The answer, of course, is a resounding 'no.' If you really can't find a way out of your debt nightmare, find someone to help who genuinely cares about your situation, rather than someone who is just in it for the money. As Acsapa says, they are nothing more than scum.
Yes, I am all too familiar with these types of programs. In fact, I once got involved with a debt relief program myself. I won't go into what a nightmare it was, but just say that it was one of the reasons why I ended up filing bankruptcy in the end. Sad thing is I guess some of these are on the level, but finding those instead of the ones that are a scam can be hard to do. So, maybe staying away from them all together is good advice in the long run.
There are a lot of legitimate ways to help people who have high debt. Most credit companies would rather work with you rather than have to go through the bankruptcy court to collect or some other means of getting their money because it is going to be much less than what they are owed anyways.
