How Not to Erase Credit Card Debt: A (hopefully) Fool Proof Guide to Debt Relief

It’s a sort of American tradition to resist seeking the help of others, particularly for assistance with consumer finance and debt relief, which still strikes many residents of the United States as an essentially duplicitous arena best avoided by self respecting heads of household. Unfortunately, even if the men and women have the foresight to realize that they will not be able to come up with the funds necessary to bring their credit card debt nightmare to a close without a stroke of providence, the next reflexive step for most American borrowers would be a form of self punishment through bankruptcy protection.
Thankfully, a more realistic appraisal of the chances for bankruptcy has swept among all regions of the United States and all classes of society. The Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 programs as currently formulated are the most brutal examples of debt relief one could hope to encounter around the free world. Nevertheless, with bills they’re unable to satisfy growing larger each day and the last great hope of economic rebirth for consumers demolished by the last Congressional round of bankruptcy regulations, where’s the ordinary debtor to turn?

Certainly, there’s no shame in having been tricked by one of the seemingly endless debt relief scams that flood the mailbox and dominate late night television commercials. Most every single consumer troubled by mounting credit card debt has, one time or another, picked up the phone and called one of these 1-800 numbers in order to see just what the business had to offer. For most of us, thank the stars, the patently absurd promises shouted out by the putative debt relief counselors would lead to nothing more than a chuckle and hang up.
Unfortunately, as new governmental studies have made resoundingly apparent, this is not the case for every American. Despite increasing journalistic reports on the danger lurking behind newly minted companies that haven’t a single verifiable recommendation from satisfied customers much less a stamp of approval from the Better Business Bureau or industry association, otherwise intelligent heads of household line up excited to throw good money after bad whenever a financial counselor mentions the words ‘debt relief’.

Following the pied piper lure of immediate rewards for minimal effort, we’re all at fault to some degree for the explosion of plastic fueled commerce. The craven greed demonstrated by some of these merchants of debt relief might seem tantamount to the recklessness of the lending corporations that burdened young borrowers with credit card debt beyond their capacity to repay … as well as the deadened and blinkered body politic that institutionalized credit card debt subsidies to businesses while neutering the powers of bankruptcy protection. There’s yet something especially horrid about the pretend debt relief counselors’ utter disinterest in the financial welfare of their clients considering the personal relationships that must have been fostered.

Should any Americans investigating debt relief resources run up against one of these companies whose outrageous costs and high pressure sales tactics and patently fictitious estimates of credit card debt reductions suggest some degree of criminal behavior, they must alert both the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General of their own state at once. The negative publicity has been inspired by honestly just a handful of bad elements, but consumers already uncomfortable about discussing financial household data with a stranger over the phone might soon think twice about consulting with one of the many reputable debt relief professionals. For the help of your fellow citizens as well as the future economic prosperity of this great land – which must begin to divest itself from a dependence upon credit card debt – identifying and prosecuting the fraudulent debt relief companies should be a priority for all.