June 21, 2006

 

Credit Card Late Fees Average $35, Over-the-Limit Fees Top $32

Penalties for misusing a credit card can be steep, with the average credit card late fee at $35 and the average over-the-limit fee at $32.24, according to a new IndexCreditCards.com tracking report.

It takes just one false move to get hit,” says Justin McHenry, Research Director for IndexCreditCards.com. “To put these numbers in perspective, the $35 average late fee is roughly equivalent to the monthly finance charge you’d pay if you carried a $2,100 balance at 14% interest — in other words, fairly steep.

“Over-the-limit fees aren’t quite as high, but to many cardholders, they’re even more galling, the logic being that a card should simply be rejected if it hits the limit. Instead, it may or may not be rejected, but the fee will always be applied.”

To read the full article click here.

 

Rudeness, Verbal Abuse Top Complaint List

The top ethics complaint lodged with the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals’ ethics department during May concerned allegations that debt collectors acted in a rude manner and verbally abused consumers, the association reports.

That echoes the types of complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where collection agencies are the most complained about business group in the country.

The FTC has stated that a collector’s use of “religious slurs, profanity, obscenity, calling the consumer a liar or a deadbeat, and the use of racial or sexual epithets” is abusive.

Whether a collector intends to abuse a consumer by using such language is irrelevant. Regardless of his or her intention, if the consequence of using such language while trying to collect a debt results in abuse to the consumer, a violation occurs.

Source: Credit and Collections World

June 16, 2006

 

FTC Wins Settlement in Debt Management Plan Case

A debt counseling agency and its related for-profit companies agreed to pay $926,754 in penalties to settle charges that they made false promises to consumers about debt management plans and violated the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call rule.

To read more of this article click here.

June 13, 2006

 

Guaranteed Debt Settlement

For the first time ever someone is going to guarantee that you get out of debt.

Being in trouble financially is hard enough, it can be even more strenous seaching for solutions to get out of the debt. And not one...not one...debt colsolidation or debt settlement, or even a credit repair company can offer a 100% guarantee that their service/system/method/plan will and can work...everytime.

BUT I CAN!

I'll tell you how in a moment...

My Brand new course.

Right now I putting the final touches on my brand new course that will teach you how to get out of debt and stay out of debt...and even how to transform your debt into wealth.

The course is going to be extensive...HUGE.

There are going to be several manuals to this plus many freebies. It will answer all your questions and then some. Here are just some of the manuals that I am planning (this is subject to change):

There are going to be some freebies as well, such as:

I expect that this material should be available in the next month or two. My goal is to have it one hundred percent ready by the end of August.

I have not yet worked out the ordering system yet, but if you would like to purchase this before I make it public you may. When I release this huge course it will not be cheap. I am planning on selling it for at least $697. But if you order between now and when it is released I am willing to discount it tremendously. You can get a special pre-release price.

Plus you you will be the first to get it, before everyone else.

I'll give you details on how to order in a minute....

But first let me tell you of my guarantee.

My unprecedented guarantee.

Of course, there is the standard if-you-don't-like-it-send-back-and-i'll-refund-your-money guarantee. But I not going to give the the standard time...

No, I going to give you a pre-release guarantee of SIX months...180 days of kick the tires and test drive guarantee. If you are not happy, for whatever the circumstances, then just send it back. I'll refund all your money...including shipping and handling. No fuss, no muss.

But...there is more.

If you purchase the materials, and you use my materials, then, if you do not get out of debt and achieve your goals, or if you find yourself in a worst shape finacially than you were before you used my information then I will garuantee that I pay off all of your unsecured debt, any attorney fees, plus and any credit repair fees that you may have.

That's right...

I will pay off your entire debt...

Plus any attorney and/or credit repair fees if you use my information and it does not work. This could be 10s of thousands of dollars for you and there is no risk. And there is no time limit.

Either way you WILL get out of debt. That is my mission.

But there is a catch...

I am not a fool. I know that there will be some unethical moron out there that will try to take advantage of this. So here is the catch.

After you purchase my materials, and BEFORE you put any of to use, you must have a one-time consultation with me or my staff. We will go over your particular situation and recommend a course of action for you. You must follow that course of action. If you deviate or do something else, then the guarantee is null and void.

And we will be checking up on you from time to time.

Also, any failure that you encounter on your road to debt freedom must because you used my information and it didn't work for you...It can not be because some external influence.

For example, we decided on a course of action in the form of a payment plan. This requires that you have a job, or some form of income, but if you get fired or layed-off for one reason or another so can not do the payment plan, then I can not and will not guarantee that.

That doesn't mean we won't give up on you, but I can not guarantee that you'll keep your job. Get the idea?

How to get your guarantee.

For you to be eligible for my guarantee you must first purchase the entire course. Right now I am offering it at a substantial pre-release disount of only $147. This price will go up to at least $697 after I fully release it. There will be no shipping and handling fees for the time being.

As I don't have yet have ordering system set up to take orders, you must order it the old-fashioned way. You'll have to send me a check or money order to:

Jae Burnham
515 Liberty St.
Suite 2
Grand Ledge, MI 48837

Please allow for 2 to 3 weeks for delivery as the course is in pre-release form and must be put together individually. I will send out the course materials immediately as possible priority mail. Also, if you send a check, it may take a bit longer for the checks to clear.

