Alex Viecco – Trials and Tribulations of Navigating a Legitimate Company in a Sea of Ne’er-do-wells
As one of the founding members of the newly formed American Association of Credit Counselors (AACC), Alex Viecco was invited to contribute an article to GetOutOfDebt.org, sharing his thoughts on the state of the Debt Settlement industry today. Alex sheds some light on how the industry has changed over the last decade and how “shady operators” continue to make things difficult for legitimate companies to reach consumers in need.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
Plenty of wrong doing, money hungry people have come and gone. Sadly they have even enjoyed a very lavish lifestyle while taking funds from innocent consumers, leaving the legitimate companies to pick up the pieces.
I was absolutely wrong! Not only was I wrong but the industry became a big pool of advance fee companies and their affiliates. Cash flow coming in without really having to provide much service; it must have been HOG HEAVEN for them.
Today we face a similar challenge since the NEW “Advance Fee” model is also known as the “Attorney Model” these NEW models continue to charge up-front fees and are heavily competing in the same arena for the leads. This is still keeping the cost of marketing higher than it needs to be. That also puts those companies in an unfair advantage position by allowing them to collect money up-front AND monthly service fees while legitimate companies are incurring the cost of servicing the consumer with NO money collected upfront.
Many companies are getting their first taste of actually performing the service for consumers of settling debt. The process has not changed very much but yet the rules have changed tremendously. Unfortunately the current rules put a strain on a legitimate company’s profitability and existence. Do WE want to lower our standards simply to lower our cost of operation? NO! I believe the consumers have the right to receive EXCEPTIONAL Service.
By us always putting the consumers first we have been able to deliver great service. We do this by hiring and training great people! Great people take time to develop and you need people that are caring and nurturing.
Consumers keep getting options taken away but I am a firm believer in choices, consumers should be allowed the options to choose for themselves.
To read the full article, please visit Alex Viecco tells it like it is.
As the Vice President and Co-Founder of New Era Debt Solutions, Alex Viecco brings 25 years of financial services experience. Over the past 8 years he has been featured on countless financial radio show broadcasts as well as cohosting The Debt Free Hour, a show providing advice and guidance to financially struggling consumers. Alex has an unmistakeable passion for helping consumers which is clearly evident to both friends and clients alike.
3 Comments
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Alex,
I thought there was a new law that doesn’t let these companies charge upfront. I have been researching settlement for some time and several of the companies I talked to are still charging large fees out of my monthly payments. How are they able to do this?
Steve,
They should not be doing it. Some companies feel they are exempt and are trying to find the loopholes.
In some cases some companies are using the grandfather clause of having enrolled the clients prior to October 2010.
I would just make sure you press any company to deliver results. If you are not getting a settlement offer within the first 3-4 months, HUGE RED FLAG!
A company should be proactively seeking settlement for you, many are sitting and waiting for the accounts to charge off and are keeping you from getting some better offers. They do this so they can continue to collect on their fees.
Our philosophy has always been to settle quickly and EARN our money making the client feel happy to pay for the results.
Alex Viecco