Consumer Alert !! – Beware of Debt Settlement Companies

The New York Times has a recent article out on the perils of “so-called” debt settlement companies.  In other words, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  As bankruptcy attorneys, we warn about these often, but it never hurts to remind (click on the excerpt below for the full article):
“The debt settlement industry can afford some extravagance. The long recession has delivered an abundance of customers — debt-saturated Americans, suffering lost jobs and income, sliding toward bankruptcy. The settlement companies typically harvest fees reaching 15 to 20 percent of the credit card balances carried by their customers, and they tend to collect upfront, regardless of whether a customer’s debt is actually reduced.”
John Rogers, Kentucky Bankruptcy Attorney