Debt Settlement Company Cautions Consumers of Unfair BBB Ratings

Online, April 5, 2010 (Newswire.com) - With a nearly $800 billion being funneled into a federal stimulus plan, financial relief remains scarce as millions of U.S households and small businesses are buried in debt. Nationwide Debt Center, the nation's leading debt settlement company in the United States has been playing an important role in bailing out people from financial ruin. Debt relief solution has been an exceptional lifeline over bankruptcy and consolidation via credit counseling for debtors whose expenses and debt payments exceed their monthly income. However, concerns arise as the bankruptcy alternative ascends in popularity

Interest in traditional, non-profit credit counseling programs, is weaning despite the All-American resourcefulness to avoid bankruptcy. At issue is the profiteering. Credit counselors have been questioned for charging fees called voluntary contributions and getting creditor kick backs known as fair share.

The programs render temporary relief to most it provides interest rate reduction and can take a debtor 5 or more years to complete. Even with these steps, the debt consolidation has done minor reduction to their outstanding debts. In addition, debtors with financial afflictions like unemployment have succumbed to a steep dropout rate thus many have found greater solace in the debt elimination services of a debt settlement program

In contrast to the counseling programs, most consumers in debt settlement programs get out of debt in 36 months or less. That's far less time than debt consolidation.

As asserted by Tony Sabri, CEO of Nationwide Debt Center, "Debt settlement is far superior in comparison to debt consolidation because the debtor pays much less than the full balance and the debt negotiation satisfies the total outstanding debt."

Aside from its significant debt relief virtues, the debt settlement industry has been under attack.

At present, the debt settlement industry has grown exponentially from only a few hundred companies to over 2,000 firms over the years. Numerous complaints have been filed against debt settlement companies for charging excessive fees and failing to reduce consumer's debts as promised.

The Better Business Bureau, which has received complaints, has taken notice. They believe that the inherent nature of debt settlement companies' products/services is likely to generate trade practice concerns and/or a high level of customer dissatisfaction.

The unfair bias has even landed D- and F ratings even on legitimate debt settlement companies. Only a handful of BBB-paying members whose ratings were grandfathered prior to the present rating system, have seen better ratings.

As explained by Tony, "Customers should be made aware of the biasness that BBB ratings can have. Not all companies that have good ratings are necessarily good and vice versa." He exerts that well-rounded research in more than one area is a key element to properly identify the good apples from the bad ones.

"Business Reliability Reports aren't perfect. They caution readers that a rating does not guarantee reliability or performance and that what really matters is if the company has a bad history of customer complaints and/or unresolved complaints", he adds.