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HomeblogPlease don't be dumb.

Please don’t be dumb.

Did you get the memo that the economy is in shambles? I’m willing to bet if you turn on the TV right now and flip through the channels you will see one of two commercials. The first, “Give us your gold, and we’ll pay you big money” The second, “We’ll eliminate all of your credit card debt.” If you find either of these two commercials appealing you are either a douchebag or braindead. Take your pick.

The only thing worse than the companies behind the commercials, is the actors in them. If you haven’t seen ’em check out this gem 🙂 …

Although I think Cash 4 Gold is a joke, I want to communicate the shear stupidity of signing up with a credit counseling company. The first indicator that these “credit counselors” are shady: You gotta pay them a crapload of money for them to “try” and reduce your debt. That’s right the majority of these companies will charge you a couple thousand dollars without guaranteeing the reduction or elimination of your debt.

Even more stupid than giving the sketchy companies your hard earned cash is the fact that you are most likely paying them to do something you could do on your own. They will try and sell their counseling with phrases like “We’ll use secrets the credit card companies don’t want you to know about.” WTF! These aren’t secrets. Just google “How to reduce credit card debt” and I bet a million PF blogs will come up with helpful strategies!

Did you know you can almost always negotiate down your credit card debt if it is 3+ months late?

or

Did you know you can call the credit card companies and ask them to lower your interest rate?

I assume the majority of the people reading this have the common sense to know these are scams, but I still can’t help but wonder why people fall for these traps? Is it out of desperation? Is it lack of self responsibility? Are they truly convinced these companies have the individuals best interest at heart?

Please don’t mail your gold jewelry to some company hoping they will give you top dollar for it. Please don’t pay someone $5K to “help” you get out of debt. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Anyone out there ever heard of a positive experience with a cash 4 gold or credit counseling company? Maybe I got it all wrong, but I have heard nothing but bad news.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. You are absolutely right.

    Especially with the credit counselling, everything they claim to do for you, we can do ourselves.

    Whenever I see these guys buying gold, all I think to myself is that gold is going up in price so they are trying to snatch up peoples gold and make money while giving people pennies for theirs.

  2. Cash4Gold is a scam, hands down, but I don't think I can really truly hate on them. People willingly send in their gold and you have a choice to accept their incredibly low offer or not. Nobody forces you to turn in gold, and yes, they prey on the weak and desperate, but Credit counseling places piss me off way more because they advertise themselves as government agencies and make people think that you are supposed to go to them if you are in debt. Same with freecreditreport.com.

  3. Cash 4 Gold isnt exactly a scam. They really will pay you cash for your gold. But they will offer you a far lower amount than its worth. When you complain, they will talk to their bosses and authorize a somewhat larger amount, still under the actual appraisal of the gold.

    You're better off hitting up the pawn shops in the dark alleys of your city as cash4gold is definitely shady.

  4. It isn't entirely a scam – Rob Cockerham (of cockeyed.com) sent Gold Kit some bottle caps, nickels, etc spray painted gold quite a long while back, and got a buck for it. 😀

  5. Awesome dude! I am so glad others see through this nonsense of "debt relief" companies, when it really is taking advantage of desperate, hurting people in their time of need.

    I hate to see their ads all over the place. To pay for those ads, they must either took out a bunch of loans to start their despicable business (irony, huh), or people are falling for it and they're able to take some of their profits to advertise even more. Oh if only we could get more ads out there that are true public service announcements that educate people about the basic tools of PF without scamming people to learn such things!!

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