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Choosing a debt management consultant?
Questions you
should ask / Signs to look out for:
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Entice you for a meeting by
promising wonderful rates but will not stand by it once you turn up. Refuse to discuss fees until you have
confirmed? Such sales tactics should not be tolerated.
-
Use hard sell tactics like taking down
your name and IC number during
the discussion. Why the need? What can
and will they do with your information?
-
Due to liability issue and the Bank Secrecy Act, financial institutions are not allowed to
discuss with third party with regards to their clients' accounts,
much less recommend debt management companies. The only exceptions to these rules are
government agencies and law firms. Contrary to the claims made
by some companies, banks do have the authority to not talk to your
appointed representative even if you insist.
-
What happens if things do not work
out? What are their back up resources? What or who do they consult
should there be issues with governing authorities? Are they familiar with the various
governing laws and regulations which might affect you?
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Where is their office located? Do they have one? Are they
licensed to operate? Are they and their "Agencies
or Strategic Partners" registered? Insist on meeting them at their
office. We know of one who
operates without a licence. Another operates without an office
and the address reflected on their name card is non-existent.
The only contact is a staff (who is not the owner) with an office
number which gets directed to a handphone number.
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More interested in your payment
instead of your problem? Why should payments due to your creditors
be made to them first since it is not going to be utilised yet?
Wouldn't it be more prudent to allow
you, the client, to hold on to the money and to produce it when
it is required? To add insult to injury, Management
Fees are charged to handle "advanced
payments" whilst they earn interest income from it. (Please do note that
a client has very little recourse to recover the money if it
is no
longer there, regardless of whether official receipts and statement of
accounts are given.)
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Are owners and directors of the debt management companies reliable and responsible financially? Are they
going through financial embarrassment? Constant change in
ownership or address of the company? Do an ROC check on the companies
(www.bizfile.gov.sg)
and the individual owners (www.questnet.sg).
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Will they support their claims and
promises on paper? If they claim they can get certain
interest rate from the banks and you hired them based on
this promise, should you pay or get a refund if it does not materialise, regardless of reason? Ask for proof of their past works.
If they made claims of they contacting OA for clients during bankruptcy,
request for proof of such
correspondence. If for discharge of bankruptcy, copies
of discharge certificates should be produced.
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Discrepancies in posted testimonials.
Putting up awards reserved for software distribution on their website.
Using pictures of couples and happy families from other websites to support claims of satisfied customers.
Creating claims of partnership and accreditation of non-existent,
non-registered entities. Conflicting
instructions, illogical or vague explanations, is this due to
ignorance or just blatant untruth? Either one is bad for you. The
question you should ask yourself now :
Are you
willing to entrust your financial future with them?
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