AFSA on “For-Profiteer” Debt Settlement
A series of coordinated op-eds has recently attempted to defend for-profit debt settlement companies while opposing federal legislation to better regulate them. The pieces share similar arguments, similar attacks on AFSA, and a similar omission. None of them refutes the facts.
AFSA responded in the American Banker and revisited those facts. Among them: The settlement industry’s own commissioned research found that a quarter of clients go three full years without settling a single account. And TransUnion found that consumers who were current on their bills when they enrolled watched their median credit scores fall 96 points, nearly five times the drop experienced by bankruptcy filers.
The op-ed also examines the “attorney model” loophole that lets a growing segment of the industry collect fees before delivering anything, and explains what the proposed Debt Settlement Consumer Disclosure Act would actually change. Read the full op-ed here.
September 3rd, 2026
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