In every newspaper that we look at these days and even on TV we are seeing advertisements for debt consultants that offer programs to reduce your debts by up to 70%.
All the time people come into my office after meeting with debt consultants; they come to see me for a 2nd opinion as debt consultants tend to charge big fees. Last week I had someone come into my office (Jennifer) after visiting with a debt consultant in Barrie (I won’t say the debt consultants name) but they do advertise in both Barrie newspapers. Jennifer had gone to this debt consultant interested in filing a consumer proposal.
She was told by the debt consultant that to file a consumer proposal it would cost her a fee of $400 to take on the file than an additional $2,600 at the date of signing the consumer proposal and then a trustee fee of $500 per month for 60 months.
I explained to Jennifer that only someone who is licensed by the federal government to be trustee in bankruptcy can be an administrator of consumer proposals. I also explained that she basically would have paid the $3,000 to the debt consultant and then a licensed administrator of consumer proposals would come in and sign the papers with her and that most debt consultants are actually a referral service for bankruptcy trustees. Debt consultants don`t require any formal training or government license’s so basically anybody can call themselves a debt consultant.
One of the biggest problems with debt consultants is that they can be misleading and they do often charge huge fees. I have written a few blogs about the dangers of debt consultants in the past.
We at Hoyes Michalos & Associates don`t charge any fees when you meet with us and no upfront fees to sign a consumer proposal. Actually when you file a consumer proposal with us, we give you up to 30 after you sign to make your 1st payment.
Jennifer signed her consumer proposal with us this morning and she saved herself $3,000 in upfront fees.
So, in my opinion, if you are paying upfront fees to file a consumer proposal then give me a call @ 705-719-4948 or 310-PLAN (no area code is required) and we will get you in for a FREE consultation. You can also fill out our free online evaluation.