DEBT MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Consumer debt counseling and management services have been available to individuals with serious credit problems going back to the 1950s. There are generally two kinds of services that have been available. Some of these services have provided counseling coupled with assisting debtors in establishing programs to pay off debts over an extended time. Others have provided consolidation and management services, in which agreements are reached with creditors to settle on a percentage of debt. Most of these services have collected a periodic amount from the debtors from which payment to creditors has been made. The general objective of these services has been debt satisfaction without resort to bankruptcy.

The history of debt counseling and management services is checkered. There have been numerous abuses and efforts to counter abuses statutorily in many states. These services have been criticized for their efforts to steer debtors away from bankruptcy when it may have been more advantageous and less costly to debtors to file. Many states prohibit for-profit debt management services while permitting nonprofit debt counseling services. One of the continuing controversies is whether for profit services should be allowed even if regulated.

However, federal bankruptcy reform effective in 2005 has changed the perspective on such services. For an individual to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that individual will in most cases have to show that consumer debt counseling/management has been sought and attempted. This shifts a highly significant burden upon private services to perform honestly and effectively. Because the new bankruptcy rules are federal and apply in every state, regulating the counseling and management services in every state must be uniform in character for the new bankruptcy rules to be effective and for consumers to be protected.

In 2005, just in time for consideration in the state legislatures, the Uniform Law Commissioners promulgated the Uniform Debt-Management Services Act (UDMSA). It provides the states with a comprehensive act governing these services that will mean national administration of debt counseling and management in a fair and effective way.

In March 2008, several important amendments [1] were made to the UDMSA. With these amendments, more than 20 states are executed to introduce the act in 2009.

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