Free Credit Counseling

FREE CREDIT COUNSELING-What Constitutes A Violation Of The "FDCPA"? and what can you do about it.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act may be one of the best consumer protection laws ever written. Passed in 1977, the reason for passage may surprise you though, it was due to a dramatic increase of Bankruptcies, filed by consumers who saw no other way to stop creditor harassment. So much for altruism. Regardless, the law still protects many consumers from collection harassment today.

So, here is the big question. What exactly constitutes creditor harassment under the law, and what specific things would an Attorney look for, if he or she was going to file a suit against a collector for violations of the act?

To keep it simple I will provide the list and follow each item by a brief explanation. Here is the list:
- Discussed my debt situation with someone besides me.
This is a big no no. The law states that a collector may call someone he or she believes may know your whereabouts only 1 time. They may not under any circumstances say why they are asking for your whereabouts, period. That means they cannot say things like, Do you know where your dead beat neighbor is? -

Called before 8am or after 9pm.
This one is pretty self explanatory. -

Called me at work.
This one requires further clarification. If the debt collector calls you at work, they may not say why they are calling to anyone else. If you tell the collector, that you cannot receive these calls at work, then if they still call you their, then they have violated the act. If the collector sends you something in the mail at work, it must be narked personal and confidential, it must not say "this is an attempt to collect a debt". -

Harassment, abuse, profanity, threat of violence
Believe it or not, their are still some individuals out their who will use threats, and profanity,and intimidation tactics to get you to write a check to them. Any type of what I would call heavy handed tactics are against the law. These include but are not limited to, we will report you to the police, have you arrested, are sending the Sharif over, and plenty more, just use your imagination. -

Claimed to be an attorney or represent an attorney
This one is interesting because I am sure, some of you have received collection letters that read like they are from an Attorneys office, or an actual Attorney. Then, somewhere in small print say that no attorney has reviewed the case or matter. This is because a debt collector, someone who may have purchased your debt, is trying to collect, no real Attorney is involved, at that point. If they do not put the disclaimer on, then you can go after them. -

Claimed to represent a state or federal agency.
Yes, some collectors still do this. -

Threatened me with arrest or imprisonment for non-payment
This violation usually comes from a waco who has been hired by a debt collector on some type of commission structure, and is really just an out and out despicable person. It is definitely a violation. -

Threatened to take illegal action.
This one is pretty much covered above. -

Accused me of committing a crime for not paying my debt
It is not a crime to not be able to pay your debts. Things happen, that even the best intentioned individuals cannot avoid. -

Accepted post dated checks.
This is an old boiler room tactic. They put pressure on you, then give you an out, by getting you to write post dated checks. The proper approach would be for them to draft an agreement with you, in which you agree to pay x dollars per whatever period, then if you default they are back to square one. Acceptance of post dated checks is against the FDCPA, and considered an abusive practice.

Sorry this post is so lengthy but you need the facts. Here is the the bottom line. If you believe you have been a victim of these violations by a Debt Collector, then you absolutely, should take them to court. You do not need a lawyer, you will just need the best documentation you can muster. You can bring suit for each violation, of 1000.00 dollars per occurrence.

As a final note, their is a Debt Settlements program that actually provides an expert FDCPA Attorney to sue on your behalf, for the above violations, while you are in the Settlements program. And, if they recover damages, you get half the money.

If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to subscribe to our FREE CREDIT COUNSELING NEWSLETTER.

As a final note, I have to let you know that I am not an Attorney, nor do I play one on TV. This article is for Legal Information Only.

Written By:
Steven Ciantro
Certified Credit Counselor
American Debt Enders
877-766-2465
help@americandebtenders.com

Free Credit Counseling-CREDIT-INTRODUCING The New Debt Card That Raises Your Credit Score!

In previous articles I have written about PRBC, and Credit and ways to increase your credit score that do not involve tons of effort. Well, if you need credit and need to raise your credit score, this is your lucky day!

Please let me introduce you to the new Vista Pre paid debit card If you are sick and tired of being turned down for credit then this card may well change everything for you, and quickly. The card reports to all 3 major credit bureaus, as you use it to pay any recurring monthly expenses. Like, your cable bill, cell phone bill, utilities, and on and on. As long as the payment is recurring, it gets reported. So how long does it take to get reported? How about after the first month.

So, what does this mean? It means for the first time ever, consumers can start to control their own destiny, in terms of their credit score. PRBC was good, but this is far more effective, and much faster! You will now be able to create virtually unlimited trade lines on your credit report, with on time payments rapidly. These new trade lines account for 35% of your credit score. So, yes, you can significantly enhance your credit score by just using this card. This is a dream come true for many consumers.

The price of the card 29.95, yes, that's it! So, what are you waiting for. If you need credit order the card by visiting: ORDER PRE PAID CREDIT CARD.

If you enjoyed this article please feel free to pass it on, and if you are not already a subscriber to this newsletter, and would like to become one, please visit: FREE Credit Counseling Newsletter, and leave your email address. We never share your information with anyone.

If you need Debt Settlements or Credit Card Consolidation please do feel free to call or visit us.

Written By:
Steven Ciantro
Certified Credit Counselor
American Debt Enders
mailto:help@americandebtenders.com

Free Credit Counseling|So You Like Being In Debt After All.

