Disclosures If You Need Debt Help – How Important Are They?
Very, but those doing the disclosing are not really helping with the little information they give.
When a person is struggling with debt and looking for outside help from a company or person, they should certainly have risks and rewards disclosed to them. Ideally, the disclosures would help a person to best evaluate which direction to take for help, and who to trust. A recent article by Elisabeth Rosenthal in the NYT: I Disclose… Nothing helps to underscore what I find to be the biggest shortcoming of disclosures in debt relief – No context.
From NYT article linked above:
“… disclosure laws — meant to elucidate — do not necessarily lead to greater transparency or prevent the things they were meant to deter.”
One or two sentence disclosures rarely do. Disclosures about the affects of a debt relief option to ones credit score are a good example.
Credit counselors and debt settlement companies offering legitimate services will disclose that there will be an impact to credit scores and those things will appear on the consumer’s credit report as a result of enrolling in their respective programs. If a consumer is hyper concerned about her credit score and credit report, but unable to pay the minimum monthly amount due on her Citi card, she may be more prone to try and avoid bankruptcy with a DMP than by opting for debt settlement. In this way, one would think disclosures about the impact to credit that this consumer read or heard – performed exactly as meant to. Nope.
The problem debt she has is a $17,000.00 balance with an interest rate of over 20%. A credit counselor offering a monthly payment of 357.00 sounds better than the 500.00 plus she cannot afford now, but the 357.00 monthly payments are going to be a stretch too. She enrolls in the DMP and scrambles up the 357.00 each month only to miss a payment in month 8. She finds herself unable to get back on track the following month. The account was closed by the creditor when she enrolled in the debt management plan, she now has a 30 and 60 day late pay reporting, and she blew through 2500.00 in payments toward a solution she was not going to succeed with. That 2500.00 would have more than covered the cost of a chapter 7 bankruptcy that she was qualified to file. And, as it turns out, that 2500.00 was enough to settle the account with card services in month 7 after she fell off the DMP.
More from the NYT piece linked above:
“One fundamental problem is that disclosure requirements merely get information onto the table, but themselves demand no further action. According to political theory, disclosure is both a citizen’s right and a tool to ensure good government and consumer protection, because it provides information that leads to informed decisions. Instead, disclosure has often become an endpoint in the chain of responsibility, an act of compliance with the letter of the law rather than the spirit of transparency.”
A good example of this would be companies offering debt settlement disclosing the fact that nonpayment to creditors could result in being sued by a creditor in their attempt to collect. That lawsuit may result in judgment which could result in bank levy or garnishment. A consumer given this disclosure is now informed of a known risk. The company making this disclosure can feel that they covered their own butt because the risk was plainly stated to the customer in advance. However, if any real context were provided to the consumer about this known risk, it would involve much more detail – detail that cannot fit into a tidy paragraph or three, let alone one sentence. Being sued by a creditor IS a real risk. Do settlement companies and those who promote them state plainly that the risk of being sued increases the longer debts remain unpaid? Most don’t go into that type of detail as it would scare off a consumer from beginning the savings and settlement plan.
More from the NYT article:
“Many disclosure programs today cloud rather than clarify a particular situation. As disclosure statements have become more numerous and more complicated, “consumers just ignore them or don’t understand what they say,” said Jeff Sovern, an expert in consumer law at St. John’s University.”
The type of disclosure context needed that provides an individual seeking debt relief a meaningful grasp of the issues they face; that educates and informs to the degree that would maximize awareness of the wrong and right steps to take; how to evaluate the immediate need for relief alongside concerns for ones future success and goals; that applies disclosures to the unique circumstances of the relief seeker – is simply not provided in the main by those offering alternatives to bankruptcy.
“While regulators and consumers see disclosure as a way to improve transparency, companies often regard it as a risk-management strategy. “Often the goal of disclosure is to reduce or eliminate the legal risk,” Dr. Weinfurt said. “It is so they can say, ‘Hey we told you so.’ ”
When it comes to the debt relief industry, companies and people provide disclosures in order to meet a minimum standard and to limit their own liability. Any substantive and informative discussion around disclosures to debt relief seeking customers that allows them to truly weigh and measure how the facts disclosed apply to them at the moment and on a forward looking basis, typically never happens. If meaningful discussion about key disclosures does occur, it would most likely be down the line when a disclosure item is triggered and after irreversible action steps in debt relief have been taken. This is where most of the headaches for debt relief customers and companies occur. Unhappy customers who were not fully aware of the implications of the decisions they were making at the time they enrolled in a debt relief plan. Customers of debt management & debt settlement plans may want to place blame on a service provider when things don’t go as planned. The service provider will want to point to a disclosure and say, “we told you this at the beginning”.
The consumer seeking debt relief is not shopping for a toaster oven. Companies and individuals representing they can help someone in need are selling something. That something is not as benign as describing the convection cooking features of a counter top oven. The responsibility debt relief service providers have to inform and educate the consumers they come in contact with cannot be underscored enough.
