Affordable Mortgages

Debt Advice - Clear Credit Cards

Building up more consumer debt than you can afford to pay back is a stressful situation. In many cases, threatening phone calls by collectors add to the stress, but they don't make it any easier to pay back the obligations. This is precisely why debt relief scams are so successful. These fake companies prey on vulnerable victims who are desperately seeking debt relief.

Checking the Fees
Many companies advertise that for a "low monthly fee" you can be debt free. However, what these companies don't tell you is that the monthly fee they advertise is actually a large percentage of the entire amount you send in to pay your outstanding obligation every month. With a fee like that attached, it will probably take you much longer to pay off your debt than it would if you paid it off yourself. The government is trying to crack down on companies like this, forcing them to disclose to customers how much the fee is and how long it will take to completely pay off the debt with the fee attached.

Clearing Debt
Other companies offer to clear credit card debt completely with a single fee paid up front. These companies often claim they know the "loophole" that allows you to get out from under a mountain of consumer debt without paying a dime – except to them of course. When pressed for information, these companies often state that they cannot tell their "secrets" because it would remove their competitive advantage in the market place. However, it is much more likely that they simply don't have a method for removing the debt (since there is no legal way to do so).

The good news is that the British government is taking steps to crack down on such credit card con artists. In many cases, the companies are being forced to stop the advertising campaigns that are making misleading claims. In other situations, the companies are getting shut down completely. One problem is that many borrowers looking into such scams have the ability to pay off their obligations; they are simply trying to avoid them. For that reason, courts are also looking at ruling between "can't pay" and "won't pay" borrowers to cut those that cannot make payments a break and go after those who can.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with debt, there are solutions. However, companies that claim they will remove your debt obligations entirely with one low fee are usually too good to be true. Instead, look for reputable companies that provide serious debt relief without charging upfront cash to do so.

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