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Not sure you are aware, but the FTC recently wiped out the whole debt settlement industry by making it such that you can't charge upfront fees for debt settleme
by hardtke 16y ago
Not sure you are aware, but the FTC recently wiped out the whole debt settlement industry by making it such that you can't charge upfront fees for debt settlement programs. Before that, debt settlement was one of the most lucrative verticals on the Internet.
- innovate 16y agoThe debt settlement/counseling/management space has been around for over 60 years (since the 1950s), and like other billion $ industries it has gone through a variety of "regulatory" reforms and legal shake-ups. Every industry goes through that. The debt counseling industry and, in some cases debt settlement, benefit creditors by providing an alternative way to recover funds as compared with bankruptcy or collections. In fact, under what is called "fair share" creditors give these companies direct kickbacks. The % has been reduced significantly because companies were making too much. If you dig deeper, you will find many creditor and bureau executives working at these non-profit counseling organizations. The business model is a critical aspect in understanding how this industry works. With all that said, we do not plan to do any debt settlement. For additional details on the history, take a look at the Uniform Debt-Management Services Act paper (http://blog.readyforzero.com/industry-research/ http://blog.readyforzero.com/industry-research/). Thanks for the comment.