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Most Americans have a problem with debt; the fact that the average household owes nearly $10,000 on their credit cards makes that pretty clear. And with interest rates and minimum credit card payments rising, consumers are finding their bills harder to pay each month. In years past, those who cannot repay their bills would often resort to filing for bankruptcy.
But last year's Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act makes filing for bankruptcy more difficult and expensive than ever. What is someone with a debt problem to do? Credit counseling? Debt consolidation? Something else?
According to a new company that has been issuing press releases, the consumer can simply walk away from his or her debt. That's right, just walk away without repaying. The details are vague, of course, and won't be spelled out until you actually pay them for their services. But the company, which shall remain nameless, states that U.S. banking laws actually prohibit the lending of money at interest and that "several U.S. Supreme Court decisions" have backed this up. So, they claim, you don't have to repay because your creditors were not legally permitted to issue credit to you in the first place!
For a fee, of course, this company will advise you as to how you can walk away from your debts without having to repay a penny. Even more incredibly, they also promise that doing so will not negatively affect your credit report.
The Supreme Court has probably had plenty to say about credit and lending over the years, but they almost certainly have not said that consumers have the right to elect not to pay their bills, which are subject to a legal contract to which the debtor has agreed. And the credit bureaus will certainly treat failure to pay in this scheme just like any other occasion when someone doesn't pay – they will mark it as a delinquency on the debtor's credit report.
If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is, and that certainly applies here. There is no "legal secret" that will allow a debtor to simply walk away from debt unscathed. And if you do have a debt problem, the last thing you need to do with your money is to give it to someone who will give you bad advice.