December 27, 2011 – 1:27 pm
In my blog post on “The Future of Debt Settlement,” published a little over a year ago, I assessed the state of the debt settlement industry in the wake of the FTC rule-change that banned the advance-fee model for third-party debt settlement. To summarize, in that earlier post I described the in-progress breakup of the industry into Read More »
October 14, 2011 – 3:42 pm
In my 14 years as a debt settlement professional, I’ve reviewed thousands upon thousands of debt settlement letters. Last year alone we had about 1,200 of them to review and approve on behalf of our clients. If there is one subject I know well, it’s how to document a settlement! There is nothing especially difficult about it, but I continue to be astonished at the amazing amount of bad information floating around Read More »
August 31, 2011 – 5:09 pm
While doing consultations with people looking into their debt relief options, here’s a question I hear over and over again: Can I settle my business debts the same as my personal debts? The short answer is YES. Small business debts can usually be settled for less than full balance, often 50% or less (much less in some cases), and the process generally works the same way as it does for Read More »
August 19, 2011 – 11:17 am
Although we are a bit late getting going on social media, ZipDebt is now on both Facebook and Twitter. We’re reaching out to our regular readers and former clients to help get us noticed out there! Read More »
Steve Rhode over at GetOutOfDebt.org has published an excellent article exposing a new “debt relief” variation that will only spell trouble for consumers who are duped into enrolling. It’s called “debt restructuring,” and Mr. Rhode provides a very detailed discussion on the marketing approach being used to promote this program, including the totally absurd sales scripts used by boiler-room sales agents to sell this toxic sludge of a “service.” By calling it “debt restructuring” instead of “debt settlement,” the people who have set Read More »
Today I’m proud to announce the launch of our new website. We are up and running at SecondMortgageAdvice.com. We’ve built this new portal so that people looking for assistance with problem second mortgages can easily find the site and get help. Our country seems to be on the front end of yet another debt-related tidal wave (nearly $1 trillion in Read More »
There is a “hidden” component to the real estate and financial crisis, and it gets very little attention by the media. I’m referring to the problem with second mortgages on homes that have lost market value during the real estate crash. Banks are being allowed by the Treasury Department to keep large portfolios of second-lien mortgages on their books at values close to those before the bubble Read More »
April 27, 2011 – 10:03 am
The original version of my do-it-yourself debt settlement training course was launched in 2004. After three years of working one-on-one with consumers as their debt coach, I had gained so much additional information that I started including a 55-page written update to the existing material. This new content Read More »
In my post of October 27, 2010, “The Future of Debt Settlement,” I discussed how firms were responding to the advance fee ban imposed by the Federal Trade Commission, and that three groups had emerged. The first group are the companies exiting the marketing place completely—these were mainly the marketing outfits that will now Read More »
February 25, 2011 – 12:55 pm
Last July, I published “Debt Settlement Done Right,” which included ZipDebt’s success-tracking statistics for the period 2006-2009. I have now updated the figures to include the pool of clients who enrolled during 2010. The updated stats show that we are getting even better at what we do best – coaching consumers how to settle their debts quickly and safely on their own, with no need for debt settlement companies or the sky-high fees they charge. Read More »
