DEAN GRAZIOSI DEBT SCAM

Dean Graziosi Tells You How to Spot a Debt Scam

Anti- Debt Scam Strategies by Dean Graziosi

About Dean Graziosi.

Dean Graziosi is a real estate investor who is passionate about teaching others how to create wealth from real estate. Dean Graziosi writes books to teach others how to do what he has done. Dean Graziosi's books have become best sellers. Dean Graziosi has also hosted dozens of his own real estate shows on TV; Dean Graziosi is currently an active investor and has been since 1986. Dean Graziosi has literally built a fortune through buying and selling real estate.

From Dean Graziosi:

I’m not sharing this with you to brag. I simply want you to have a little background on me so you will know that I am a credible person. If you’re not familiar with me, you wouldn’t know the majority of my daily life revolves around teaching everyday people how to do what I’ve done.

One of the important topics for anyone interested in real estate is to know where you stand with your debt and credit scores. Over the years I’ve seen my share of scams promising to fix credit or eliminate debt. Every day in this country, people are being victimized by these debt scams and wind up suffering tremendously! So I decided to hire a writer to research the scam problem and create this site for my readers and the general public. It’s my contribution to help inform and protect you from becoming the next victim of a debt or credit repair scam. I sincerely hope this information helps you stay safe from scam and make smart decisions.

Debt Scams

Here are Some Ways People Are Scammed Regarding Debt or Credit

Identity Theft Scam

You go online to research a personal debt consolidation loan and are requested to supply personal and financial information through the Web site script. If the information is supplied, you become a victim of identity theft.

Fake Website Scam

The fake lender Web site asks for personal and financial information and for a processing or application fee. If the borrower agrees to the fee, the fake lender keeps the fee and the fake lender Web site soon disappears.

“Bait and Switch” Scam

Again, the person seeking the loan is drawn by an advertisement of low-rate loans and other savings. In these types of scams, the basic game is what is known as the "bait and switch." They draw you in with an offer of low interest and low payments, then once they have your information and have you invest a great deal of time, they inform you that the low rates are no longer available, or do not apply to you.

How to Spot A Scam or Fraud

Scam Advertisement includes language expressing, "We will help you in exchange for an upfront fee."

These fees can be several hundred dollars and they are collected before any services are rendered. Scammers do not help clients manage debt or negotiate with lenders. Fees are seldom refunded even though no results are produced. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reported one company charging a monthly fee for services they did not perform.

Scam Advertisement promises to erase all or most of your debt, e.g. "We will cut your debts in half."

While it is theoretically possible to negotiate with lenders in order to reduce the overall amount owed or to reduce interest rates, it is unlikely that this will be successful every time with every lender. These types of results cannot be guaranteed.

Scam Advertisement promises to clean up all of your credit problems quickly "We will get rid of all your credit problems within # months."

Good credit history takes time to develop. While credit may improve over time, it is impossible to erase delinquencies from your credit history in less than seven years. Credit repair is a process and it will take time. Debt settlement companies are also different from credit counseling agencies that focus on advising clients in developing debt management habits that can repair their credit. Debt settlement firms just try to work with lenders to lower your overall debt and do not have the power to wipe your credit clean or stop creditors from calling.

Scam Advertisement promises thousands of dollars in savings.

The FTC reports that one company who made this claim, charged up to $600 for their services and their big secret “strategy” was that they advised clients to pay more than the minimum payment. The advertised savings were based on projected possible savings gained from this action over many years and not from the negotiated reduction of overall debts or interest rates.

Scam Advertisement lacks the details on how they will manage to reduce your debt.

Poor debt settlement tactics can actually do harm to your credit rating. For example, some companies will advise clients to stop paying their bills in order to leverage negotiations. Don't believe claims of special relationships with lenders that will somehow give you an advantage in negotiating debt reduction.

How To Avoid Scam

I sincerely hope this information is helpful to you. If you have further questions or need honest help dealing with debt, you can find additional information and referral resources at my website www.deangraziosi.com.

Dean Graziosi

Visit us soon for more of Dean Graziosi's Anti-Scam Tips!

Reverse Mortgage Scams

I’m going to be talking about debt elimination scams.

Debt Elimination Scams

Now, scams and fraud have become very commonplace in recent times.  Scams are growing at an alarming pace and have become a threat to the financial sector.

In case you’re planning to go for a debt settlement or debt consolidation, it is highly advisable that you do a lot of research as to which company to hire in order to avoid scam. 

There are several firms that help you settle your debts, but in some cases these companies turn out to be fraud or scam.  Therefore, it is crucial that you make an educated decision to ensure that the company you choose provides you with ethical services.

Scam companies may advertise themselves claiming to be nonprofit, but don’t get misled by that tag, as it can be deceiving. 

