The ZipDebt Blog
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Pretend for a moment that you are the CEO of a debt settlement company, or a company that is in the business of generating “leads” for the settlement industry. You know that a regulatory freight train (called the Federal Trade Commission) is headed your way, and that within a matter of months the entire industry may be effectively run out of Dodge. (See my blog post on recent FTC scrutiny of the industry.) You also know that regulators are watching very carefully during this period (Click to continue reading this post…)

Please note that ZipDebt will be closed Thursday, December 24th, through Sunday, December 27th. We will return to regular hours as of 9am Pacific Time, Monday, December 28th. Email queries (or phone messages) received after 4pm PT on 12/23 will be answered after we return on the 28th.

For the following week, we will be open regular hours (9am-5pm PT) Monday, December 28th, through Wednesday, December 30th, closing early (3pm PT) on December 31st, closed January 1st through the 3rd, and returning again to regular hours on Monday, January 4th, 2010.

To our clients and colleagues, happy holidays to all and best wishes for a prosperous 2010!

In January and February of every new year, I get numerous emails from people who have settled unsecured debts during the prior calendar year. They are surprised to find 1099-C forms in their mailboxes, which report to the IRS the forgiven debt balances as ordinary income. Many consumers are totally shocked to find they might owe taxes on cancelled debt balances. “How (Click to continue reading this post…)

There may be major changes coming soon to the debt settlement industry. I’ve written recently about how the industry is being targeted by various regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, state Attorneys General, and various consumer advocacy groups. Recently, the FTC announced a proposed change to the “Telemarketing Sales Rule” (TSR) that will include (Click to continue reading this post…)

Since the whole financial world melted down about a year ago, I’ve been so busy here at ZipDebt coaching clients that I’m overdue to post various updates to the main portion of the website. As a consequence, I’ve been getting more and more questions like: “I see that your debt settlement audio seminar was released in 2008. Is the information still up to date? Should I wait for a new version?” (Click to continue reading this post…)

Beginning in 2000-2001, several major credit card banks started using a tactic called “consumer arbitration” as part of the collection process. It was a rigged game from start to finish, and I’m pleased to report that consumers have finally won a major victory, thanks to a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of Minnesota. Forced arbitration, used as a collection tactic, is about to (Click to continue reading this post…)

The purpose of this blog post is to warn consumers looking into do-it-yourself (DIY) debt settlement that a lot of bogus information is being published online about the DIY approach to debt negotiation and settlement. Just as most of the online information published by debt settlement firms is misleading at best, a lot of the DIY material coming out now is produced by (Click to continue reading this post…)

Congress recently passed the “Credit Card Bill of Rights,” and the new law was signed by President Obama and will go into effect in 2010. I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about whether or not the new legislation will have an effect on the debt settlement process, so in this blog post I’ll take a look at the changes and discuss some of the potential benefits (and pitfalls) for consumers. (Click to continue reading this post…)

Given that the whole country is still in the grips of the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, with millions of Americans falling behind on credit card payments, you would think that this would be boom times for the debt settlement industry. Well, I for one am truly glad that I do not own or manage a debt settlement company! The industry has been under (Click to continue reading this post…)

Recently I was trying to find a way to explain to someone how I conduct myself in the business world. It’s sometime difficult for me to explain why I do things the way I do. My “business model” often makes no sense to others, simply because I make decisions that are often surprising to people who don’t know where I’m coming from. One example is the lack of paid (Click to continue reading this post…)