Credit Answers LLC, a for-profit debt settlement company that advertises on Fox News' Glenn Beck, is part of an industry engaged in practices described by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as “fraudulent, abusive, and deceptive.”

From a Credit Answers' advertisement:

Credit card companies have been given billions and need to clean their books once and for all, and that's great news for you. ... Don't declare bankruptcy. Give us ten minutes and learn how we have saved our clients millions.

If it sounds too good to be true...

Debt settlement companies exploit consumers desperate to get out of debt, which amounts to, in the words of Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, “kicking people when they are down.” The Baltimore Sun reports that companies typically collect payments from debtors, who believe that when enough money has accumulated the company will persuade their creditors to settle for a lump sum far below the amount of their total debt. In reality, however, the companies don't contact creditors ahead of time, so there's no guarantee that the services the company is selling will ever be delivered -- and often, they're not. A press release from Sen. Charles E. Schumer says the companies “take consumers' money and leave them even deeper in debt. Consumers' credit scores also take a big hit.”

According to GAO, the industry's exploitative tactics include charging fees prior to providing the promised services, which the FTC has deemed “harmful”; advising clients to stop paying creditors, which is damaging to credit scores; and claiming “unusually high” success rates of up to 100%, while investigations have found success rates often below 10%.

Because of increasing numbers of customer complaints and lawsuits, public officials have taken action against the debt settlement industry, with NY Attorney General Anthony Cuomo subpoenaing fourteen debt settlement companies -- including Credit Answers -- as part of an investigation, and Senators Chuck Schumer and Claire McCaskill introducing a bill last month that would crack down on the industry's common methods of exploitation.

According to the Colorado Attorney General, Credit Answers -- based in Texas -- “refunded $82,809 to 27 Colorado consumers and paid $5,000 in investigation costs and penalties. It failed to comply with the law's provisions on program fees, cancellation rights and cautionary disclosures.”

Credit Answers has also been the subject of numerous customer complaints -- earning it an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau of Dallas -- and three lawsuits, according to the court's record (subscription required). All three suits allege that Credit Answers' clients received less than equivalent value in services for the money they paid to Credit Answers, and one additionally accuses Credit Answers of causing the plaintiff to be sued by her creditors and to go bankrupt. Two have been settled out of court, and one, filed in February of this year, is still open.

With most legitimate companies refusing to advertise on his show after Beck called President Obama a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people,” a bevy of shady companies that have been accused of defrauding customers have filled the advertising hole. Credit Answers is among them.