If you have any questions you may email me at sponduliqs@yahoo.com, or call me at (953)323-0704.

 

Bankruptcy Law Causes Confusion, Faces Court Challenges

Good idea, confused execution: That’s the consensus among several bankruptcy experts on last fall’s sweeping bankruptcy reform law, which has spawned a host of challenges across the country.

Case law is piling up across the country as attorneys challenge the law and judges attempt to interpret it—one sign of the complexity is the number of judges who are citing Webster’s Dictionary in their opinions, panelists said yesterday at the Consumer Bankers Association’s collections conference in New Orleans.

to read more of this article...click here.

 

Don't Hand Your House to a Thief

If owning a home is the great American dream, then swindling people out of their prized possession is one of the great, lucrative American scams. Mortgage fraud is on the rise, thanks to the tremendous value that's locked up in real estate today and to the increasing number of people who are struggling to pay their mortgages.

Scammers know that people in trouble make easy victims. They're swooping in and offering to "help" beleaguered borrowers -- and ending up with their house keys. Victims sometimes spend years fighting to get their homes back and some never succeed.

Meet Carol and Anthony

Carol and Anthony Calvagno of Deer Park, N.Y., on Long Island are in a hell like this right now.

In 2003, the Calvagnos were in trouble. Anthony Calvagno had health troubles and had lost his job. In order to pay their bills, the couple took out a home equity loan on the Cape Cod-style house that had been in the family for three generations. (At the time, the couple had a $125,000 mortgage on a house worth about $290,000 -- a high-equity target.) But even the home equity loan wasn't enough.

That's when Mitchell Sims swooped in, offering to help, says the couple's attorney, Arshad Majid.

Sims told the couple that he would arrange a bailout, and that they should stop making mortgage payments while he worked out the details. When foreclosure notices started showing up, he told the couple to ignore them, saying he'd take care of it.

Nearly eight weeks after Sims had entered their lives, and the day before their foreclosure was scheduled, Sims told the Calvagnos that the arrangement hadn't worked. Instead, he said they'd have to file for bankruptcy and enter a "special program" in which they'd sign over their house's title to one of Sims' employees and another of his business associates, who also happened to be Sims' brother. They'd be allowed to live in their home as tenants, Sims told them, and their rent payments would go toward buying their home back from him, says Majid. "They were put in the position where they didn't have any choice" but to sell their deed, Majid says.

But Sims never made any mortgage payments. He kept the Calvagnos' rent money and about $50,000 of the couple's money that remained after their creditors were paid.

The Calvagnos had fallen victim to a scam known as equity stripping -- just one of the many flavors of mortgage fraud. Their house was sold. Sims and another person have been put in prison for their crimes. The couple has successfully fought eviction -- so far -- but not everyone is so lucky.

Here's a quick look at three of the main ways scammers can steal the roof over your head:

So if you are looking to use your home for extra cash to help you through the hard times, and/or maybe just to pay off your bills, then there is an ethical, effective debt elimination and wealth building program that works wonders, and you'll never have to turn your greatest asset -- your home -- over to anyone else...EVER!

Just call Bill Pelletier at (818)237-6834 or email him at pfsgbill@yahoo.com. Over visit www.prosperityservices.org for more information.

To read this full article and get all of the Do's and Don'ts then click here.

June 5, 2006

 

'Buyers' Give Old Debts New Life Through Lawsuits

Uncollected debts used to die away, victims of time and creditors’ ability to write them off. But with a new breed of debt buyers, the past may haunt you.

Used to be, banks didn’t waste much time chasing credit card deadbeats.

Their staffs would hound debtors by phone for six or seven months, then invite outside collection agencies to take a crack. Few debtors were sued. Those who hunkered down long enough could escape without paying.

Not anymore.

In the brave new world of debt...unpaid bills never die.

Today speculators are buying thousands of these aging accounts at a time and extracting payments the original lenders could not.

Some debt buyers are hauling consumers into court and getting permission to garnish their wages, empty their bank accounts or even seize their cars. Others are convincing debtors to pay down old bills that are no longer legally enforceable.

The amount of written-off credit card debt sold to debt buyers in 2004 — $63-billion worth, according to the Nilson Report — was 100 times the amount sold in 1993. This year, a Las Vegas convention hosted by the Debt Buyers’ Association trade group drew 1,400 debt buyers, sellers, brokers, resellers and lawyers.

Other credit issuers are selling their unpaid bills, too, including such retailers as Radio Shack, Wal-Mart and Bally Total Fitness, and hospitals, auto lenders and utilities.

Asset Acceptance, one of five publicly traded debt buyers, operates a 52,000-square-foot collections center in Riverview. In 2000, the Michigan company sued 25 debtors. Last year, it sued 3,855 debtors.

Over the same period, the types of lawsuits debt buyers usually file — small-claims breach of contract, monies due or accounts suits — rose 56 percent .

With the new, stricter bankruptcy laws and the other statewide legislation you will see the trend increase, with more lawsuits coming every year...unless other laws are created to stop the trend and give power back to the consumers.

This doesn't have to happen to you. For more information go to www.reliable-debt-settlement-options.com and learn how you can stop creditors cold, the different debt settlement options, and the laws you need to know to protect yourself, etc.

To read the rest of this article then click here.

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