The wrong people to take advantage of in a recession
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | 10 CommentsRecently there have been a lot of debt management scams going around the internet. A few have been so nasty and widespread that they have been featured on news magazine shows like Dateline NBC and CBS’s 60 Minutes.
This problem is not unique to the United States:
The United Kingdom Ministry of Justice released a statement saying that debt management business have been warned not to use misleading advertising any more. Some of the statements that have been considered to be misleading include:
“80% of credit agreements are unenforceable!”
“A positive outcome is guaranteed!”
“We have a 100% success rate!”
“We’ll get your credit cards written off within 6 weeks!”
Of course those are fraudulent and misleading claims. No one can reduce all their credit cards in 6 weeks if they have a seriously bad debt to income ratio.
This has obviously been a problem for some time, in 2006 Debt Free Direct appealed to the Advertising Standards Agency to try to stop the misleading claims that were being made by advertisements from competitors about IVAs and other debt management solutions.
Source:
Debt Free Direct
The number of people who are filing for some kind of debt protection is increasing in the UK
Well, at least Google is seeing an end to the “advertising” recession
Tags: misleading advertising, debt to income ratio, advertising
royal | Sat, Apr 25 2009
Where do you think this is going Jennifer?
Jennifer McClelland | Sat, Apr 25 2009
I think that there will always be people trying to take advantage of others who are in a rough situation. At this time, these “scammers” are trying to take advantage of people who don’t have any money and are in a lot of debt. I honestly don’t see what the advantage of scamming these people is.
jAlice | Sat, Apr 25 2009
Well there will always be people who want to take advantage of everything, everytime, and these same people ruin themselves all the time.
Nick | Thu, Apr 30 2009
It’s really unfortunate that anyone could scam anyone… but I think its even worse when you do it in a time when a ton of people are unemployed and every penny counts.
Protect your company information from scamming thieves, get an corporate intranet to protect your data!
Jonny | Fri, May 01 2009
I’m glad I didn’t get stuck with one of the scammers back when I did debt consolidation. It worked out well for me… But this is disturbing stuff. I think a lot of the stuff that credit card companies do should be illegal… I know that’s a bit off topic but it reminds me of it.
Ed | Mon, May 04 2009
This problem is really not unique in the UK have almost exactly the same problem. Their is a little legal loop hole to help out with it but a 100% success is just fantasy.
Nancy | Mon, May 04 2009
This just goes to show how greedy people really are. They’ll take advantage of anyone in a vulnerable position.
Monica | Tue, May 05 2009
I guess the human nature is full of greedy and opportunities. People will want to take advantage of any situation “Good” or “Bad” to reap people off. The recessions is a typical example were we’ve seen people get scammed and promised the world but end up duped.
bentour | Sun, May 10 2009
Only a few people get a benefit from a recession.
Yzzy from Vera Bradley Bag Store | Thu, Aug 06 2009
I think no one will be fooled or scammed if they just be meticulous about everything. Of course, if you think like the recession has some disadvantages, there’s always the other side of the coin. It’s just a matter of perspective, being in debt sure is hassle but it really falls to the person. Be practical and you sure will see the brighter side.