February 18, 2015
Debt Collection & Settlement
Research
In February 2013, the American Fair Credit Council, an association of debt settlement companies, released a report that claimed to assess the outcomes of debt settlement services by the industry. This report, "Options for Consumers in Crisis: An Economic Analysis of The Debt Settlement Industry," was commissioned by the AFCC, and fails to demonstrate that debt settlement leaves consumers better off and in fact overstates the benefits of debt settlement for the consumers studied. This CRL analysis details the flaws in the report.