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  • Survey: Unemployment has negative effect on mental state

    Unemployed workers have been shown to be more likely to develop mental illnesses than the employed Workers forced into unemployment or a reduced role at their jobs are more likely to exhibit symptoms of mental illness, according to a new survey released by Mental Health America and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

    The survey, which was conducted via telephone among a sample of 500 men and 502 women 18 years of age and older, found that unemployed workers were four times more likely than those with jobs to have symptoms "consistent with severe mental illness."

    Workers with jobs who experienced an "involuntary change" to their employment situation, such as taking pay cuts or working reduced hours, were found to be twice as likely to have the same symptoms.

    Unemployed workers were also twice as likely to be concerned about their mental health or use of drugs/alcohol, while 42 percent of those who had not consulted a physician about their concerns cited debt consolidation and the lack of insurance as their primary reason for avoiding the doctor.

    "This survey clearly shows that economic difficulties are placing the public’s mental health at serious risk, and we need affirmative action to address these medical problems," said Dr. David L. Shern, president and CEO of Mental Health America. "Individuals confronting these problems should seek help for their problems – talk to their doctor, trusted friend or advisor or mental health professional."

    The survey’s release comes in the midst of Mental Illness Awareness Week, which is being held from October 4 to October 10, and on the verge of National Depression Screening Day, which takes place on October 8.

  • Debtmerica Honored as One of the “Best Places to Work” in Orange County

    Debtmerica Honored as One of the “Best Places to Work” in Orange County

    Debtmerica Relief, a debt settlement company that provides debt solutions for consumers nationwide, ranked #4 on the Best Places to Work list in the medium-sized category.

    Los Angeles (Vocus/PRWEB ) October 6, 2009 — The Orange County Business Journal released its official list of Orange County’s Best Places to Work on September 28, 2009. The list, comprised of the top 40 companies to work for in the County of Orange, is separated into 3 categories based on the number of employees. Debtmerica Relief, a debt settlement company that provides debt solutions for consumers nationwide, ranked #4 on the Best Places to Work list in the medium-sized category.

    Companies that made the top of the list are recognized for their outstanding leadership, communication, and work environment. Most importantly, the list honors employers that cultivate a company culture where employees enjoy coming to work. Participating companies were given a 2 part survey where three-quarters of the company’s score was based on employee feedback given through an anonymous 67-question survey. The remaining quarter was based on a questionnaire given to the employer.

    Debtmerica scored highest in the categories Leadership and Planning and Work Environment where 97% of the employees gave them high marks. Debtmerica also received great feedback in the category Corporate Culture and Communications with 95% giving positive responses.

    When asked, what the company does to make it a place where people would want to work, an anonymous surveyor responded, “I love my job and who I work for!!! I feel like I am part of a wonderful family…from my team leader all the way up the ladder I am treated with respect and with care. I feel like they genuinely care about all of us here.”

    To encourage overall team-building, Debtmerica hosts events such as bowling night and weekly softball games to promote interaction and support between the different departments. This is in addition to the monthly contests that recognize and award debt consultants who show exceptional customer service and have helped out a large number of clients become debt free. Aside from hosted events, Debtmerica also gives back to the community by encouraging employees to participate at organized volunteer events.

    “This is one of the most valuable awards we have received. Our employees are our number one assets and to receive such great feedback directly from our own staff is a true honor,” says Harry Langenberg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Debtmerica, LLC.

  • Need a job? Look into the health care field

    The health care sector has experienced a growth in jobs during the recession While it’s no secret that the job market is struggling as unemployment continues to climb, jobless workers who are running out of funding and looking to consolidate debt should consider a job in the health care industry, whichis currently one of the few jobs sectors experiencing growth during the recession.

    "We’re helping to put Americans back to work," said Kathy Brockmann, the corporate executive recruiter at health care consulting firm Extended Care Clinical, according to the Chicago Tribune.

    Brockmann added that because the firm specializes in hiring trained nurses and nursing assistants for the facilities they serve, the economic downturn has enabled them to address their shortage by filling positions with skilled laborers who would have otherwise been working elsewhere in a better economic climate.

    In its most recent unemployment report, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment in health care was one of the few sectors that saw an improvement with 19,000 jobs added that month and 559,000 jobs added since the beginning of the recession.

