Have Credit Card Debt? Relief Programs, Scams, Options and Resources Revealed for 2013

Dec. 26, 2012 - PRLog -- Credit Card Relief Programs (http://nomorecreditcards.com/credit-card-relief-programs/) can be like taking a walk in a bad neighborhood without your watch dog.   Scams, Rip Offs and companies that promise you the world are all over the internet.  The internet can be like the dark corners of an alley for a criminal.  You can do anything online and appear to be anyone.

Fortunately consumers have resources available to lead them in the right direction regarding Card Debt Relief. http://nomorecreditcards.com/credit-card-relief/

Golden Financial Services says "We are a Consumer Advocacy Company and here to provide consumers with the highest level of protection from fraudulent and misleading advertising and sales.  

Our mission is to offer you the most effective debt relief program on the market. This is what we live and breath for, aside from God and Family.  

We don't settle for second best and the only way to be number one, is to provide consumers with the best credit card relief program."

What are Safe Credit Card Relief Programs?

Trustworthy card relief options include debt settlement and consumer credit counseling.  

With debt settlement consumers should only sign up with a company that is highly rated with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).   This ensures the company will take accountability for their actions and deliver results.  

If not, consumers have the right to go to the BBB and make a complaint.  Now the company has no choice, but to follow up with their customer and do what’s right.  If not, the BBB may give that company an "F" rating, and no company wants that.  

Therefore, debt settlement is a great option, but only go with an “A” Rated company.

With consumer credit counseling, consumers should only join with a nonprofit company that is also highly rated with the BBB.  

Nonprofit companies have to comply with many rules in order to become a nonprofit company.  If they also have a good BBB rating, that is a double line of protection for consumers.

With both debt settlement and consumer credit counseling programs consumers are set up with only one monthly payment to cover all their accounts.

Benefit of Debt Consolidation over Debt Settlement

What consumers like about debt consolidation is that they don’t have to fall behind on their accounts.  With settlement consumers fall behind on their accounts and often take more of a negative hit on their credit report in the beginning of the program.

Benefit of Debt Settlement over Consolidation

Debt settlement is a more attractive option over consumer credit counseling for many people.  The obvious reason why is because of the fact that consumers will save more money and time.  Consumers end up paying back less than what they owe.  Therefore they get out of debt faster.

Melissa Arguelles, a manager at Golden Financial Services said “If it was me, I would want to sign up for the program that gets me out of debt faster.  Both options could negatively affect your credit score, but so can high debt.    

Consequently, I would want to get out of debt faster, so that I can start on the path to rebuilding my credit score faster.  

With debt settlement you could be debt free by two years and on path to rebuilding your credit score immediately after.  I have seen clients raise their credit score by more than 100 points in as fast as 12 months after graduating on our settlement program.  That is why we educate our clients on how to increase their credit score while on the program.

However, we offer our clients debt settlement and consumer credit counseling with a non profit company when we initially speak to them on their first consultation.  We want to make sure that our customers sign up for the right option depending on their unique situation."

Debt Relief Scams

Consumers should always be aware that if they are solicited for some type of debt relief program that sounds too good to be true, It most likely is too good to be true, and could be a scam.  

Consumers should also stay away from any type of ads that state “government credit card relief program”, which currently does not exist.

Consumers have also been getting ripped off on the "debt validation" programs. These companies will promise to find loop holes in the law where they can have debt eliminated and consumers pay nothing to creditors, besides for a large fee to the debt relief company.

Learn more about Debt Relief Programs available for 2013 in this article released in San Diego, California.   http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9704718.htm

What is the best option for a consumer with credit cards?

It is best for consumers to avoid credit card relief programs and stay current on their accounts.  However if consumers stay current on their accounts, they should make sure to never allow their balances on their cards to go above 30% of what their credit limit is.  

Allowing your balance to be maxed out can actually hurt your credit score and your monthly cash-flow.  For many consumers, it’s too late and they already have maxed out cards, where credit card relief programs are needed.

The Best Resource to Utilize When Searching for Debt Relief

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) website is the safest and best resource for a consumer to visit when searching for trustworthy companies.  The BBB sides on the consumer’s side and it’s an unbiased resource.  

For a debt relief company to be highly rated with the BBB they must be approved by the BBB and comply with their standards.  The BBB standards include the following and a lot more.

• Being Compliant with the Federal Trade Commission rules and regulations.  The BBB checks on this in detail with companies.
• Companies must comply with the BBB if any customer complaints arise and working in a timely manner to resolve the customer complaints.
• There is a limit to how many complaints a company can have with the BBB in order to still have a high rating.
• BBB checks on how many clients a company has.
• The BBB checks on a company’s testimonials ensuring that they are real.  The BBB will actually call a company’s clients and verify that they were actually helped.
• The BBB checks to ensure a company has compliant marketing on their website.
• The BBB checks on how long a company has been in business and it’s hard to have a good rating if a company has less than a 3 year track record.

Therefore the BBB is the best resource to use when searching for a reputable credit card relief company.  Keep in mind it doesn’t matter if a company is accredited with the BBB because you can pay for that, but it does matter what a company’s rating is because that you cannot pay for.

The rating system goes from “A+” being the best to “F” being the worst.

Golden Financial Services (www.goldenfs.org) is an “A+” rated Credit Card Debt Relief Company. http://nomorecreditcards.com/about-us/debt-settlement-bbb/