I’m not even sure if a site policy, disclaimer or terms is necessary for this site so I’m not doing any real legal speak here. But the use of the site by all is under the terms below.

Why There Are Ads

Since this site does not charge users or visitors any fee, nor sell any products or services the reality is that any income this site derives from advertising helps to pay for the reporting, research, and journalistic work we do, just as any newspaper, magazine, news operation, television channel, radio station, or publication is supported by advertising revenue. It is because of the ads that this site can do all the good work it does.

Our work is not paid for by consumers or by creditors as credit counseling is, and we sell no services as debt relief companies do, there are no products to buy and we don’t even solicit contributions to help fund our work.

Information About Advertisements

Site visitors should exercise the same level of caution when selecting a merchant or provider from links or advertisements on this site as they would if they found the link elsewhere. The fact that an ad appears and is linked is NOT an endorsement from this site.

• Google Ads – I have no input or control over what ads appear. Different ads may appear based on where you are surfing from or some other factor Google uses to determine ads. The ads are automatically generated by Google using some magic mojo but the ads are typically contextual, meaning that they are displayed by Google using the content of the page as a clue about what to display. It is doubtful the ads on this site will be for playground equipment, purple puppies, or evening wear. It is very possible it will be about something credit or debt related since the ads are picked contextually and that’s what I write about.

  And not every ad that appears is for some debt related service. Here is an example below.

  

  Some people have made the claim that my writing is in an effort to display certain ads on the site for people to click on. That’s simply not true and does not make logical sense. If I write about my concerns about pink elephants, for example, and ads related to pink elephants appear on the page, it is not reasonable to assume that readers will then in turn click on an ad for pink elephants when I just warned them about those darn pink elephants. Ultimately I have no clue who clicks or does not click on an ad.

  Here is what happens with the Google ads when we write about coupons. You can see how they are contextually based.

  

  The Google ads appear the same way on this site as they do on other media sites like the Washington Post and the New York Times, for example.

      

  The ads are also great research for me and help me to spot new entities that make interesting or odd claims and that need my attention. I find them very helpful for research of new investigations and articles.

  Another statement that has been made is that I could go in and block “bad” companies from advertising on this site. The reality is it would be a nightmare to be able to proactively discover all the bad actors in the world and then police filters to block them. It’s a logistical nightmare. So I don’t do that, as the Washington Post and New York Times don’t do. I follow the standard practice for media outlets.

• Inline Links – These links will take visitors to on site additional information or off the site to entities that provide the corresponding service. For example, a link on the phrase “credit report” will take visitors to a credit report provider. A link to “debt snowball” will take visitors to a site page that describes the process of reducing debt using the debt snowball approach. These relationships and pages change as needed.
• BuySellAds – I’m testing out a new self-filled ad banner network called BuySellAds where people can purchase ads on the site directly.
• Neighborhood.GetOutOfDebt.org – This site does have a relationship with local directories to syndicate articles from this site. Those local pages may display advertisements. Those ads are not controlled by GetOutOfDebt.org. This is a service that is used by other financial publications and sites like Kiplinger, Retirement Advice, or Healthy Women.

Information About Referrals

I am currently sending credit counseling requests to Cambridge Credit Counseling. Not only have I personally checked them out and visited their facility but they have proven to me over time they are good folks. They do give me some compensation each month to help support the work of this site but do not pay me for leads or sending people to them.

When people complete a request to find a local bankruptcy attorney I receive some compensation from an attorney advertising service, totalbankruptcy.com, but I have no hand in who the person is referred to. I’ve been very impressed that people have said they have received a call from a bankruptcy attorney in as little as fifteen minutes after completing the request form.

I also receive income from referrals to Lending Club but I use the compensation I receive to help fund requests for debt consolidation loans so essentially I recycle that income to help others.

I refer people to Damon Day for personal individual counseling sessions to help them develop a game plan to dealing with their debt if they want to talk to someone individually. I do not receive any income from those referrals.

GetOutOfDebt.org Community Guidelines

Like many other online communities, the Get Out Of Debt Community operates under a strict core set of principles that must be followed by all members.

We will not tolerate:

• Pornography or sexually explicit content.

