Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) April 27, 2006 –- With the highest consumer debt load since the Great Depression, Americans should educate themselves on their financial options when climbing out of debt, says T. L. Smith, the president of Debt Relief of America (DRA), a Dallas-based debt settlement company.

Smith states that consumers see paying continuous payments on their credit card bills, filing for bankruptcy or participating in a consumer credit counseling program as the only answer to their financial problems. Americans are not, he says, aware of a fourth financial alternative, working with a debt settlement company, like DRA, to rid themselves of consumer debt.

«Americans struggling to repay these debts, which have now soared to $800 billion as of December 2005, find it increasingly difficult to file for bankruptcy, due to Congress' extensive changes made to the Bankruptcy Code, effective October 17, 2005,» says Smith.

Kristie Medlen, executive vice president of DRA, explains that the public has not been informed of debt settlement programs and the benefits it provides consumers. However, a widespread campaign was launched about bankruptcy, showing this as a solution to consumers' problems.

The debt settlement industry, which was only organized in the last five years, provides most customers the opportunity to become debt-free in three to five years and only pay 50% of their total debt load. "Paying the minimum payments on credit card bills trap Americans into a 40 to 60 year debt-ridden cycle, which for many adults can mean an entire lifetime to pay off their debt," says Medlen. Unless a customer can double up on their payments, they will only pay the creditors' interest rates, which can range anywhere from 0% to 29.9%.

Consumer credit counseling, a creation of the credit card industry, makes consumers pay back all of their debt loads over a five to seven year period, making the program very structured and allows very little flexibility for clients when paying their monthly payments. For this reason, only 20% of the program's clients complete the program. In addition, when Americans file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the presence of credit damage remains on their record for ten years.

"When consumers participate in a debt settlement program, they are in the driver seat and control their monthly payments," says Medlen. After dealing with creditors for so long, consumers have little faith that they will ever recover financially and become discouraged. However, DRA and other debt settlement companies provide their clients with encouragement and the proper education, which allows clients to make informed financial decisions.

For additional information regarding the services provided by Debt Relief of America please contact TL Smith, President, at 1-800-242-2747.

About Debt Relief of America:

Debt Relief of America, located in Dallas, Texas and founded in 2002, has quickly become a leader in the debt negotiation industry providing debt ridden consumers an alternative to bankruptcy. Debt Relief of America provides debt negotiation services to more than 4,000 clients and has settled millions of dollars in unsecured consumer debt since 2002. Debt Relief of America also provides each client with continuing education related to personal financial management while in the program to allow the client to exit the program with a personal financial plan to avoid large amounts of unsecured debt in the future.

Source: prweb