Monday, November 30, 2009

Tips To Recognize Debt Consolidation Scams

When debt load is very heavy, consolidating your debts seem to be a very nice idea, but it is very important for you to keep in mind that the market is overloaded with various unscrupulous services that are nothing but debt consolidation scams. Therefore, while you are researching your options, you will have to make sure that the company you are availing the services from is a genuine one. Do your research carefully and don’t allow those unscrupulous companies to exploit you while you are working hard to improve your financial situation. Following is a brief rundown on how to recognize and avoid such scams.

Is The Company Encouraging You To Participate In Illegal Activities?
One of the easiest ways to identify debt consolidation scams is to look at the procedure that the company follows. Some of them may try to encourage you to perform some activities that are illegal, telling you that it will fix everything without any risk. Always remember, if it is illegal, it is definitely going to be risky. You may end up paying a hefty amount of fine or you may even be sent to jail. So, regardless of how lucrative picture they show to you, you should never participate in such activities. In fact, you must keep a far distance from such companies.

Some Companies Just Pretend To Be Local
In order to avoid debt consolidation scams, you are strongly recommended to contact the Better Business Bureau and check the company’s record and infrastructure. It will let you know where the company is actually located. On their website, they may be claiming to be local, but you may get to know at better Business Bureau that they are actually located in another country. So, it is always wise to visit the company’s office personally if it is local. This will leave no confusion for you.

How They Are Contacting You
Always remember, most debt consolidation scams come through telemarketing. So, if a company is trying to contact you through telemarketing, be very careful. Make a thorough research about them before you sign up for their services.

Upfront Payment
Stay away from companies that ask you to make an upfront payment – regardless of how small the amount is. A genuinely company will never ask for it. Instead, they take their commission from the creditors. They will negotiate with your creditors and convince them to make the terms more favorable to you while eliminating the penalty charges and reducing the interest rates. Even the creditors want their money back. So, they usually don’t mind paying a certain amount of commission to a debt consolidation company.

No comments:

Post a Comment