• The endorsement of illegal activity and practices.
• Plagiarism. It is not acceptable to take another’s work or words as your own. Give credit to your sources.
• Abuse. While we encourage and promote free speech and everyone’s right to express themselves even in an unpopular view point we do not tolerate hate speech and abuse. This includes, race, ethnicity,
  gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age or veteran status.

• Predatory behavior (stalking, threats, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing another member’s personal information and invoking others to commit violent acts
• Scams and Spam. If you become a member to spam and scam other members action will be taken immediately (Spam in canned meat form is okay).

We have formed this GetOutOfDebt Community as a safe place for members to commune and discuss debt and financial issues. While we do not edit member content posted within the community we may, using our sole discretion, take action to the lengths of termination without notice against any members who posts or engages in activity that violates the above principles or otherwise objectionable.

We hope you will enjoy to community and use it for it’s proper purpose: to share, express, learn and help oneself and others.

Information About Relationships

This site also has a relationship with a group of debt relief companies that have been found to comply with a rigorous set of standards and have pledged to put the consumer first. This group, AACC, provides some underlying support for this site to continue our work but this group does not receive leads from this site.

Our reporting is not swayed by this relationship and the group has been placed on notice that their kind support of this site does not influence this site in the work that it does.

You Can Use Content From The Site
If I have published something of interest to your readers, I encourage you to quote a small part of my content and require that you link back to the original story on the site from where you use it. You will need to maintain any links from the excerpted content you use. Regular reposting of my content, such as scraping, or essentially reposting my RSS feed will result in a DMCA complaint. I wish it did not have to be that way but so much content has been copied off the site.

Your Privacy
I don’t give people access to the email address you might provide me without your permission. If you have asked one of the site experts a question then your question will be forwarded to them and they will see your email address. When you submit a question through the site your email address will be automatically added to our daily email list so we can keep you posted of important debt relief issues. You may unsubscribe at any time with just one click. This site may track the IP address of visitors and it is possible that a cookie may be written to your computer to keep you logged in to the forum or comments, for example. I will comply with any legal request for visitor information if required to do so.

I Am Not a Lawyer
I am not a lawyer, accountant, tax adviser, and anything else like that. While some material may contain legal information it is specifically not legal advice. Any advice that I might give that you might think might fall into any of those buckets is accidental and unintended. If you need legal advice or assurances the advice given applies to a specific situation you should personally contact an attorney who is licensed to practice law in your state.

The Limit of The Advice I Give
Let’s look at the situation for a moment, I answer debt questions and I do it solely based on the information that I have been provided by the person asking the question, which is most often, limited. It would be impossible to give really detailed and specific advice without having more information at hand. The advice that I give is “as is”, if you want specific and personalized advice I would urge you to speak with a bankruptcy attorney, accountant, debt management company, debt settlement company, debt coach or someone else that I may have forgotten to mention. The advice given does not come with a warranty. It’s your job to evaluate the advice given and application of the advice.

My Opinion
Most of the content on the site in reviews or articles that I write is either sourced facts and/or my opinion about whatever subject I am writing about. I’m entitled to have an opinion and share it with readers.

Comments, Questions, Forum Posts and Advice From Others
Other people, unknown to me, may offer advice and suggestions via the comment section of the site or forum. All that advice is “as is” and I have nothing to do with it. If you elect to follow it, that is up to you. User Content does not reflect my views and I do not assume any responsibility or liability for any user content, questions, comments or forum posts or for any claims, damages, or losses resulting from any use of the Site or the materials contained therein. Comments, questions, and forum posts may be edited or deleted if necessary. Commenters may be blocked or deleted at will by this site. If you have a concern over a comment posted you can flag it for moderation and it will be reviewed. Comments are not moderated in advance. If legal action is taken against a comment made by you, you will be responsible for defending your statements made.

What To Do If You Find The Information On This Site Helpful
If you want to help me, help others, the best thing you can do is tell others about this site. You can do that by submitting the site or article URL to places like Digg, Stumble Upon, Slashdot, etc. Feel free to talk about this site on any forum or place on the web where people might be that I could help with my free advice. Here is a quick list of six free ways you can help.

I’m Just Trying To Do a Good Thing
If you have an issue or problem with any advice that I’ve given, please post it in the comments for that question. There are always alternative points of view and it is helpful for everybody to discuss them. I am not a debt God, although I have played one on the television show “Starting Over.” I am fallible as everyone is. Most importantly, advice and options change over time but I just can’t go back and edit all past questions with new information. If you don’t like the advice or opinions I offer your sole remedy is to not use the site.

