Why The Credit Industry Should Fear This Woman

In a report released March 24 by the bipartisan investigative panel of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, consumers are drowning in credit-card debt and are being victimized by poor service, hidden charges and high fees charged by some credit counseling agencies that often leave them even deeper in debt.

(PRWEB) May 6, 2004 -- Julianne Frank of Palm Beach is one of the countrys leading financial distress counselors and is one of approximately 2,000 nationally certified lawyers specializing in consumer and business bankruptcy. She is author of the book, Freedom From Debt: Taking Control of Financial Crisis" and a frequent speaker before radio, TV and professional audiences.

What she can contribute as a source: What to look for when selecting a debt counseling or debt consolidation company and how to recognize legitimate companies; How to properly manage creditor harassment and strategies for negotiating with your creditors; How to determine if and when bankruptcy is an appropriate solution to your problems; Alternatives to bankruptcy.

There is an injustice being perpetrated on the American public.

It is an injustice so heinous that it causes both financial and emotional devastation. And yet in many instances the perpetrators are trusted completely by their unsuspecting victims. They are, in fact, much like wolves in sheeps clothing.

What is this injustice? And who are the perpetrators?

You might say it is a conspiracy. A conspiracy among the many facets of the credit industry - greedy credit card companies, unscrupulous credit counseling organizations and unethical collection agents - all who are taking advantage of people in debt.

The industry better be prepared for a wake up call, , because South Florida attorney Julianne Frank is on a crusade to stop them. Her first target: The unscrupulous debt counselors.
   
The credit counseling industry for the most part takes advantage of people who are already in financial trouble and dont know where else to turn," says Frank, who has offices in several parts of Florida.

Frank is about to take on the credit counseling industry in a big way. She and her staff and are in the process of filing class action lawsuits, geared to change the way this mostly unregulated industry does business.

Most of these credit counseling or debt consolidators are playing both sides of the fence as they are often in bed with the credit card companies," she says. The companies are taking up front fees from clients while they are secretly being paid a collection fee from the credit card companies," says Frank, whose practice specialty is a rare type of legal practice known as financial distress counseling".

In the course of her 20 years in practice, Frank grew tired of seeing countless clients whose credit situation had actually been made worse by their involvement with these companies. Among the many abuses she has uncovered:

·Abusing non-for-profit status" to gain the trust of an unwary public

·Falsely representing the effectiveness of the program or the time and financial commitment involved for the consumer      

·Mismanagement leading to worsening credit ratings for the program participants

People in debt are usually scared," she continues, and they often have feelings of guilt, even if their debt comes from something completely unavoidable, such as a divorce, loss of job or an unexpected illness. Combine this with feelings of desperation and they are easy targets for unscrupulous credit counselors and debt negotiators."

Franks crusade does not end at the courthouse steps. Perhaps of all segments of the credit industry, Franks disdain runs the deepest for credit card companies themselves.

Ive seen college kids graduating with $50,000 in debt because its so easy to get a credit card," she says. Likewise, hard-working people with unexpected expenses turn to the endless free offers of credit that bombard them almost daily, unwittingly painting themselves into a corner that the high interest credit card companies relish."

But it is possible to solve these problems in a realistic way , insists Frank, and the way to do it is through knowledge. Most people who are in debt simply dont know their legal rights, and certainly their creditors arent going to tell them," she adds.

These people in debt need help; real help instead of idle promises."

So Frank has taken the proverbial show on the road. She has developed programs to help this fragile segment of the public fight back.

Perhaps the most innovative of these is a powerful new weapon called Freedom from Debtâ." Frank teaches the Freedom from Debt® seminar, offering plain English, simple and logical approaches to debt management and offers the Freedom from Debt® Debt Management Resource, the only interactive, self-help debt management tool on the market. Frank created Freedom from Debt® to educate those who are in over their heads -- showing them step-by-step how to stop creditor harassment, reduce their debts, improve their credit rating and achieve financial peace of mind-without filing bankruptcy, without losing their property and savings and with the prospect for resurrecting their good credit rating.

Some of the topics covered by the Freedom from Debt Program include:

1.Identifying and responding to illegal tactics of collection agencies
2.Signs leading to financial distress
3.Methods for repairing credit ratings
4.Issues related to foreclosure & repossession
5.Secrets to negotiating debt reduction
6.How to recognize sham credit counselors

In a nutshell, Freedom from Debt® contains all the secrets that creditors, credit counselors and collections agencies do not want the public to know," says Frank. Because education is the key to liberation from financial distress."

If anyone is capable of providing the knowledge and tools to help the American public achieve Freedom from Debt," Julianne Frank is the woman.

Frank has been a financial distress counselor and bankruptcy lawyer from more than 20 years and has helped thousands of individuals and businesses get out of debt and back on the right financial path. She has a degree in psychology and is an American Board of Certification specialist in both consumer and business bankruptcy law, an elite credential held by fewer than 2,000 individuals in the United States.

The world of debt management and credit is frightening enough, but to the millions of Americans who suffer the torment of the credit industry, this fear can become paralyzing.

The antidote to this fear is knowledge. Attorney Julianne Frank has this knowledge, and she is passing it along to the American public.

She gives one word of advice to creditors. Beware. So far the game has been all yours. You have had it easy, preying on ignorance. But now your most worthy adversary to date has arrived, and the game is about to change."
###