Debt
Consolidation Florida
Predatory debt consolidation lending
sweeps Florida with nightmarish consumer
mortgage defaults and foreclosures
Tallahassee, Florida, October
1, 2007 - - Florida, known as the
“sunshine state”, is the nation's
third-fastest-growing state. The state’s
positive economical growth is due to its
high job growth rate, warm climate, and
low costs of living. But despite Florida’s
thriving economy, a mixture of hurricanes
and horrific predatory lending has ravaged
many Floridians.
Many of Florida’s debt and consumer
financial hardships have been caused by
hurricanes. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew cost
the state over $25 billion in damages. In
2004, Hurricane’s Charley, Frances,
Ivan, and Jeanne pummeled Florida’s
economy with over $42 billion in damages.
And in 2005, Hurricane’s Dennis, Katrina,
Rita, and Wilma cost Florida the second
costliest weather disaster in U.S. history.
The onslaught of hurricane disasters has
displaced hundreds of thousands of Floridian’s
from their severely damaged or destroyed
homes. Hundreds of thousands of hurricane
victims have also lost jobs and ran behind
on mortgages, rent, and utility payments.
The natural disasters have also caused a
wave of consumer debt payment defaults and
a desperate need by consumers for debt relief.
Aside from the billions lost by hurricane
disasters, consumer debt in Florida has
been consistently enhanced by a low state
minimum wage. Compared to California’s
minimum wage (at $8 per hour by January
1, 2008), Florida’s minimum wage of
$6.67 per hour is not financially parallel
with cost of living standards for many Florida
communities. Other debt contributors that
have impaired the state’s general
population have been high transportation
expenses and rising gas prices.
To escape rising consumer debts, Floridian’s
have used debt consolidation as a primary
cure to financial hardships, such as unemployment
and other types of income losses. In the
past, Consumer Credit Counseling programs
were a popular debt relief approach. But
because of the high inefficiency of many
of these programs, debt consolidation loans
have quickly become the standard for many
indebted Florida homeowners.
Ironically, without any regard to a homeowner’s
ability to pay them back, many opportunistic
lenders have victimized Florida homeowners
with high-risk debt consolidation loans.
These lenders typically target vulnerable
Florida homeowners, mostly the elderly,
minorities and people in financial or personal
crisis abusing them with high-cost debt
consolidation loans secured by the equity
in their homes. This thereby depletes the
homeowner’s home equity and creates
rising debt problems.
Debt
consolidation loan schemes, such ash
hidden loan terms, high fees and charges,
and undisclosed mortgage products, such
as unneeded insurance, have periled Florida
consumers. A major problem has been the
popularity of variable interest rate debt
consolidation loans, which introduce a low
interest rate that substantially increases
after the initial loan term. Yet another
problem seen by some of the greediest debt
consolidation mortgage lenders in Florida
is the practice of “loan flipping.
These lenders repeatedly refinance a borrower’s
mortgage loan with “teaser rate”
and “cash out” loans that make
the lenders earn extra points and fees and
leave the borrower bed-ridden.
Sadly, Floridians that have been misled
into taking out dreadful debt consolidation
loans have been stuck with high fees and
charges and are increasingly unable to make
their monthly mortgage payments. For many,
the ultimate cost has been the loss of their
homes through lender foreclosure; as of
the third quarter in 2007, Florida had the
next highest total of foreclosures. Florida
has suffered one foreclosure for every 95
households and the foreclosure crisis is
expected to continue as many Florida
debt consolidation loans continue to
reset with higher interest rates and higher
mortgage payment requirements.
If you are a Florida homeowner who was
tricked into a bad debt consolidation loan
or find yourself struggling to pay your
creditors each month, Debt Free League may
be able to help you. They offer a powerful
debt settlement program that is an excellent
tool to help you avoid foreclosure. Their
debt settlement program could help you pay
off high interest credit debt, medical bills
and outstanding small business debt at fraction
of what you owe to your creditors. The typical
savings that most Debt Free League clients
receive is 50% or greater of the original
balance. The debt settlement service given
to consumers and business owners by their
Debt Liquidation Program could also help
you avoid having to consolidate your debt
through a home equity loan that might end
up sinking you deeper in the hole. Plus
their debt settlement benefits can also
help you free up funds so that you can make
your mortgage payments and pay all of your
bills each month more conveniently.
About Debt Free League
Debt Free League is a Debt Settlement organization
that works on behalf of consumers and small
businesses to negotiate the settlement of
unsecured debt. Working through key relationships
with creditors, collection agencies, and
collection attorneys throughout the country,
their Debt Liquidation Program has produced
substantial unsecured debt reductions and
a variety of credit improvement benefits
for many clients.
For more information, Contact
Debt Free League’s Web site at www.debtfreeleague.com
Contact:
Sales
sales@DebtFreeLeague.com
(800) 213-9968
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