What I Don’t Do

I do not provide any services directly to individual consumers through private coaching, consultations or any paid services. I do not sell any products I or others create and I don’t charge for the general help I give others and I do not charge for investigate reports and research I do.

What Happens When You Email Me

When you email using the email address below I will use your first name from your email as the name on my answer or post. I will never revel your email address or release it to any other party without your permission. Your email address is totally safe with me. I hate spam as much as you do.

If I’m falling behind in my queue of questions I may post your question in the forum section of the site so you can get an answer as quickly as possible.

If I post it to the forum you will be notified of any response and if you lose the assigned password you will have to request a new password from the forum to access the forum as a posting member. You can request a new forum password by clicking here.

I reserve the right to post any question or information publicly on the site from any email address sent to me or via an online submission form.

Let’s Talk About Submitted Questions, Posts and Comments in General

When people submit questions for free help, myself and others take time to answer them and provide advice. Once a question, comment or forum post is published on the site becomes the property of the site to do with it as is needed. If the item is a question you submitted and it has been answered it most likely remain otherwise the time and energy to respond to the question or post would have been wasted and that’s just not fair to me and others that have participated or who can learn from the question and answer. It’s a moot point at that time anyway since once content appears on the site other sites can pick it up and it may have been published elsewhere already and I have no control over the syndicated content that then appears on other sites.

Some submitted questions may be posted by this site as comments on the site if they relate to a question or article already posted.

Bottom line, if you don’t want your question or comment to appear on the site, don’t submit it.

I Tried to Avoid it but Now for Some Legal Language

These Terms shall be governed by, construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina, as they are applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within North Carolina. This site is owned and managed by the for-profit Myvesta Foundation. As employees of the Myvesta Foundation the work of writers Steve Rhode and Amanda Miller on the site is by and on behalf of the Myvesta Foundation, a Delaware corporation. Any action you, any third party or I may bring to enforce these Terms of Use or, in connection with any matters related to the Site shall be brought only in either the State or Federal Courts located in Raleigh, North Carolina, and you expressly consent to the jurisdiction of said courts. If any provision of these Terms of Use shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable for this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. This is the entire agreement between the parties relating to the matters contained herein.

THIS SITE, THE MYVESTA FOUNDATION AND STEVE RHODE (“GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG”) SHALL IN NO EVENT BE RESPONSIBLE TO, OR LIABLE TO, YOU, OR ANY THIRD PARTY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT, REVENUE OR BUSINESS, AS A DIRECT OR INDIRECT RESULT OF: (I) YOUR BREACH OR VIOLATION OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT; (II) YOUR ACCESS AND USE OF GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG; (III) YOUR DELAY IN ACCESSING OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG FOR ANY REASON; (IV) YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY OF THE CONTENT OR THE COLLECTIVE WORK FOR YOUR USE; (V) YOUR RELIANCE UPON OR USE OF THE CONTENT OR THE COLLECTIVE WORK, OR (VI) ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG, WHETHER RESULTING IN WHOLE OR IN PART, FROM BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTUOUS BEHAVIOR, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAD BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. THE LIABILITY AND THE LIABILITY OF ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED $100.

YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG NOT BE LIABLE FOR USER GENERATED CONTENT OR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY, AND THAT THE RISK OF HARM OR DAMAGE FROM SUCH USER GENERATED CONTENT AND THIRD-PARTY CONDUCT RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.

YOU AND WE AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO GETOUTOFDEBT.ORG MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Why I Do Not Alter Past Stories

I’m sometimes asked by people or companies I’ve previously written about to change a past story. I don’t do that. If the entity has recognized they needed to alter or address an issue, then removing the past story does not help to reinforce they’ve taken positive steps to better serve consumers. That makes for a much more beneficial and positive story for the entity in question.

I read the following passage from the Detroit News newspaper where they addressed a similar issue.

Once the review was published we should have maintained the wording in all our formats and avoided any sense that we were acting at the influence of any interest aside from our readers’ interest.

