My husband is paying a lawyer to clean up his debt. The lawyer claims that he himself will make a payment to each of the debtors, and with the check he will include a note that says once the credit card company cashes the check, they are agreeing to the lawyers new terms and conditions for the loan. The lawyer is telling my husband he will no longer be responsible for the debts after this, the lawyer will be. There is a whole long story about what happens next, how the lawyer will make the debt go away, but basically it seems like a scam to me. Has anyone heard of this "debt elimination plan"?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DebtQuestions

My husband is paying a lawyer to clean up his debt. The lawyer claims that he himself will make a payment to each of the debtors, and with the check he will include a note that says once the credit card company cashes the check, they are agreeing to the lawyers new terms and conditions for the loan. The lawyer is telling my husband he will no longer be responsible for the debts after this, the lawyer will be. There is a whole long story about what happens next, how the lawyer will make the debt go away, but basically it seems like a scam to me. Has anyone heard of this "debt elimination plan"?

---

It may or not may not be a scam but I can tell you that writing "if you cash the check you are agreeing to the terms and conditions" blurb is not legally correct.

You cannot amend/modify a contract in this manner. If you owe X dollars a month this "blurb" will not change that.

And why would the Attorney take over your husband's debts?

Something is not quite right here -

The lawyer is charging my husband a fee to do this. It is one of the online debt elimination plans. The lawyer claims that once the credit card companies cash his checks with the "blurb" on them, the debt will be his, and the terms will be as he has stated. The new terms are something about a lower rate, smaller payments, no late fees, etc. He says then the credit card company will violate all those new terms (he will purposely make late payments and then the credit card company will charge a late fee which will be in violation of the new terms, etc), and basically the plan is then that the debt won't be valid because the credit card company will have violated the terms of the new contract. He claims that they will also have to remove all the late payments from my husband's credit report. I laughed when I heard the scam, but my husband has paid the guy $2500 and thinks this is the answer to his problems. I am trying to convince him to get his $2500 back and do this in a valid way (probably a bankruptcy). I am trying to figure out a way to show him that no one can assume his debt just by writing a check and sticking a note in that says "if you cash the check you are agreeing to new terms". He's a guy that believes everything he sees online (lol), this is not the first scam he has fallen for, so I figured if he saw someone online verifying what I am telling him, this is a SCAM, then he will see the light of day.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DebtQuestions

The lawyer is charging my husband a fee to do this. It is one of the online debt elimination plans. The lawyer claims that once the credit card companies cash his checks with the "blurb" on them, the debt will be his, and the terms will be as he has stated. The new terms are something about a lower rate, smaller payments, no late fees, etc. He says then the credit card company will violate all those new terms (he will purposely make late payments and then the credit card company will charge a late fee which will be in violation of the new terms, etc), and basically the plan is then that the debt won't be valid because the credit card company will have violated the terms of the new contract. He claims that they will also have to remove all the late payments from my husband's credit report. I laughed when I heard the scam, but my husband has paid the guy $2500 and thinks this is the answer to his problems. I am trying to convince him to get his $2500 back and do this in a valid way (probably a bankruptcy). I am trying to figure out a way to show him that no one can assume his debt just by writing a check and sticking a note in that says "if you cash the check you are agreeing to new terms". He's a guy that believes everything he sees online (lol), this is not the first scam he has fallen for, so I figured if he saw someone online verifying what I am telling him, this is a SCAM, then he will see the light of day.

---

I have never heard of anything even close to this and I've heard a lot about those "debt reduction" scams.

There's tons of stuff on the Internet - have you checked the company out?

I also question whether you are actually talking to an Attorney.

Are you going State-to-State with this or are you and the Attorney in the same State - ?

I would be scared of it, and you will never see that 2500 again,

I see SCAM, SCAM big time,

While yes anyone can sign to be liable, but then they would be, to pay it,
And writing something on the check is not accepted in most courts any longer, since places computer process checks, not even read by people, so notes on checks are not binding in most places.

SCAM

Have you even verified this person is a real attorney, check his name with the state bar