Credit card debt relief – Changes In The Law Can Help You

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

Because of the recent troubles which have beset the economy, a record number of Americans signed up for credit card debt settlement programs. However some of the debt relief companies have been less than ethical in their dealing with some of 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 debt settlements for their clients.

The FTC countered these abuses by making the following changes to the law, as listed below:

• The debt relief companies cannot charge upfront fees.

• The debt settlement organization can only charge the client a fee after they have delivered a reduction in at least one of their client’s card debts.

• The debt relief organization can only charge the customer upon the making at least one payment to a credit card, which has accepted a settlement proposal.

• The debt relief organization has to charge fees which are appropriate to the amount of money which they have saved their client.

• 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 law, the settlement organization has no control over this account. The customer can withdraw money from this account, at any time. They have full control over this bank account.

How These Credit Card Debt Relief Changes Affect You

The implications of these changes to the law mean that it’s up to the debt settlement company to produce results. Only after they have delivered debt settlement to at least one of their customer’s credit cards they can charge any fees, and even when they do charge fees, these fees have to be in proportion to the amount of money which they have managed to save their customer.

What this means in practice is that if you are thinking about signing up for a debt settlement program, that at least you will not have to worry about been taking for a ride by the company. Rather, they are the ones who have to take a chance on you.

With these recent changes to law, it means that some debtors, who would normally have signed up for such a program, will find that they are turned down by credit card debt relief companies. This is because the debt settlement company has to deliver a positive result in order to make some money out of the process. While this may disappoint some, at least it means that if the credit card debt relief organization signs you up, they are confident about your chances of making a good debt settlement.

Consequently, if you have been holding yourself back from signing up to a credit card debt settlement program, then think again. These recent changes in credit card debt relief law are working for you and that while credit card settlement is not for everyone, at least you no longer have to concern yourself over the possibility of abuse of the fees charged for this service, by the credit card debt settlement providers.