Currently, U.S. households owe an almost unbelievable $2.3 trillion in non-real estate debts like credit card debt and auto loans. For some Americans, getting out of debt is just plain hard. Whether your debt is the result of unemployment, overspending, or both, here are six personal debt relief tips that will help you start â€” and successfully [...]

An Austin, Texas, man has been charged in United States District Court with operating a mortgage debt relief scam in Los Angeles and elsewhere that falsely promised the owners of more than a thousand distressed properties that they could be protected against foreclosure sales. Frederic Alan Gladle allegedly recruited homeowners with properties that were facing [...]

The debt that seniors leave behind when they pass away is becoming big business for debt collectors, who sometimes use questionable tactics to go after family members and pressure them into debt settlement agreements even though spouses and other survivors may not be legally required to pay. When people die, debts usually die with them, [...]

A Texas woman who sought mortgage debt relief from Bank of America has sued the bank after it approved her request for a loan modification for her Austin home but then rescinded the approval and eventually began foreclosure proceedings against her. The lawsuit by Maria Gonzales alleges that the bank wrongly invalidated the loan modification [...]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury will be part of a new federal task force charged with shutting down illegal mortgage debt relief scams posing as government assistance plans. The Treasury Department will team up with the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [...]

The Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General of Florida have launched an investigation into a Florida debt relief business that received more than 300 consumer complaints in just over a year. United Financial Systems, based in Margate, allegedly signed customers up to a debt relief plan and charged them fees for debt help services [...]

Some homeowners in Massachusetts will be gaining a measure of mortgage debt relief resulting from a $52 million settlement of a lawsuit against the Royal Bank of Scotland. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Monday that the Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to settle the state’s lawsuit against its subsidiary, formerly known as Greenwich Capital Financial [...]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced today that it was mailing refund checks this week to more than 2,900 consumers nationwide who were victims of a debt management scam. The refunds are the result of a February 2009 contempt ruling against Express Consolidation Inc., a Florida-based debt management services company, and owner Randall L. Leshin, [...]

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced Wednesday that it had shut down 85 alleged online debt relief scams that advertised fraudulent mortgage modification services on Google. The mortgage debt relief operations, which used Web banners and other Web advertisements, allegedly charged struggling homeowners illegal advance fees [...]

Georgia announced it has reached a $4.3 million settlement with an abusive debt collection company. The state said it hoped the settlement would send a message to other debt collection companies looking to skirt the law when it comes to dealing with residents burdened with credit card debt and other types of consumer debt. According to [...]