    "If you’re looking to staff up and hire, there are people available with better skills and experience than we’ve ever seen in the job market, and you can get them for less money than you used to," said Michael Alter, president of SurePayroll, the Tribune reported.

  • Greenspan predicts economic growth in Q3 2009

    Alan Greenspan increased the amount of expansion he expected from the U.S. economy in Q3 2009 While Alan Greenspan does not see an immediate end to the continued rise in unemployment seen over Q3 2009, he is optimistic that the economy grew over the same time period despite a "pretty awful" September.

    Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, stated his optimism that the economy had expanded during Q3 2009 during an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. Noting that only 40 percent of President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package had been utilized since its approval, Greenspan said that the economy had enough momentum for a recovery to occur, and even adjusted his previous prediction expecting a 2.5 percent increase for the quarter.

    "It looks as though it’s going to be 3 percent, possibly even higher," Greenspan said, according to CNN.com.

    Greenspan was not as optimistic when it came to the unemployment rate, which exceeded forecasts and grew to 9.8 percent in September. In addition to predicting that the rate would not begin to decline until it topped 10 percent, he also threw his support behind proposed legislation that would extend unemployment insurance to workers who have been out of work for a prolonged period and had to consolidate debt after exhausting their benefits.

    In September, the House of Representatives voted 331-83 in favor of a bill that would extend unemployment insurance for nearly three months to jobless workers living in states with high jobless rates.

  • Unemployment rate hits record highs in September

    The unemployment rate hit its highest point since 1983 in September Unemployment continued to rise in September, as the Bureau of Labor and Statistics released data on Friday showing that the federal unemployment rate hit levels not seen in more than 26 years.

    According to the BLS, nonfarm payroll unemployment declined by 263,000 in September. The declineexceeded estimates by economic experts who had forecast more conservative job loss figures that ranged from 175,000 to slightly more than 200,000.

    Because of the larger than expected rate of job loss, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to hit 9.8 percent, driven primarily by losses in the construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and government sectors.

    The BLS data supports what has become a chorus of warnings from Federal Reserve officials who have warned that a continued rise in unemployment will occur despite other economic improvements. While speaking to the Georgia State College School of Business in Macon, Atlanta’s Fed President Dennis Lockhart echoed the opinions of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in saying that unemployment rates were likely continue to rising into 2010.

    "To bring people back to work, it’s going to take a while," said Lockhart, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Unemployment’s going to be frustratingly high for some period of time."

    The rise in monthly unemployment figures came just days after the Department of Labor released weekly figures that showed the week of September 26 had 551,000 unemployed workers seeking debt solutions by filing initial unemployment insurance claims, an increase of 17,000 from the week prior.

  • Debtmerica Achievements and Honors

    Inc. 500


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    In 2010, Debtmerica, LLC, a negotiated debt settlement company offering debt relief to consumers nationwide was ranked
    #13 in the
    Inc. 500 fastest growing companies within the Financial Services Industry and #184 across all industries. Inc. Magazine’s
    Inc. 500 list includes rankings of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The various firms are ranked based
    on their percentage of revenue growth for the previous three years.

    OCBJ Best Places to Work

    We are proud to announce that Debtmerica ranked as one of
    Orange County’s top places to work by the Orange County Business Journal. The companies that made the top of the
    list were recognized by their community leadership, support for their employees, and excellent work environment. The
    list, comprised of the top 40 companies to work for in the County of Orange, CA is separated into 3 categories based
    on the number of employees. Debtmerica Relief, ranked #4 on the Best Places to Work list in the medium-sized category.

    OCBJ Fastest Growing Private Companies

    Debtmerica is additionally pleased to announce that it has ranked #3 as one of Orange County’s fastest growing private
    companies by the Orange County Business Journal. The companies that made the top of the list were heavily screened and
    recognized by their incredible revenue growth from June 2006 to June 2009. To be on this list, comprised of the top 100
    fastest growing private companies in Orange County, CA, is a great honor to receive and is representative of Debtmerica’s
    continuing commitment to provide both employment and financial relief in difficult times.

    AFCC Accreditation

    Debtmerica is a fully Audited and Accredited member of The American Fair Credit Council. AFCC is the leading association
    of professional Consumer Credit Advocates and Debtmerica has been independently reviewed to maintain compliance with
    the AFCC code of conduct, which is the strictest in our industry.

