1. Stormy Road Ahead
Navigating the Future by Understanding the Past
ROUGHECONOMYAHEAD!

2. What is on The Horizon?
News media and financial sites are revealing that we are headed into the next wave of consumer debt.
Statistics are showing that the American population is still addicted to debt. Some have learned the lesson of fiscal responsibility. Most, unfortunately, have not.
Debt waves have proven repeatedly to be cyclical. Financial trends generally repeat themselves to a lesser or greater degree. Consumer debt is proving to be completely cyclical in nature and many industries actually profit from this cycle, including the creditors.
The debt relief industry plays an important role in the economy and is necessary in this cycle.
3. Where Are We NOW?
We believe that our industry could become a mainstream, regulatedcomponent of the financial services industry. This can only happen if we create uniformity , self-regulation and consumer protection protocols within the space.
We are headed into the next cycle of consumer debt overload with no established leadership to speak of. Thats just plain scary.
The Federal Government and States AGs passed widely varying laws and standards without a true understanding of our industry. Why? Lack of participation and input from us.
The debt relief industry players are scattered and broken into camps. The loopholers and the NAF model camps. Both are hiding for their own reasons. Bottom line:
We are in ROUGH shape
4. Our Industry is Running Out of Gas.
5. How Did We Get Here?
The debt relief industry became a growth market due to a high demand for alternative debt relief options to fill the gaps in traditional service offerings.
Full service firms decided to farm out the marketing to outside marketing firms causing a level of disconnect. Back ends were born. Processors filled the gaps and unscrupulous lead gen groups capitalized on it all. Absolute frenzy. New models were born out of a highly competitive marketplace and everyone volleyed for market share.
Because of the lures of fast cash, many inexperienced entrepreneurs saw opportunity and opened up shop in the space looking for fast cash. Greed took over and up front fees started to increase. It was easy money. If the consumer got lied to it was now the back-ends problem. It only got worse from there.
Inexperienced players from alternate verticals saw the opportunity to open back-end firms and leverage their sales networks. They thought it would be easy to negotiate debt. And things deteriorated.
6. What Happened Next?
Consumers began getting hurt. Bad.
Companies mishandled complaints, didnt respond, didnt issue refunds when they were clearly due, werent able to provide the promised services and still kept the money, and so on and so on.
When shady companies got too much heat, they changed names and started again, making another couple of million dollars on the backs of already struggling people. The BBB couldnt keep up, the states panicked, the feds stepped in and here we are.
Now, post TSR, here is where I think we truly are and what we are goingto do next. Unite, regroup, establish leadership and standards and prepare to help American Consumers .
7. What is The Answer?
We all need to go back to the basics.We need to operate solid, clean businesses and earn the money we charge for the services we provide. We need to start mitigating every complaint, abiding by the current set of laws and reestablish the vision of helping the consumers overwhelmed by the burden of debt. Consumers success has to be at the forefront.
We need to establish a trust based system that will actually mean something to all parties involved. A simple, reliable system that can be trusted. Not a brand or a name. A system.
We need to create and unite a network of credible companies, establish a model of standards,and create true credibility by certifying that the companies that consumers use possess the skills and qualifications necessary to be trusted. Consumers need to know that companies they contract with are who they say they are. We must expose the darkness by running into the light.
The results of an effort like this is.
8. This is the Future