AMERIDEBT CREDIT COUNSELING FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION

June 9, 2004

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Credit-counseling company AmeriDebt, charged by federal regulators with using deceptive marketing to bilk hundreds of thousands of customers, filed for bankruptcy yesterday, the company announced.

Christine Kraly, a spokeswoman for the Germantown-based company, said the filing for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Greenbelt won’t affect AmeriDebt’s current operations.

The company said payments made by its customers are processed through a separate trust account that won’t be affected by the bankruptcy filing.

Kraly declined to comment further, but in a statement released yesterday, the company said: “AmeriDebt’s first priority is and always has been serving its consumer clients. As such, we recognize that the protections afforded by Chapter 11 are vital for the uninterrupted continuation of these services.”

In November, AmeriDebt became the first credit counseling company to have a federal lawsuit filed against it. Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri are among five states that have filed separate lawsuits against the company.