  • YouTube rant results in lower interest rate

    While it may not be as advisable as other credit card debt solutions like a credit counseling service, one woman’s YouTube rant aimed at Bank of America has resulted in having her interest rate reduced.

    Earlier this month, California resident Ann Minch posted a video on YouTube after she said Bank of America had raised her interest rate to 30 percent despite making payments on time and staying below her credit limit.

    After being a customer of Bank of America for 14 years, Minch said she was withdrawing all her money from her Bank of America accounts and refused to make payments to her credit card unless the company returned her interest rate to its previous amount and presented her with a “too-good-to-turn-down payment offer.”

    It turns out that the video actually worked. Less than two weeks later, Minch went back to YouTube to report that Bank of America contacted her and agreed to return her interest rate to its previous level of 12.99 percent. However, she also noted that her most recent balance shows an interest rate of 23.99 percent.

  • North Carolina uses gift cards to encourage STD testing

    As many suffer from credit card debt and are forced into bill consolidation to help make ends meet, Americans are looking for as many ways to make money as possible, and in North Carolina, getting a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart is as easy as taking a trip to the doctor.

    MSNBC reports that health workers in Forsyth County, North Carolina are offering a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart for residents who get tested for HIV and syphilis. The plan came about as the region has been suffering through an outbreak in STDs this year where cases of venereal diseases had tripled over 2008 numbers with still three months to go.

    Of the 603 people tested during the recent campaign, MSNBC reports that about half say they were motivated because of the card. Evelyn Foust, director of the communicable diseases branch of the North Carolina Department of Public Health, told the news provider that money is definitely a factor for many of those who get tested.

    “I was in Rocky Mount [N.C.] where we screened 500 people in one weekend when a woman came up to me and said, ‘you know, with their dollar menu, I can get five meals out of this,’” she told MSNBC.

    North Carolina isn’t the only state paying people to better their health. Some Medicare patients in Illinois are receiving money on a prepaid card if they visit their primary physician.

  • College turns ID card into credit card

    Although plans in place through the Credit Card Act which passed through Congress earlier this year were aimed at making it harder for credit card companies to target students, one California college appears to be making it easier, which could lead to the need for credit card counseling for some students.

    The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper for Stanford University, reports that students at the school are now able to make purchases at a number of places on campus with their ID card. Although the card only allows students to purchase up to $1,000, it eliminates the previous plan which worked as a debit card of sorts.

    Now, students who make purchases on their ID card at campus eateries, the bookstore and a number of other locations, will see the charges add up on their university bill which must be paid at the end of each quarter.

    Although many students appear to be in favor of the plan, not everyone is on board. Leslie Johnson, a freshman at the school, called it “dangerous.”

    “More often than not, parents aren’t able to approve this spending and are sometimes paying for it,” she told the paper.

    Many recent college graduates start their careers already in the hole because of debt. A recent study from the College Board found that grads at public institutions for the 2007-2008 school year had a median debt level of $17,700 while their private college counterparts had a median level of $22,375.

  • Credit card companies get more consumer-friendly

    Chase have unveiled more consumer-friendly cards Consumers may get a helping hand with their credit card debt consolidation in the near future, as many credit card companies have unveiled new consumer-friendly card programs.

    In response to a recent flurry of criticism from consumers and even policymakers about overdraft fees, slashed credit limits and hiked up interest rates, companies such as Bank of America and JP Morgan & Chase have introduced more transparent, basic card policies.

    In addition to responding to the new legislation that restricts credit card companies’ ability to raise fees and rates, the trend is an attempt to win back some dissatisfied customers, including the one Bank of America customer that – very publicly, in a YouTube video – refused to pay her credit card bill until the bank reduced her suddenly inflated rate.

    One of these customer-friendly cards, Bank of America’s Basic Visa card, offers one rate for all transactions as well as a $39 flat late charge, while the Blueprint Card from Chase allows customers to select which expenses they pay off each month without receiving a finance charge, even if they have a balance or interest in other categories.

    Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut is also working on legislation that will further help consumers with their credit card debt consolidation, making it so that consumers must opt-in for overdraft protection.