A recent academic study, from Southern Methodist University, confirms what the debt settlement indsutry has been saying for years. Debt settlement is the best method for reducing consumers’ unsecured debt. The study by Southern Methodist University Associate Professor of Marketing Richard A. Briesch found that debt settlement programs, especially compared to credit counseling, “create the greatest consumer welfare of any approach.”
“Dr. Briesch’ research affirms solidly what we have already known, that debt settlement is a viable and appropriate method of helping today’s financially strapped consumers receive the much needed help they deserve,” Chris Kesterson, President of TASC, said.
Other key findings of the “Economic Factors and the Debt Management Industry” study include:
• Credit counseling fees and payments for a consumer account can exceed 29 percent of the consumer debt, levels that are “exorbitant”; and
• The debt settlement company has an increasingly higher value to customers with higher account balances and higher total debt.
The report can be found at www.consumercreditchoice.org.
