With a financial industry background spanning nearly 20 years, Union, New Jersey-based Syd Financial wants to empower cash-strapped consumers with information and options before considering other financially-devastating options, such as bankruptcy.

With offices in cities including Miami and Atlanta, I asked senior vice president Jordan Rolband about some misconceptions about the Debt Settlement industry and was pleasantly surprised with what I heard.

Having come directly from the mortgage industry as an officer of a firm producing over $40 million monthly at its peak, Rolband reveals he isn’t too surprised at the financial calamity we currently face.  Beginning in 2006, Rolband explained that banks which once adhered to regimented, strict mortgage underwriting criteria all of the sudden began to add products that – like their sub-prime-based competitors – no longer required  a down payment, verifiable employment and income, minimum credit thresholds and at least 5% in the form of a down payment.  Many of those same once-vanilla banks also began to offer exotic mortgage products that did not require even the full interest payments monthly, and the bulk of those loans were not held by the institutions making them, adding to the risk-taking fervor creating the financial crisis we face currently.

In asking about some of the misconceptions of the industry, Rolband was quick to address widely held sentiments that aren’t aligned with what he sees daily.  “Maybe the subprime crisis is over, but we still have 5/1 ARMs that were issued in 2006 which won’t adjust until 2011.  When they do adjust, borrowers will be looking at interest rates that could well be % higher than what they were accustomed to paying.  Given that most of them are upside down in their loans, they won’t be able to refinance, which creates a frightening new house-of-cards!”

Asking about clarification on statistics widely quoted in the media, he was also quick to dispel some of those inaccuracies as well.  “You’ll often read that the average household has $8000.00 in credit card debt, but our average client comes to us with over $38,000.00 in credit card debt.  While we are obviously dealing with a narrower base that is inherently more cash-strapped than the average U.S. household, the official unemployment rate is just under 10%, and between newly unemployed individuals coupled with mortgage interest rate resets, I expect that $38,000 figure to vault still higher.”

Questioned about his perceptions of the future of the Debt Settlement industry, Rolband was less eager to volunteer too many specifics.  “In early December, the FTC is going to have their third series of round table discussions focusing on protecting consumers in the area of debt collection, litigation and arbitration.  After the round table is held, I’ll be in a better position to forecast what I would reasonably expect in the way of trends and options going forward,” stated Rolband.  “The FTC is clearly motivated to arrive at standardization and uniformity within the industry, and I support those efforts.”

Responding to my request to offer final sentiments that convey what the industry offers and how it might be something you or a family member want to consider, Rolband simply stated “Debt Settlement is certainly not for everyone.  Just because you have a lot of debt doesn’t mean that you should be speaking to people within my firm.  But Debt Settlement is certainly something those facing a job loss, a severe and costly medical condition or a variety of other reasons that make it virtually impossible for them to pay back a debt.  In those cases, we want consumers to know we are here and happy to hold their hands every step of the way.”