Comments on a Friend

[treehugger1]

A friend of mine recently defaulited on all his CC's. I think he also paid some gargantuan fee to some credit solutions legal company to help him.

Well, he defaulted on a DISC card and within 4 months they sent the account to Mann-Bracken upstate. MB has an office in this state and filed a suit within a couple of weeks!

Now, he is all caught up in working on an answer. Geesh, I don't get it. He is really relying on this credit counseling attorney group to bail him out. They are not even located in this state. They just supply him with written info and also supplied him with his "answers." He said he has 30 days to respond before any action can be taken. I told him to read the court papers carefully, as the plaintiff can ask for a summary judgment within 20 days. They can they move forward on garnishment, bank levies, home liens, etc. If he should win at trial, then he would get any pre-paid judgment money returned to him. I have bent over backwards explaining to him that he not going to win in our local circuit court. He still doesn't get it. He is on unemployment, is upside down on home value by $20K - $30K, and he is well within his exemptions for everything else, including vehicles.

His credit is now trashed, but supposedly this credit solution company will help him fix that. LOL. He is a prime candidate for BK 7, but for whatever reason he seems convinced that his apporach is the best one.

I told him to visit the BK forum here and start reading. I think there could be some large cash advnaces involved 150 - 180+ days ago, but I don't think this would be an issue. He could get sued and have all kinds of judgments and ride it out for another year.

My point here is that so many folks get caught up in the "We can help you" websites, when they can truly help themselves.

Has anyone else heard of these attorney firms that you pay to help you beat debts you acquired? It seems prety strange to me.

[OhioFiler]

Have you tried whacking him over the head with a piece of lumber?

[frogger]

We only want to help (by taking the money that you have) you. These firms are nothing more than snake oil salesmen. I rank them with junk debt buyers.

Bring your friend on board!

[albacore44]

I looked into this prior to finding this site. A friend of mine was using some firm from Texas where they set up some bank account in Colorado and he was putting in $600 a month and they were to distrubute to the CC's he owed after they supposedly negotiated a reduction in the amount owed. Then he had a balloon payment come due with Indymac bank, and they were going to foreclose. So i told him your wasting your $$ with that place, and your going to lose your house. so after convincing him he filed Ch-13. Those places are boiler room operations, hiring laid off used car salesmen, to rip you off for what little money you have left.

[mynextlife]

My bk atty told me they were a waste time and you are no better off (if not actually worse) than before.

[OhioFiler]

My bk atty told me they were a waste time and you are no better off (if not actually worse) than before.

I don't know if you are better or worse off having dealt with them but I do know you'll be poorer!

[treehugger1]

My take on this is that this is not a debt settlement company. It appears to be a law firm that supposedly offers legal counsel to folks who default on CC's and unsecured debt. I still don't get why educated folks would buy into such a scenario.

[Pizza]

You're required to take a credit counseling course and some sort of budgeting class before filing BK, but just to get a certificate and that's it. If you're (or your friend rather is) in such dire financial distress, I don't see a debt consolidation/settlement company as any more than a BS chapter 13 that will just take the money and run. Not all creditors have to bite either, so if there are a lot of them, it's totally useless.

Best bet is save up for an attorney instead of wasting money with those guys, file BK and receive a legitimate solution to a financial problem.

[BigJohn]

My take on this is that this is not a debt settlement company. It appears to be a law firm that supposedly offers legal counsel to folks who default on CC's and unsecured debt. I still don't get why educated folks would buy into such a scenario.

If you listen to the radio in our area, you might understand why people buy into this. Some of the characters claim they can eliminate all of your debt and you will still have good credit. Hard to believe but a lot of people believe it.

[AngelinaCat]

Consumer Advocate Clark Howard on his radio show routinely warns of buying inot any of these debt settlement outfits as 9 times out of 10 they are scamsters. Not only do you fork over money you can't afford to some guy promising to settle your debts for you, but you are ripped off, then find out you STILL owe the original debt.

As to why otherwise educated, smart folks buy into this; they are broke, scared, ashamed, and in psychic pain.

[IBroke]

If you listen to the radio in our area, you might understand why people buy into this. Some of the characters claim they can eliminate all of your debt and you will still have good credit. Hard to believe but a lot of people believe it.

Nooooo...

That was just a misunderstanding. Their fine-print in their so-called agreement probably says:

"You still have good debt but we will delete all of your credit.."

[rockyroad]

They advertise all over the news channels on Sirius radio. Every other commercial on the channels that most intelligent and educated people listen to, have to do with eliminating debt. Of course they see it as legitimate, when it's blaring all over these stations every two seconds.

[Pizza]

Something to consider:

Whenever you hear a radio commercial or see a debt settlement company advertise on TV, how do you think they can afford such expensive advertising?

They're all-for-profit 'credit repair' companies, ie. crooks.

[BigJohn]

Consumer Advocate Clark Howard on his radio show routinely warns of buying inot any of these debt settlement outfits as 9 times out of 10 they are scamsters. Not only do you fork over money you can't afford to some guy promising to settle your debts for you, but you are ripped off, then find out you STILL owe the original debt.

As to why otherwise educated, smart folks buy into this; they are broke, scared, ashamed, and in psychic pain.

I would say in most areas if not all areas there are organizations that can help people for free. Too bad some of these groups don't have budgets [obviously] for advertising.