Provanta On The Radio – New Spot!

Beginning the broadcast week of 6/16 a new radio spot will be heard on several stations throughout the country.  If you happen to live in the Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Washington D.C., or St. Louis area you may hear this new spot on the radio.  Over the next few weeks this spot will also air in other parts of the country. 

To listen to the new spot click here: Broadcast Radio Spot 3

Smear Campaigns: Idiocracy

It never ceases to amaze me how many other debt settlement (DS), consumer credit counseling service (CCCS), and debt management companies like to sling mud at each other.  All of these debt relief options have successfully existed for many years.  I don't think DS and CCCS are going away anytime soon.  In fact, if the economy is any indicator, the debt relief industry is really taking off right now.  That being said why are so many companies high centered on spending money on trying to derail the competition?  There are two reasons for this.

The first reason a company resorts to a smear campaign to try and find clients is simply because they have not been in business for very long.  They really have no depth of knowledge, no experience, and actually have no idea what they are saying when they attempt to attack the competition.

The second reason is that a few bad apples may be giving the wrong impression.  Every industry suffers from a few companies that are poorly managed and possibly unethical.  It is a shame that some resort to bad mouthing an entire industry simply because of their experience with one company.  This just goes to show that due diligence must be done up front when deciding on a company to resolve one's debt.  Two excellent indicators of a company's track record and stability are: the years they have been in business and their Better Business Beaureu (BBB) report. Provanta has been a member in good standing with the local chapter of the BBB since 1994.

There are many debt relief options.  Regardless of what type of program or what company is chosen to help eliminate one's debt, make sure appropriate research is performed.  If you feel rushed through the application process and uncomfortable for any reason, take a moment to step back.  Thoroughly evaluate your options before making a decision.

Lastly, don't work with a company that is spending all their time and effort bad mouthing the competition.  In reality, they probably don't know what they're talking about and will probably be out of business within a couple years.  If they spend all their time telling you why you should not be dealing with their competition, you might wonder why they're not spending it telling you about why you ought to consider working with them. Given two options, A and B, discovering that A is a bad one doesn't nesessarily mean that B is a good one. Option B must still be evaluated independently.

We invite you to evaluate Provanta.

Provanta on the Radio (not for everyone)

Earlier this week an upset caller called in complaining about our radio ad.  He asked, “Why does your company help people get debt relief?  Don’t you think people should be paying off their debt like I am because it’s their responsibility.” 

Even though the caller hung up before our representative could respond, I would still like to address his question.

The caller is right.  People should be paying off their debt and it is absolutley, without a doubt, our client’s responsibility to do so.  The clients that we enroll do not have any misconception about how much they owe or what their responsibility is.  The problem they have is in paying the debt.

Provanta enrolls clients with a financial hardship.  Some of our clients have lost their jobs and it took months for them to find another one.  Some of our clients have experienced a medical hardship or had a loved one go through medical difficulties.  Others are struggling as single parent and some have made a series of bad decisions such as purchasing a home they could not afford or starting a business without truly understanding the financial liabilities.  Regardless of the different backgrounds of our clients, they have one very serious commonality.  They cannot financially afford to keep up with the monthly payments their creditors are demanding. 

In this situation, they have a few options.  They can try to declare bankruptcy if they qualify.  They can simply stop paying their creditors and hope that it all just goes away.  They can stop spending money on other items like utlities, rent, food, insurance in order to pay their creditors.  Or they can look for help from a reputable debt relief company, such as Provanta.

Provanta cannot and does not force creditors to accept settlements.  We do not have a magic wand that makes our client’s debt disappear.  The creditors make the final decision about whether to forgive a debt and accept the settlement based on the information we provide regarding our client’s hardship.  The creditors who agree to the settlements accept the fact that our clients truly don’t have a way to pay and that they’ve enrolled with Provanta in order to be responsible, resolve the account as best they can in light of their financial problems, and to prevent the debt problem from escalating even further.  

So, to summarize my response to this caller:  Yes people should pay their debt and take responsibility for it and that is exactly why our company exists.  We help people resolve their unsecured debt.

Transparency

Probably the primary reason in going to a blog format for our corporate website was to demonstrate transparency in those elements of our services that might be of some concern to potential clients. The nature of our services are such that we set about to solve serious problems that some people find themselves in. You may be able to do without many of the goods and services you could buy — or consider buying — because not having those goods and services is not really a problem in your life. But when you can’t sleep at night, or when financial hardships cause friction between spouses, resulting in lots of stress on the kids, then there might be undue motivation to engage the sorts of services we have to offer.

Accordingly, we want to be particularly careful that you’re really, really sure that you want to do this. It’s not a walk in the park. It’s “surgery,” in a sense, and though the light at the end of the tunnel is indeed bright, warm and pleasant, the path to that light is not without risks and unpleasantness. You need to understand that potential, accept it, and commit yourself to doing the best you can to tolerate it. Some people can’t, and we want you to know that.

I could probably write a nice long post about all the aspects of transparency, why it’s good for everyone, and why it’s the future of business. But if I did, it would surely not be as good as Greg Swann’s post on the same topic. Greg is a Phoenix Realtor, a longtime friend and business associate, and he practices transparency against the prevailing tide.

I Want The Truth!

“Can you help me? I’ve been speaking with several debt settlement companies but I hear different things from each company. Some say they can help me but others say they can’t. Why? I’m tired of feeling like I’m being sold on a program that might not even be a good fit for my situation. I want the truth!”

The complaint above is common. Almost every day one of our case managers hears a story that echoes this sentiment. At Provanta, the daily order of business is to provide honest and straightforward advice to our clients and prospective clients. Over the past few years, however, it has become apparent that numerous recently founded debt-settlement companies have been aggressively marketing their services to the masses, and as a result, have potentially tarnished the image of the debt-settlement industry. Perhaps you have heard some of the radio ads that promise things like “stopping creditor or collector calls” (nobody can honestly promise that), “halting late fees and interest charges” (only if they agree to do so, prior to settlement), and “huge savings off what you owe” (that’s the idea, but it can’t be promised).

Provanta does not make false promises. We enroll clients with set mutual expectations, where long-term success is the goal. After all, we’ve been settling debts for clients for fifteen years and have consequently come to understand what sorts of client expectations are reasonable, and which are not. Our goal as a company is to prosper through helping those in debt, ultimately achieving a client base that is fully satisfied with our services. Neither Provanta nor its clients are in the least served by either having false or unreasonable expectations.

If what you’ve heard about debt settlement leads you to believe that it sounds too good to be true, stick around. Or, give us a call anytime for a realistic approach to what could be a valuable experience, so long as you know what really to expect.

Provanta On The Radio

What is Provanta saying on the radio? Take a listen to some of our radio spots currently being aired throughout the country:

Broadcast Radio Spot 1

Broadcast Radio Spot 2