John Gliha is the founder of Family First Debt Relief and the creator of the  Fresh Start Plan. Gliha’s professional career began in college from a paper he wrote based on his theory that children could learn advanced mathematics at the elementary level if they were provided with the right opportunity. His professor challenged him to prove it. So within a few months he was producing board games and visiting local elementary schools to test out his theories. This was not only consistent with his thesis; it was proven as he watched fourth grade students solving algebraic equations within one hour of instruction. Parents and teachers bought his program faster than he could produce it. After a couple of years, he shelved the endeavor to focus on some of his own personal problems, credit card debt.

This was in the early 1990s, so $20,000 of credit card debt was substantial, especially since this was more than his annual income. He worked for IBM for three years and then Motorola for one before his efforts to resolve his own debt problems turned into something unexpected.

After consulting not only with attorneys and settlement programs, but debt collection managers themselves, Gliha concluded that making no payments until he was financially solvent would best serve his interests. He believed then and still does that serving the interests of himself first better enables him to meet obligations he has to others.

At first he was terrified. He received collection notices in the mail and rude phone calls to try and coerce him into making payment commitments over the phone. But he had his own plan and he was following it. He spent many hours in the law library studying the federal and state laws regarding the collection process and more importantly, what most attorneys never consider advising their clients of, what exactly is at risk if you don’t pay what or when creditors and collectors demand.

He discovered that with all of the legal requirements imposed against the collection process, if they were simply followed, the perception of overwhelming debt collection problems could be diminished to a point where most people would feel comfortable dealing with them.

So he did. He took advantage of every legal requirement imposed against collectors. They had to respond to him in writing, they had to stop calling him at home and at work, and all the while, he knew exactly what he was risking. This was the big secret, in the worst case collection, his usual credit card payments would be cut in half if he were sued and had his paycheck garnished. He didn't’t tell the collectors that he knew this; he simply followed a process that developed as he received each correspondence from collectors.

He was never sued for any collection account, and today he has the use of credit just like before, but pays his balance every month. This real life discovery was so empowering that he began sharing his story with others. At the time, it was not very acceptable to admit having debt problems. Times have certainly changed though. Once he explained his story, others were opened to discussing their own debt problems. He shared his experience and knowledge freely until one day he realized that it was about all he was doing, the phone would not stop ringing (this was a few years before the Internet was popular).

Using his thesis from college about education, he believed that he could successfully share his research with others and help them achieve the same benefits. So in 1998 he decided to compile all of his research into one book and call it “Winning the Collection Game”. Over the years he has substantially expanded the research to a point where it goes into every detail about how your attorney could successfully defend you against a collection lawsuit (if he or she really wanted to).

Since 2002 his research into the monopolistic and unfair collection practices by creditors such as MBNA has helped thousands of unsuspecting people avoid the scheme of binding arbitration. The research and records collected over this three year period are now being used as evidence against eight creditors in an anti-trust lawsuit filed in New York.

In 2004 he teamed up with an attorney to found the Credit Collections Defense Network (CCDN). Instead of offering settlements, attorneys in this network now force creditors to produce evidence that would support their complaints. In many cases, creditors do not even have a signed agreement or proof of damages. If everyone knew this, negotiating settlements as low as 5% or nothing would be accepted practice.