Helping people with bad credit is a booming business. There's a lot of money to be made helping people get out of debt. And where there's profit to be had, con artists are inevitably going to get involved and try to tap into the stream of cash flowing from consumers to companies.
As this story shows, there are good credit counseling companies and there are bad ones. By "bad," they mean there are companies that are primarily in the business of taking your money rather than negotiating with your creditors. They offer lousy service but charge a premium fee for it.
I call it predatory
credit counseling: taking money from the very people who can least afford it, with the false promise of helping them get out of
debt. If you really want to get out of debt, you first have to get your spending under control. Only then can you turn to credit counseling
companies to restructure your debt payments to creditors.
Do your homework to find the honest firms. A good place to start, as mentioned in the article, is
www.aiccca.org. Read up on this site, too, and stay informed. And be smart about it. Don't just hand over your
money because some firm says they'll restructure your debt. In reality, your debtors may not be willing to negotiate with that firm.
There are very good debt counseling firms out there, of course, so don't think the whole
industry is full of crooks. In fact, the industry as a whole offers a much-needed service to American
consumers who are buried under a mountain of credit card debt. But make no mistake: until you get your spending under control, debt counseling is just a temporary fix to a deep-rooted problem.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Sunday, November 09, 2003
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