Credit card debt settlement has never been safer, thanks to recent changes to the law. In September 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), made some fairly extreme changes to the credit card debt relief law in an effort to counteract some abuses which had been taking place between credit card debt relief companies and their clients. Thanks to these changes there has never been a better time in which to sign up to a credit card debt settlement scheme.

1. How Recent Changes in the Law Can
Help You to Settle Your Debts
By Dermot Farrell
Copyright © 2012
http://www.creditcarddebtsecrets.org
The Secret Behind Credit Card Debt – Copyright 2012 – http://www.CreditCardDebtSecrets.org

2. Credit card debt settlement has never been safer, thanks to recent changes to the
law. In September 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), made some fairly
extreme changes to the credit card debt relief law in an effort to counteract some
abuses which had been taking place between credit card debt relief companies and
their clients. Thanks to these changes there has never been a better time in which
to sign up to a credit card debt settlement scheme.
Because of the global turndown in 2008, a record number of Americans signed up
for credit card debt settlement programs. However some of the credit card debt
relief companies where less than ethical in their dealing with their clients; in some
cases they charged considerable upfront fees, as well as servicing fees, and yet
more often than not they did not deliver good results.
The FTC countered these abuses by rolling out the following changes to the credit
card debt relief law:
 The debt relief companies cannot charge upfront fees for any customers
who sign up to a credit card debt settlement plan.
 The debt relief company can only charge the customer a fee after they have
brought about a reduction in at least one of their clients outstanding credit
cards.
 The debt relief company can only charge the customer upon the customer
making at least one payment on the card, which has undergone the debt
reduction.
 The debt relief company has to charge fees which are appropriate to the
amount of money which they save their customer during the debt
settlement process.
 The debt relief company has no control over the debt settlement bank
account which the customer pays into. With debt settlement, the debtor
pays into a special bank account which will be used to pay their creditors at
the appropriate time. With the new changes in the credit card debt relief
legislation, the customer can withdraw money from this account at any
time; indeed they have full control over this special account.
How Changes in Credit Card Debt Relief Affects You
The implications of these changes, in the credit card debt relief law, mean that
it’s up to the debt settlement company to produce results.
The Secret Behind Credit Card Debt – Copyright 2012 – http://www.CreditCardDebtSecrets.org

3. Only after they have saved their customers some money can they charge them
any fees, and these fees have to be in proportion to the amount of money which
they have managed to save their client.
What this means in practice is that if you are considering signing up for a debt
settlement program, that at least you will not have to worry about the credit card
debt settlement company ripping you off. Rather, they are the ones who have to
take a chance on you.
The reason why so many debtors were losing money on credit card debt settlement
programs at this time was due to an abusive attitude of some credit card debt
relief companies. Since the customer paid an upfront fee the credit card debt
settlement company did not have to vet their clients properly in the first place,
because regardless of the outcome they would make some money out of the
process.
With these recent changes to credit card debt law it means that some debtors,
who would normally have signed up for such a program, will now be turned down
because the credit card debt relief companies are only interested in dealing with
debtors who have debt problems which are definitely open to settlement. While
this may initially disappoint some debtors, at least it means that if the credit card
debt relief organization signs you up, that they are fairly confident that they can
get a good settlement for you.
Consequently, if you have been holding yourself back from signing up to a credit
card debt settlement program, over concerns regarding the possibility of been
ripped off, then think again.
These recent changes in credit card debt relief law are working on your side and,
while credit card settlement is not for everyone and certainly requires some due
consideration on account of the potential downsides of the debt settlement
program itself, at least you now no longer have to concern yourself over potential
abuse of the fees charged for this service by the credit card debt settlement
providers.
The Secret Behind Credit Card Debt – Copyright 2012 – http://www.CreditCardDebtSecrets.org