There are millions of people owing money to banks, financial institutions, investment companies, credit card providers, and money lenders.  Debt reduction is currently a common goal for all of them who are deeply in debt.  Everyone is putting hard effort into reducing their debt using different approaches.  This situation has indirectly encouraged debt elimination scams to grow faster.

Now, these scams are around each of us.  The people behind the idea here are making use of the current economic state to take advantage of the victims that have an economic crisis.

Now, they pretend to offer financial solutions to people using dirty tactics to trap them.  By trapping these victims, they are able to make large amounts of  money out of the scam. 

So, if you’re considering debt settlement or debt consolidation, it’s quite obvious that you’re going through financial distress and are unable to pay your debts.

Now, under such situations, you definitely do not want to make an unnecessarily expenditure.  These scam debt settlement companies are just schemes to extract money from innocent people through unfair means. 

How To Avoid Debt Settlement Scams

Debt settlement is quite an expensive process.  You need to register yourself under a debt settlement company by paying an initial subscription fee, and from there on pay a monthly servicing fee.

Now, once you’re registered on their particular company, the firm takes the responsibility to negotiate and manage your debt accounts.  These fees may differ from company to company, and depends upon the amount and type of your debt. 

The settlement companies analyze your financial state and negotiate with your creditors, and settle on a subsidized amount that you need to pay. 

Now, debt settlement can reduce your payments by literally 40% to 60%, depending on your financial condition.  However, while genuine firms promise to deal with your financial problems in the most effective way, and keep their promises, scam companies only offer empty promises.

Now, the scam debt settlement organizations have only one objective of earning more money from the debtors, with no intention of working on their financial state, to make it better. 

No-Hassle Registration Plan Scam

Now, one of the most popular debt settlement scams that has gained significant popularity in recent times is the no-hassle registration plan.  In this case, the scam company in question offers to register you, over the phone, without any sort of enrollment fee.  But, of course, you’re going to be charged a membership fee and probably a monthly rental fee for the period of time that they’re going to be reviewing your finances.

In case you decide to go for such scam online settlement companies, you are most likely going to get robbed, as they will take your money, but will not do anything to alleviate your problem.

Therefore, it is advisable to keep away from such scam settlement companies.  So, do your own investigation on the debt settlement companies, in order to make sure that you choose the right firm for yourself.  Find out about every minute detail possible related to the company before you entrust your information with them. 

Now, following are 2 common tactics used by the scammers, and many people have been victims of these scam tactics. 

Scam Tactics

First, the scammers claim that they are calling from debt elimination companies.  They offer solutions to you by promising that you will definitely not be sued for bankruptcy, even though your creditors have taken legal action against you.  They will normally require you to pay a lump sum – they call that a service fee – to settle the case. 

In fact, these scam debt reduction companies are actually illegal and totally not recognized by the government.  They totally do not have the ability to solve the legal proceedings. 

And secondly, the scammers may get your details, and they know that you have credit card debt.  The scam companies claim that they’re able to waive your debt completely.  In return, they will require you to pay a waiver fee to them, in order to have them prepare the necessary documents to clear your debt from the banks or credit card companies.
Now, the idea sounds good, but it is totally ridiculous and a scam. 

Always remind yourself not to be trapped by the scammers, when they call.
Now, eliminating debt is not a very difficult task, and you can actually do it on your own. 
Do not trust anyone who offers their assistance to you, because there is a high possibility that they are scammers. 

When you have debt, make your own effort to negotiate with the creditors.  Let your creditors know your current financial situation, and negotiate the repayment terms with them.  You have to understand there’s no shortcut for reducing debt, and you will suffer more losses if you trust a scammer. 

Spot A Debt Consolidation Scam

A debt consolidation professional is a trained financial consultant that cares about their clients and does their best to help each of their clients get their debt under control. 
However, there are some people in this field that are not always looking out for the best interest of their clients.  There are ways to spot debt consolidation scams.  And using these detection methods, you can help keep yourself and your money safe. 

Always be wary of a person that calls themselves a professional and then asks for a great deal of money or personal information right upfront.  There is a high risk that they are a scam.

A trusted and reputable organization is primarily interested in your situation before they’re interested in your personal information. 

It’s okay to question a debt management service as to why they need certain information very early in the process.  In most cases, a reputable company will not ask you for any important personal information until after the initial consultation.  A scam company will do just this.

After all, at the beginning, your specific financial information should be the main focus of the first-time consultation.  Debt consolidation is basically different for each client.  You should be suspicious of a person who tries to sell you a canned program, that they seem to be selling to everyone since this may be a scam. 

Debt consolidation is a process of reviewing a customer’s situation and then developing programs to address that situation.  Now, it’s very difficult to apply the same program to every customer.  So, be suspicious of people that attempt to put you into what’s called a prepackaged program.  As mentioned before, this doesn’t work most of the time even if it is not a scam.

