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Debt Consolidation - The Hazards Of Searching For Debt Help Online
By: Daniel Johnson
As the number of people online continues to grow, more and more people are
turning to the internet as their primary source of information. When it comes to
private matters such as personal finance, people are even more likely to seek
the anonymity of the web. As a result, millions of consumers who are in debt
turn to the internet for answers: it is estimated that the term “debt
consolidation” is searched for nearly 3,000 times a day. Unfortunately, many
consumers are unaware of the dangers of searching the web for debt help or debt
consolidation.
The large amount of people searching for financial help online has made debt
consolidation websites a booming business. The large market has opened the door
for misleading business practices. Many sites claim to offer a variety of
services such as debt consolidation, consumer credit counseling, debt
settlement, credit repair, or refinancing and consolidation loans. Often, the
site promises a free debt consolidation quote for consumers who enter their
contact information. Most consumers believe they will be contacted by an
employee of the company who owns the website. However, more often than not, the
consumer’s contact information has just been entered into a lead capture page,
usually operated by a marketing firm. This marketing firm then sells this
information, or “lead,” to any company that is willing to pay for it! The
customer has no way of knowing that this information is sent to a legitimate
business.
When the average consumer gets online to look for debt help, the majority of the
time he will turn to a search engine. As a result, the first few websites that
are returned for a particular search term get the majority of the web traffic.
While many search engines constantly try to make search terms relevant and
immune to manipulation, many companies are still able to pay their way to a good
ranking. Many websites, particularly the “lead capture pages,” are able to pay
for links and other “optimization” techniques that translate into high search
engine placement. Because many legitimate businesses are oblivious about the
impact of search engine rankings, there is a high probability that consumers
searching for debt consolidation online will fall victim to some sort of
misrepresentation.
About the Author:
Daniel Johnson is an accredited credit counselor and author for The Debt
Consolidation Guide at http://www.newcreditdebtconsolidation.com
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