Government Programs for Debt Reduction

There is a common misconception that the federal government sponsors debt elimination, reduction or consolidation programs to relieve individual consumers of personal debt. While there are countless companies that provide debt relief in many forms, the government is not personally involved with these services.

The Misconception

The use of the word government or federal in advertisements for debt reduction programs is becoming increasingly common in the debt relief industry. The use of these words is a form of advertising. Advertising is used to entice consumers into using one service over another. When people hear of government involvement, they often think that companies are legitimate.

What Government Debt Reduction is Not

Government debt reduction is not a social program like public assistance or social security. You cannot apply or qualify for government debt relief assistance. It is not a fee for service company that provides debt relief assistance for a government does not offer programs that specially provide debt relief services.

What the Government Debt Reduction Is

Government debt reduction programs although termed as relief programs, are not the same as traditional forms of debt relief options. It is true that the government does provide assistance that can be used for debt reduction. The government does offer assistance with education, housing, taxes and other incentives that may indirectly decrease personal debt by providing relief in other areas.

The government offers certain forms of assistance for individuals struggling with debt in the following ways:

Government grants that can be applied for and granted based on availability and qualification.
Stimulus programs
Tax deductions
Federal and State incentives. These are typically for
Personal loans
Bankruptcy options


The Truth about Advertising

Advertising is the most common method for people or businesses to inform the public of their services. Debt reduction services are becoming very necessary and very popular given the statistics debt. The market for these types of services has seen a great increase in the last few years. Consumers are looking for a way to relieve themselves of debt that is pushing them closer to bankruptcy. Advertising is the way that debt reduction companies get customers to purchase their services.

A marketing tactic is the way that companies get results from their advertisements. Anyone can use any word they want to describe their services. Many debt relief companies describe themselves as The Best, The Most Effective or the Top Rated. These are simply descriptive statements. A description does not necessarily guarantee that everyone views the company in the way they are using to describe themselves in their advertisement.

Searching in the phone book or online can produce hundreds even thousands of results for government debt assistance. Taking a closer look into the specific advertisements will show that they are not government funded but rather companies that provide services for payment. The ad simply uses the word government in their advertisement.

Individuals looking for relief from debt should be aware of what is real and what is not in terms of services and options for effective debt relief. Although the government can provide needed assistance with debt relief it is often very different from the debt relief services that tailor very specifically to consumer debt.