So many people are drowning in credit card and other kinds of debt, that it becomes a national epidemic.  To be painfully blunt, there is no such thing as debt elimination.  It’s nothing but a scam.

Scams Are Getting Even Bigger

Now, as the crisis in America continues to get worse, the scams are getting even bigger.  Most of the people that are pushing these scams don’t have any qualms or compunctions about taking advantage of you in your weakened state.  It is all for the love of money.

Debt elimination scams promise you just that – to eliminate your debt completely, which is pretty appealing to someone that’s facing bankruptcy or say a foreclosure. -> h2
Anybody who falls for these scams usually ends up a few thousand dollars shy in their wallet, of which they couldn’t afford to lose in the first place. 

Now, debt elimination companies will use several tactics, all centered on the idea that credit lines aren’t legal.  That’s an interesting concept.  It seems hard to believe, but thousands of people fall for this every day, and end up giving tons of money away for absolutely nothing in this type of scam. 

They will tell their scam victim that since their credit lines are illegal, they don’t have to pay the debt back.  They even tell their scam victims that they will take the credit card companies to court.  And because the credit card companies don’t want any hint of a scandal, they’re just going to drop the debt.

Now, this debt elimination scam, these people are incredibly crafty in their sales pitches, and will make very big claims.  In this scam they will then ask you for a huge amount of money upfront, in return for a waiver that you can use to make your debt go away.

Now, these scam programs are highly illegal.  And if you take the waiver to the bank, chances are the bank will simply laugh at you and call the FBI, and you’re going to be out thousands of dollars and barraged by a ton of questions.  And you will still have to pay the debt even if you were a victim of scam.

So, no matter what the sales pitch they’ve tried and no matter how good it sounds, don’t believe them, because it a scam. 

If credit card companies and banks were doing illegal things, the government would have put them out of business a long time ago.  If anybody tells you otherwise be sure that it is a scam.

How To Reduce Debt And Not Get Scammed

Not everything is bad news and scams. There are several ways in which you can legally get rid of your debt or reduce it.  But these plans actually take time and hard work.  They also take discipline, because you have to learn how to control your spending.

It is never easy to be in a difficult financial situation, but there are no simply magic pills to take that will get rid of this debt for you.  There are legitimate programs out there which will provide you with the tools that you need to get out of debt legally and naturally.
Realize that if you’re going to borrow money, you’re simply going to have to pay it back.  If you have way more debt than you can handle, then you can seek help from a reputable debt consolidation company or debt management company, and avoid all of the things that sound too good to be true since as we know they are scams. 

Scams Promises

There are many scams that are waiting to catch an unwary customer, and say that they will make your debt simply go away. 

People that are anxiously looking for a debt solution normally may overlook the terms and conditions of the services from these scams and, as a result, may get into bigger debt because of services from the scam company normally incur high upfront fees, with many other hidden costs. 

Just be aware of them.  Calm yourself and take the time to think carefully, and don’t sign until you are fully satisfied – that’s an important word, “fully satisfied” – with the credentials of the consolidator. 

Here are some signs of debt consolidation scams:

Scam Sign: Unusually low monthly payments

A debt consolidation company works with your creditor to negotiate a lower interest rate, and this interest will normally be within creditors’ pre-determined rates.  So, every debt consolidation program should give you about the same rates.

Companies who quote unusually low monthly payments are probably giving you a low figure, which they will raise once you are in the program. 

Instead of comparing monthly payments, request information on their fees, and remember to check, for any potential hidden costs which may be incurred later. 

Scam Sign: Charge high upfront fees

The most common scam is to charge high upfront fees, up to thousands of dollars, for services.  Sometimes, companies will promise to refund these fees on completion of the program.  But, few clients actually complete the program.

The best way to check the reputation of these debt consolidation companies is to check them with the Better Business Bureau.  You can go to their website, www.BBB.org. 
From there, you will know how many complaints have been filed against these companies and for what reason. 

Legitimate, no-profit companies charge a flat monthly fee for each account handled.  They are usually subsidized by financing companies. 

For-profit companies, they will charge you a competitive fee along with a flat monthly charge.

Scam Sign: Request for your account numbers beforehand

A debt consolidation company should be able to provide you with their quote by knowing your creditor’s name, balances, and their interest rate.  So, be highly suspicious of any company that requests your account numbers, Social Security number, or other personal information before providing a quote. 

By providing this information, you open yourself up to identity theft. 

And so, in summary, a reputable consolidator will work out a realistic plan for you and will address all of your concerns and worries.  He will inform you about the process it involves and the benefits of the plan. Nevertheless, you should fully convince yourself about the debt consolidator’s worthiness before you sign up for their program.

 
By putting a high alert on the potential scams will minimize your risk to get caught in the trap of these scams.