Why is that so important? The credibility of our journalism is our calling card to your doorstep and your digital screen. We simply cannot act at any behest but yours and we must avoid any appearance to the contrary.

It is a fact of life that our reviews will sometimes ruffle commercial feathers. For example, in our On Screen section Friday, one of our movie reviews appeared under the headline, “‘Kaboom’ is incompetent, absurd.” Whether we are reviewing a movie or a new Thai restaurant or a $90,000 sportster, our readers must be certain they have the author’s unvarnished opinion, free of any commercial or outside consideration – Source

If You Are Pissed Off at Me Because of This Site

It is not my intention but sometimes I actually accidentally piss some people off because of something I’ve written on this site. Typically it is companies I’ve written about that don’t like the information I’ve presented and they want me to remove my article, post, or opinion so as not to inform consumers.

It is always my intention to write articles and posts factually and without error. If you feel I got something wrong in my reporting, just let me know in the comments to that post and I’ll review the information again and if I got something factually wrong I’ll gladly correct it.

There is a right way and wrong way to respond.

• The Wrong Way to Respond

  When you respond in the wrong way with attacks and flames it only makes you look worse and convinces people you have something to hide or deflect.

• The Right Way to Respond

  I encourage anyone that may disagree with something I’ve written to post their point of view or opinion in the comments to that post. An exchange of ideas is always beneficial and while I may see something as red, someone else might see it as green. Let’s talk about it.

  The best way for someone to respond is to state which facts were incorrect and why in a conversational tone so we can discuss it openly and transparently.

But Steve, You Got Something Wrong About Me/Us in an Article You Published

I always strive for accuracy but sometimes I may accidentally get something wrong. We are all human. If I did get something wrong it was not intentional or malicious. It was an error. If you spot something I may have accidentally got wrong I encourage you to speak up and leave a comment on the article in question and point out what is incorrect. If it is a factual item then leave a URL where I can verify the information you claim supports the correction.

Threatening Me Doesn’t Work

Some people try to intimidate me by threatening lawsuits or sternly worded letters from attorneys in an effort to scare me into removing posts. Those efforts have the opposite effect on me and typically lead me to spend more time further investigating what I originally wrote about. It’s actually coincidental, I find myself refocusing on the subject when I have to go back and review the original post in dispute.

If you still want to take a run at me legally, send me a nastygram or a cease and desist letter, then you should contact the lawyer for myself, my company and this site, Chris Livingston. Mr. Livingston is a tough consumer advocacy attorney that aggressively represents me. Chris Livingston Esq., 2154 Dowd Dairy Road, White Oak NC 28399, 910 866 4948. And if you’d like to find out what his favorite ammo or weapons are, you can visit his site. Mr. Livingston is exactly what every liberal consumer advocate writer needs; a tough, gun toting, in your face, take no prisoners, lawyer.

My Debt Relief Company and Site Review Policy

From time-to-time I may write about a specific company or review a debt relief web site. It is important to put those reviews or writings about another website into context.

The purpose of the GetOutOfDebt.org site is to educate and help consumers who are facing a credit, debt or financial situation.

From time-to-time I do write about or write reviews about companies and/or sites, primarily in the debt relief world. So I wanted to help explain my policy and approach in reviewing sites or companies. in fact you may be reading this now because I wrote a review about your company.

I have no vendetta against any single person or company. The reviews or articles I write are not the result of me hunting down a company or targeting a particular company. They are the result of a question from a reader or information in a story or press release the company itself sent out that I saw and it piqued my curiosity.

We need to start with the same understanding, that consumers in financial trouble create for themselves a disadvantaged class of people that need information in order to be able to make good decisions to find an appropriate remedy to their situation. All good companies would agree it is a good thing for consumers to make informed decisions. As Sy Syms always said, “An educated consumer is our best customer.”

Information presented in my articles and reviews is for the most part the result of online research, my opinion and public information that I feel is important for readers to know. From time-to-time I receive emails sent to tips@getoutofdebt.org and from tipsters and people with inside knowledge about a particular company. Much of that information I never publish.

The information in the reviews comes from public information that exists already about companies that people can find by searching online.

This site works best when two sides of an issue can be presented and the reader can read both sides and make up their own mind. This goes for reviews and articles about companies as well. I always welcome the company I may have written about to post a response in the comments of that article so any reader can read it.