If I showed you a way, Yes you, If I showed you the debt ridden consumer a way to lower your current credit card interest rates to single digits, and pay off that 40,000 dollars of credit card debt, in five years or less, and improve your credit at the same time, you of course would just jump at it, right? Well, apparently wrong!

Recent studies by the National Foundation For Credit Counseling show that despite a phone number being printed on all 500 million credit card statements that were received by consumers in the past two years, very few indeed, have ever called a credit counseling agency, to reduce interest and pay off the debt, or seek any type of debt help.

How do I know this is true? Lets use a real life example. Very recently, I was contacted by a person in debt, to the tune of 40,000 dollars, Double digit interest, etc. for a Free Credit Counseling Session After listening to her rave and rant about how criminal the banks are, I calmly explained that a Personal debt management program with the most highly rated non-profit program in the country, would save her a not so small fortune, by giving her an actual quote.

After seeing the quote, she had plenty of questions. She wanted to know why the interest rates dropped to 10.25% average, and not single digit. Mind you, that was from 15%. One of her accounts was with a credit union. Credit Unions are non-profit themselves, and generally, will not give even lower interest than the person already has. She insisted, that I send her the official policy about this, in writing! Saving, tens of thousands of dollars, was not enough for her, because this would take away her ability to rave and rant about the big bad banks.

After taking an hour of my time, and having all her questions answered, she did not even have the courtesy to get back to me and explain why she was not going to do the program.

So, is it any wonder that people are not calling for debt help, until it is almost to late, and they are choking on their own debt, and the only solution winds up being either Bankruptcy, or Debt Settlements.

So, for those of you, who might be reading this, and realize how foolish this all sounds, and you are ready to dump your debt, do by all means feel free to call us, for a free consultation to see what can be done.

To the rest of you, enjoy your debt.

Written By
Steven Ciantro
Certified Credit Counselor
American Debt Enders
help@americandebtenders.com
877-766-2465

FreeCredit Counseling| What To Expect From A Debt Settlement Program

For the millions of consumers who will enroll in a Debt Settlement program at some point after reading this article, I am about to give you the best explanation you will ever get about what to expect, and how to get the most out of the program.

First, and this is important, you do not belong in a debt settlement program unless you cannot pay the minimum payments on your credit cards. You should always try a non-profit credit card consolidation program first, to see if your payments will go down to an affordable level.The odds are
your interest rates will go down, but not your payments, unfortunately, this is just the way it is.

Once you have received a quote from a credit counselor, and determined that it will not work for you, then by all means move ahead with the settlement program, look at a bankruptcy. Since this article is about debt settlement, we will speak about bankruptcy in  another article.

In October of 2011, the FTC changed the debt settlement rules to better protect consumers from rip off companies. Now, their is whats called no upfront fee debt settlement, which is where no one gets paid fees until each settlement is completed. If you drop out of the program before any settlements have been made then you get your money back. You should also be aware that if you hire an actual debt settlement attorney, and meet face to face with him, he is allowed to charge fees as an attorney, while he is working on your settlements.

OK, so, lets say you have selected a debt settlement company, and your program has started. You should have been made aware of some critical facts, by the counselor who enrolled you.
One, your creditors are not getting paid each month, and are not going to be happy. You will continue to receive negatives on your credit report, and the robot auto dialer calls from the equally robotic commissioned debt collectors will continue. So, take a deep breath,and know this is the norm for this type of program. While the calls are very annoying, you are under no legal obligation to speak with a debt collector. If you are represented by a debt settlement attorney, then he may be able to slow the calls, or even stop them.

How long it will take until your debts are settled, depends in large portion how long your settlement program is. Always, the shorter the better, in other words, a two year program is better than a three year program, etc. While you are in the program, be very careful who you take advice from. Generally, you do not want to listen to what I call, the "talking TV heads", of finance. They generally know absolutely nothing about any of the realities of these programs.

Now,what follows is very important for you to understand. I am not suggesting that you intentionally ran out and spent fifty thousand dollars on a credit card,</b> then went out and enrolled in a settlement program. But, just think how easy it is to take five credit cards, each with a total of ten thousand dollars of credit available, and spend to the max in, lets say, seven days. Yes, very easy, and wow, so much fun. The point is, it is very easy to get into debt. It is, however, not easy getting out. It
takes very hard work, and a new attitude. Unfortunately, we live in an instant society and I am not talking about coffee. We have an attitude problem, everything should be pain free. Well, using a structured debt settlement program is not easy, neither is any other debt relief program. These programs can be extremely beneficial, but will not work unless you know what you are in for at the outset.

Hopefully, once you have achieved debt freedom, the pain will have been well worth it.
As you will never want or allow yourself to be put in that situation again. You will have gained a new attitude and self empowerment that will serve you well in all areas of your life. Oh, yes, and one last thing, you should start rebuilding your credit, while the settlement program is going on. Yes, it actually is possible to do this. I will tell you how. You can purchase a pre paid credit card for twenty nine dollars that actually reports repeat monthly payments to all three credit bureaus. WOW! This is a new item, and has not been available previously. So, if you use the card to pay your monthly debt settlement payment and your cable bill, etc, you will be gaining unlimited new positive trade lines, so that by the time your settlements program is almost finished, you will be good to go.

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Written By
Steven Ciantro
Certified Credit Counselor
American Debt Enders
help@americandebtenders.com
877-766-2465