Credit card delinquencies have soared over the past few months fuelled by the growing financial crisis. This is not surprising judging from the recent statistics that show that the US unemployment rate is at its highest since 1983 now standing at a firm 8.9%. this translates to the fact that people can now not meet their bills and daily requirements as they were able to before the crisis began. This is why the so called debt settlement companies are getting more and more customers looking to be relieved from their credit card debt.

As these beleaguered debtors rush for relief, they have allowed a flourish of unscrupulous dealers who are purporting to be legitimate credit card debt settlement companies and ripping off those who fall prey to their traps. This is quite unfortunate and as more people go for these companies, this kid of fraud shall continue. A Wisconsin based lobbying group known as the Association of Settlement Companies has made an estimate that there are over 500,000 customers being serviced by debt settlement companies that have reached the 100^th mark and are still growing. Though the number might not be as big, the task of finding out which is legitimate or not is not all that easy.

Though the association of settlement companies places very strict standards on the companies it represents, it covers only a mere 30%. Moreover, these represented companies are left on their own to formulate rules regarding their operations. In the end, the consumer ends up getting hurt by losing more money and spoiling their credit ratings, the same things they purport to shield the client against.. such companies dent the image of the entire industry and end up destroying even the good intended companies.]

Currently, we have attorney generals from states around the country digging inn into these companies and sooner or later, the axe shall fall on them.. AGs like . Lisa Madigan, the attorney general for the State of Illinois, Greg Abbott, the attorney general of Texas and Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general of New York have all come up with several lawsuits against these unscrupulous companies. Many others are taking the cue and the entire industry is being kept under constant surveillance. However, more serious steps need to be taken to ensure that other persons who are desperate do not fall prey to these hooligans whether by lawsuits or by making arrests.