A friend of mine started a unique consulting service a couple years ago. He provides paid consultations with consumers in order to help them understand the debt relief options available to them. He does not provide settlement, debt management or bankruptcy services. What does he do? He provides detailed debt relief disclosures as they relate to the individuals set of circumstances that are not readily provided to consumers in any meaningful way by the companies who DO provide the services. He fills a niche that should not even exist, but it does, and will remain until disclosure gaps are filled with useful information, consumer education, and side by side comparisons.
There are tools and solutions available to legitimate service providers that can fill the disclosure gap. CRN offers educational tools and training to the debt relief services industry along side the products and services we provide direct to consumers in need of debt relief. Contact us for more information.
A couple of friends of mine who are experts in the debt relief industry came together recently to put a together a powerful tool for consumers and industry experts. The calculator and additional tools you will find discussed and linked below will help you determine what debt elimination option may be right for you. I like this tool. It focuses on the math of each option first. In debt relief, if you cannot make the numbers work, you cannot make the solution work.
You may still need to discuss your particular situation with a professional service provider to discuss program benefits and drawbacks, but by starting with the calculator and determining what your financial abilities are first, you will be able to narrow your options and save yourself quite a bit of time.
Every single day I help people for free to find good solutions for problem debt. Not long ago I was talking with some friends and it occurred to me there was no one single tool people could use to better understand all of their options to tackle their debt. Why not?
So in collaboration with the smart technology people at USDR we created just such an online calculator to give people a somewhat personalized side-by-side comparison of the options, costs and payments of the different approaches to eliminate their debt.
We’ve just launched the How to Get Out of Debt Calculator and I think it gives people an impartial and detached view of what they can do to tackle their debt.
The use of the calculator is free and does not require people to share any personal identifying information.
Each option for getting out of debt certainly has plusses and minuses. But through education and awareness each person can make a better choice about the approach that’s right for them.
The calculator is not designed to be the creator of a final plan to implement, in fact we don’t sell any debt relief services at GetOutOfDebt.org.
At GetOutOfDebt.org what we do is provide information, education, free help and resources for people dealing with debt. This new free online educational tool helps us to further that mission.
The unique online calculator is designed to give people a wider eyed view of the logical solutions available so they can have an educated discussion with any for-profit or non-profit debt relief provider they ultimately choose to work with.
And now, without further fanfare, I invite you to try and enjoy The Amazing How to Get Out of Debt Calculator. I think you’ll find it to be pretty amazing in the distilled education it presents users.
Feel free to link to the How to Get Out of Debt Calculator in an effort to help people better understand their options. Your link to the calculator simply helps us to help people.
And in the interest of educating consumers further I’ve also just recently released another online tool that provides comprehensive information to show consumers the regulation, licensing, and registration required of debt relief companies on a state-by-state basis. It’s yet another free resource available through GetOutOfDebt.org to protect consumers looking for debt help. You can find links to this in the resource section at GetOutOfDebt.org.
Good news for struggling home owners in Massachusetts came this past week in the form of money released to assist in making mortgage payments. The press release below gives some details. The downside is that the program has a narrow window of time for residents of the state to seek qualification to receive no interest loans designed to prevent home loss. If you or someone you know in MA could benefit from the program outlined below, get them in touch with Cambridge ASAP at: 1-888-544-3457.
Cambridge Credit Awarded HUD Funding to Help Unemployed Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
Deadline for Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program applications is July 22, 2011.
Cambridge Credit Counseling Corporation, a professional housing and credit counseling agency based in Agawam, Massachusetts, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help Commonwealth residents avoid foreclosure. The Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program (EHLP) is designed to help ease the current housing crisis, in which more than 6.3 million homeowners are threatened with foreclosure. Homeowners who have experienced a substantial loss of income due to unemployment, underemployment, or medical condition can receive interest-free, forgivable loans to pay their mortgage, property tax and insurance bills for up to two years, or until they exhaust the maximum EHLP loan amount of $50,000 – whichever comes first.
Approved homeowners are eligible to receive one-time EHLP assistance to bring their mortgage current, as well as ongoing monthly assistance. If a homeowner is selected to receive a loan through the EHLP program, payments will subsidize their monthly mortgage bill; allowing them to pay just 31% of their income or $150, whichever is greater – EHLP will pay the balance. No payments are due on the 5-year term of these loans, providing that the homeowner meets all the conditions of the program. If so, the loan will be forgiven in 20% increments each year.
“This is great news for homeowners who’ve lost their jobs, are underemployed, or are suffering from challenging medical conditions,” remarked Cambridge president Christopher Viale. “We’re happy to be able to provide meaningful help to homeowners throughout Massachusetts.”
Homeowners applying for an EHLP loan will have to complete a Pre-Applicant Screen Worksheet, which is available by calling Cambridge at 888-544-EHLP (888-544-3457). The worksheet must be submitted to an EHLP counseling agency by July 22, 2011. Applicants will need to work with an approved EHLP housing counseling agency and provide required documentation. A checklist of these documents is listed in the Pre-Applicant Screen Worksheet.
