The Ohio Senate Financial Institutions Committee is currently reviewing Senate Bill 226, which would allow debt settlement companies to remove fee caps on “debt adjusting.” The Consumer Federation of America believes that such a change would not be in the consumers’ best interest. While debt settlement companies claim to offer substantial reductions in a consumer’s debt load, they also require consumers to default on all of these debts, resulting in a cascade of problems such as late fees and penalties, debt collection ending in lawsuits and wage garnishment, and far lower credit scores guaranteeing high rates on future loans.