August 11th, 2010 by Reed Allmand 
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is banning debt settlement firms and other debt-relief companies from charging advance fees for their services. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, said that new ban is part of a larger modified rule that will require these debt settlement and debt-relief companies to disclose to customers an estimate of how much time and money it will take the customer to pay off debts using their services. Leibowitz said the new rule is being implemented as part of a larger effort to protect vulnerable debt burdened Americans from predatory debt settlement and debt-relief companies.
“Too many of these companies pick the last dollar out of consumers’ pockets,” Leibowitz said in a statement at the White House announcing the changes. “Far from leaving them better off,” the companies “push them deeper into debt, even bankruptcy.”
Already thirteen million Americans are saddled with at least $10,000 in credit-card debt, with an average of $16,000 in total debt per household, according to FTC Commissioner Julie Brill. And for many debt settlement and debt-relief companies, those debt-ridden Americans are easy pickings to be exploited for profit. This past year alone has uncovered a slew of corrupt debt settlement and debt-relief companies who have been sued by their customers for falsely advertising that they could stop creditors and help debtors repay their bills. But the reality is that debt settlement and debt-relief companies really have no power over creditors. Many creditors refuse to even deal with these middle-men when trying to resolve unpaid debt issues. Some debtors have even found themselves embroiled in creditor lawsuits while they were participating in debt settlement and debt-relief plans that were suppose to help them; but which instead only exacerbated their problems.
About Reed Allmand
Allmand's vision is rooted in his own financially precarious childhood in Abilene "My father always had difficulty holding a job and supporting our family, so after my parents divorced when I was 12, my sister and I got jobs to help make ends meet," he recalls. "I remember what it felt like as a child to worry that our car would be repossessed or home foreclosed on."
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