“Many of our member churches have been trying to offer support to parishioners facing these serious circumstances,” noted Archbishop Timothy Paul of the Council of Churches of Greater Springfield. “The lack of effective government programs has made it difficult, but Cambridge’s participation in EHLP offers new hope to our congregations.”
If you live in Massachusetts and are facing foreclosure due to a substantial loss of income arising from unemployment, underemployment, or medical condition, call 888-544-EHLP (888-544-3457) to talk to a HUD-certified housing counselor who can help you determine your eligibility for the new Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program.
ABOUT CAMBRIDGE CREDIT COUNSELING CORP.
Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. is a professional housing and debt counseling agency dedicated to educating young adults on the importance of sound financial management, and to providing financially distressed Americans with education and debt management services appropriate to their needs. Visit Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. online at http://www.cambridgecredit.org.
I generally begin any consultation I do with people who reach out to my company in search of help with debt with this question: “What has you reaching out to a perfect stranger? What is going on with you financially”? Then, I shut up and listen. I am sometimes the first person the caller has ever spoken to about the situation they are in.
The responses I hear vary, as does the time someone will take to outline the details of their hardship. By listening closely, I am able to hear the stress and fear they have about their debt. I often hear the struggles they have gone through to try and keep current with credit card bills, or the difficulty they have had in communicating with creditors and collectors.
The other day, I heard one of the simplest and shortest answers to my initial question that I have had to date.
“My Debt Is Crippling Me.”
While this response does not provide details I generally look to key off of in order to identify the debt pieces or solutions to putting the person’s financial puzzle back together, it said a great deal in a very powerful way.
Struggles with debt DO feel crippling. In the very sense that someone with a physical disability is forced to deal with every day of their lives. The stress and fear with debt problems are debilitating and can often manifest into actual maladies. The worry and frustration about money, and the lack of money, carries over from one day to the next. What am I going to do at the end of the month when these other bills are due? When will I ever be out of credit card debt? How did I get trapped in a home now worth far less than I owe? What if I get laid off with no savings? How would I get by with maxed out credit cards and no income?
One of the overwhelming benefits to people we talk with is that we can reduce, or even remove the stress and fear they have about their debt problem in one phone call.
This gentleman did not feel crippled when we finished talking about his problem because I plainly laid out the facts of his finances (after several additional questions to be sure), and was able to point out to him the mathematical rational solution to his debt. His solution did not involve needing to engage my company for a product or service, as he was past the point of debt settlement or a creditor sponsored hardship plan being a viable option.
He learned that, unlike someone who has a physical disability for the rest of their life, his crippling debt could actually be cured and with little fuss or expense. He was not at all excited to know that his only real option was to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy, but he saw the wisdom in doing so and hung up the phone with no fear and less stress.
I asked him before we hung up from the call “How crippling is your debt now?”.
He replied “Not at all.”
There is always and answer to recover from debt. The answers do often involve tough choices and some action steps that are not exactly a thrill to take, but can be arrived at through the process of elimination. Generally, I can walk through the following things and eliminate 3 or 4 out of the 5:
Creditor monthly payment concessions
Debt Management Plans through a credit counseling group
Bankruptcy
Debt Settlement
Doing nothing (sometimes the right thing for brief period – couple months)
Knowledge removes the fear of the unknown, and unemotional, boring, old arithmetic is the compass to find your way to healthier finances.
My advice to anyone feeling crippled with debt boils down to the “Four Gets”:
Get real about your finances;
Get informed about your options;
Get a plan in place; and
Get started
If you would like to start getting informed the same way the man who inspired this article did, send me an email to schedule a consult: michael@consumerrecoverynetwork.com. I will consult with you personally.
I can also recommend scheduling time to speak with any member of the American Association of Credit Counselors (AACC) who are a diverse group of debt relief service providers committed to excellence working with people in debt.
“...and I came across a company called CRN. I talked with them and knew within 15 minutes of talking to Michael that this was the way to go."..."Their fee, being the most reasonable, made sense to me too. Most everybody wanted 20% of the total debt load; CRN wanted 15% of the debt reduced. Also, CRN sent me a whole debt settlement packet which included good information on DS as well as very informative CDs..! That information along with Michael's acute consultation helped me settle my debt of $60K in 6 months! Nobody I talked to was even close. Thanks to CRN, I have settled all 3 of my accounts for 30~35% on a total balance of almost $60K!”
“My Debt Specialist was totally professional and he had my confidence from the beginning. I was impressed with the fact that he took the time to familiarize himself with my personal and financial situation long before he began to talk about CRN. He patiently answered all of my questions on numerous occasions, was responsive to my calls and emails. And there was no pressure to sign with CRN. CRN has made settling my 42K about as pleasant and stress-free experience as one could ever ask for. Without hesitation, I would recommend CRN to anyone.”
