Debt Settlement Questions & Truthiness

July 22nd, 2010
by Michael

We launched our newly redesigned Consumer Recovery Network website and this brand-spankin-new Debt Bytes blog this week! We have plenty of tweaks to make still, but things are shaping up.

I was editing the FAQ page today over at CRN (long overdue) and needed a break. I called a friend of mine who is quite knowledgeable and active with all things consumer debt and asked him for suggested additions (I hope to get him over to debtbytes for some guest posts in the future).

He emailed a brief list. I may later put some of these up on the CRN FAQ, but for now I needed another break from updating the new CRN site. Writing and editing site content knowing it is more focused on corporate image and branding can be a bit tedious. The debt bytes blog is where we at CRN can let our hair down a little (those of us that have much).

Anyway, here is the list of additional questions he sent me and my responses below each:

• Do I have to sign an agreement to use your services?

• Can I see it without giving up personal information?

All CRN members must complete and submit a Membership Enrollment Form prior to purchasing even our basic educational materials. Why? There is some pretty powerful stuff in there about getting out of debt, improving your attitude about money, planning for your financial future etc… Not everyone is ready for this stuff! There is just a little bit too much “truthiness” to it all. Someone could get hurt!

You can definitely see the agreement prior to speaking with us by downloading it from our web site: Debt Settlement Truthiness Purchase Form

• What are your fees?

CRN Full Service Settlement Fees are currently 15% of what we save you – AFTER we save it. There are costs for our materials. We refer to this cost as membership fees. Membership fees are fully credited against any future success based settlement fees as an offset. Rather fair, if I may be so bold…

You even have a limited and life time refund policy! Check out the Truthiness Form for all the details!

• How do I know you are legit?

There are a myriad of ways to check us out and compare us to other companies offering debt relief services:

1. Length of time in business.
2. You have many mainstream media articles and radio interviews about us which you can find links to on our press and media page.
3. Regulatory participation encouraging measures be taken to curb abuse in the debt settlement industry.
4. There is no shortage of members who have shared their experience working with us by writing to CRN. The CRN site has many customer quotes alternating throughout the pages.
5. We are also starting a new way for people to share their experience with us by having a testimony blog post here at debt bytes. This is where people can share openly and unedited (unless they use harsh profanity). How do you know those quotes are real? If we faked it and got caught it would be false and misleading advertising. We have a record of all. What if I am just saying this to get one over on unsuspecting consumers? Well, I just admitted to knowing it would be false and misleading to do so. That would be like…. fraud or something.
6. You have the BBB – Consumer Recovery Network has an A – Folks, that’s not easy to do in this industry!
7. Also, Google (not to leave out all the other fine search engines out there – but I did) the name of any company you want to research, add a plus sign (no spaces), then add the words scam, complaint or review. Like this: Consumer Recovery Network+Review

I am sure there are more ways to complete your due diligence. You could call my mom, for example.

• How do I know I can trust you?

This is a HUGE question! This is especially important given the track record of many companies offering debt settlement and the massive amount of negative media coverage surrounding the industry. The CRN business model is designed to build your confidence in us as well as the product & service we support – from day one. We will earn your trust.

• Why should I listen to you?

• Aren’t you just trying to sell me something?

You should listen to what our specialists have to say when we do a consultation with you because you could avoid making a huge mistake! One of which might be trying debt settlement on to see if it fits – this would include working with us!

We do have a product for sale. We do have services you pay for AFTER you see and like the results.

We DO NOT have sales people!

Our Specialists you consult with can often be found discouraging you from going down a path that would involve working with us – thereby paying us anything. I personally deter more people from trying to avoid bankruptcy through debt settlement than I encourage into it.

That’s a free service by the way, those consults. If you feel the consult was of value and are thankful, please consider donating a bag of non perishable food items to your local food bank in return. We know times are tough for you, but there are those for whom times are even tougher.

For those of you reading this post that have already talked to a debt Settlement company (or you call one later); call them back and pose these questions. They may not have as much fun answering them as I have.

If you have a question for us, you can click on ASK CRN (and get mostly serious answers too). And, as always, your comments are welcomed below! Break’s over. Back to work for me.

Edit: Merriam-Webster
truthiness (noun) – 1 : “truth that comes from the gut, not books” (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” October 2005)