"Our message is simple," Scott Wilson said Friday. "Aside from loans to send kids to college, a home mortgage or car loans, subsist within your income.
"Live on cash. Don't spend more than you earn. In short, live a credit card free life."
For Wilson and his wife and sister, who are debt counselors in this family business at 29 Soundview Road, their message and methods have not only attracted a current customer load of 236 people, but also gained the recent attention of Katie Couric and the CBS evening news.
"She was interested in doing a piece on people living on cash, without credit cards. And she wanted to find a company in the New York suburbs that specialized in that approach.
"She and her staff Googled the subject and there we were."
A CBS News crew visited one of Debt Elimination Services clients in Madison to see how it was working out. Then they visited Cinderella's Attic, a resale boutique, with the same approach, and also interviewed Wilson.
The piece has not yet aired but Wilson said he expected it would soon.
He paused.
"I started the company with my wife (the couple have three children) because I was deep in debt, was full of stress, and didn't know how to get out.
"I was an entrepreneur running a world-wide food export business, used too much credit and wound up $120,000 in debt.
"I didn't want to declare bankruptcy and confided in a friend who knew something about collection law and taught me about exercising my consumer rights.
"All I did was come up with a method under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that allowed me to get out of debt without filing for bankruptcy."
He would not spell out the method, calling it proprietary. But he asked two simple questions: What is a credit card for? And why buy with credit cards instead of cash?
Once Wilson and his wife - soon joined by Wilson's sister, who is an ordained Unitarian minister dedicated to the service of others -learned how to manage their own money they started Debt Elimination Services and have never looked back.
"We charge a percentage of a person's debt," Wilson said. "And have changed the lives of a lot of people since we started."
For those living under the stress of a huge credit card debt - many who use credit card B to pay installments on credit card A and then credit card C to pay for credit card B until there are no cards and no credit left to use - the Wilson family has sound advice that varies from family to family and person to person. But it basically comes down to this:
‰ Don't buy things you can't afford.
‰ Use self discipline and save for things you want if you can't afford to pay cash for them at a given point in time.
‰ Be aware that credit card interest - sometimes less than 10 percent to lure you in - can and almost certainly will go up in time. Many people wind up paying 23 percent or 30 percent or more before they are through. And paying the minimum monthly charged on a credit card means, even without additional spending, it will take many years to pay it in full.
The Wilsons think the current laws governing credit cards were rammed through by industry lobbyists and are convinced they need overhauling, which Congress is now considering.
"Many of the people who call us are broken," Wilson said, "and are at an emotional bottom."
"Sometimes it is almost like clients are coming to a confessional," Mrs. Wilson said. "They have to share with us some of their deepest, darkest secrets."
The Wilsons have a mixed breed dog named Plogger, who greets you at the door of the 900-square foot office, warmly decorated with the aid of soft looking room dividers, warm lighting and comfortable furnishings
One female client who had been helped by the Wilsons wrote: "Your help has given me a port in the storm relative to my future."
Another wrote: "Thank you for giving us hope for the future (and) a light at the end of a long tunnel."
"People have come to us without hope; sometimes they are even suicidal. We try to give them back the hope they lost," Wilson said.
"Advertising can be insidious when it comes to credit cards," Mrs. Wilson added. "They encourage you to buy, regardless of your income or ability to repay the principle and interest."
The Wilsons also warned that many debt counseling agencies and companies are owned by the very credit card companies they are being hired to negotiate with.
Wilson described how the call came from Couric's producer asking him if he knew anyone who was living on cash only.
"I told him, 'Absolutely. All our clients are advised to stop using unsecured credit and are now living on a cash-only basis.'"
The interview that eventually followed was done by CBS reporter Randall Pinkston.
What was it like to answer Pinkston's questions under intense, bright lights with a large black camera inches away?
"It was a little hard," Wilson said. "You really have to think on your feet. But at the same time, it was rewarding to be able to share my knowledge in these difficult economic times."
He added with a grin: "My wife and sister told me I did a good job."
While their story should air soon, the Wilsons have no idea how it will affect their business.
But their hope is it will lead to more clients.
"Our biggest challenge is getting the word out," Wilson said. "If we get more calls, it just means we'll be able to help more people."
But sitting in the Debt Elimination Services office while petting Plogger as he furiously wags his tail and talking about your own credit card problems, now thankfully past, it becomes clear that what the Wilsons are doing is not about money - though this is how they earn their living - or about self aggrandizement.
It is about three people who understand the trauma and helplessness of being in debt over your head and have both the means and skills not only to help you climb out of it - but to keep you there once you are free.
Robert C. Pollack can be reached at 203-752-2727 or rpollack@ctcentral.com
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