'Good Morning America's' Unfair Report on the Debt Settlement Industry Ignoring Consumers Who Benefit

'Good Morning America's' Unfair Report on the Debt Settlement Industry Ignoring Consumers Who Benefit

TASC Gratified by Consumer Complaints over Broadcast

WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC) today criticized ABC News' Good Morning America report last week on debt settlement ignoring the benefits to most consumers and declining to include those who have benefited from debt settlement. The ABC segment unfairly portrayed the debt settlement industry in a negative light by focusing only on the practices of a few firms that willfully ignore TASC standards.

Last year, TASC members alone negotiated consumer credit card and other unsecured debt totaling more than $1.1 billion, resulting in savings of more than $640 million for the nation's most financially vulnerable consumers.

"Banks, credit card companies, and, apparently, Good Morning America, don't appreciate these results. Consumers know the benefit and do," said TASC Executive Director David Leuthold.

The Good Morning America segment on debt settlement ignored the tens of thousands of American consumers who benefit from the services provided by the TASC members. Unfortunately, GMA never contacted TASC nor any of its members for the news segment. The debt settlement industry has since launched the Consumer Credit Rights campaign http://consumercreditrights.org/ to respond with consumers to the attacks on the industry last week.

"We want to express our gratitude to consumers who responded to the GMA segment not only with their outrage but with the truth. Many provided detailed and unsolicited testimonials about the benefits provided by the debt settlement industry," Leuthold said.

Consumers responded to the GMA segment by commenting on ABC's website. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ConsumerNews/undercover-investigation-debt-settlemen t-companies/comments?type=story&id=10453587.

Here are some of the excerpts from consumers, not members of the debt settlement industry:

-- "This is probably one of the most biased news stories I have ever seen
on ABC unfortunately. Personally, I went though a settlement program
about 2 years ago. Sure there are bad companies out there like any
industry, but the one I went with was superb. They got me out from
under about $40k in debt in only 2 years, and saved me at least
$20,000 or more."
-- "The bottom line is Debt Settlement helps consumers and the banks do
not. Credit Counseling and Bankruptcy destroy your credit, do your
homework ... DS is working for me, they settled 4 credit cards that
raised my interest to 29.9%, after the banks would NOT work with me
and treated me like a deadbeat."
-- "I can not believe how biased your production was. Did you even try to
talk to people who have successfully gone through debt settlement and
changed their lives? Six years ago I owed $75,000 in credit card debt
but did not know about debt settlement companies, so I settled on my
own. I only saved $25,000.00 and went through a very stressful time
trying to settle with 12 credit card companies. ...I am now in
foreclosure. Had I known about debt settlement, I would have been out
of the program by now and not in foreclosure."
-- "Whoa! I watched this clip this morning and wanted to comment but had
to get to work. This is so crazy - I am actually somebody who went to
a debt settlement company for help. I was $65,000 in debt and the
company got all of it settled for around $28,000 and I had to pay the
company around $9,000. So that was a total of $37,000 that I had to
pay for a $65,000 debt. I can't believe the generalized statements
that were being made about the industry. I mean, I am sure there are
bad companies, but I'm living proof that they all aren't."
-- "There are good debt settlement companies and there are bad ones. Just
do your homework and research before taking the leap. Most are out to
help the consumer."
-- "There's good and bad companies in every industry. The investigation
was established to uncover the bad companies and they are throwing the
baby out with the bathwater here."
-- "All those folks who are thanking ABC for 'exposing' debt settlement
companies need to ask themselves one simple question - 'have both
sides been given equal opportunity to present their case?'"
-- "This article is so one-sided it's not even funny. The credit card
companies don't want you to know that you can settle your debt so of
course they are going to put bad press out there to scare people from
settling their debt."

About The Association of Settlement Companies

The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC) promotes fair business practices, consumer protection and industry standards for the debt settlement industry. TASC, founded in 2005, serves to protect consumers through an organization seal that represents best practices and standards of reputable companies. The organization also protects its member companies through lobbying efforts at the state and national levels, as well as awareness initiatives to educate consumers on debt settlement as a financial solution. All TASC member companies pledge compliance to strict association bylaws governing business practices and ethics. For more information, visit www.tascsite.org.

Source: The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC)

CONTACT: Nicole Silverman, +1-202-683-3143, nsilverman@qorvis.com, for
The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC)

Web Site: http://www.tascsite.org/

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