The New Consumer Protection Agency Will It Help People Avoid Bankruptcy

10 Jan The New Consumer Protection Agency Will It Help People Avoid Bankruptcy

In my practice is would seem that giving consumers a voice through a new federal agency would be helpful to curtail some of the abuses of the financial services industry.  I see a lot of clients who would benefit from more oversight of various industries including credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, HELOC issuers, and for profit colleges.  I see clients every day who have accumulated massive debt on mortgages they should never have received in the first place, or spending on credit cards that they did not understand would carry 30% default interest rates.  If the new federal agency can actually level the playing field between the huge banks and ordinary consumers, it has the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in peoples lives.

The other industry that needs to be regulated through this new agency is debt consolidation companies.  In my experience they rarely delivery what they promise and in fact create bigger problems for their clients.  In many cases they promise to get the client debt free, but the client ends up getting sued and garnished.  When looking at options it is important for consumers to look at all of their options including bankruptcy, in many cases bankruptcy is the better alterative to debt consolidation.