I dіd a debt consolidation wіth a company called Freedom Debt Management іn Florida. I dіd thіѕ a lіttlе over a year ago. A whіlе back, I аѕkеd thеm whаt mу balance wаѕ аnd thеу tοld mе $900.00. I wanted tο figure out hοw many months іt wіll take fοr mе tο pay thіѕ οff. I dіd miss a payment wіth thеm thіѕ past August, 2010 due tο thе fact thаt I hаd a dental emergency аnd hаd tο υѕе thе money fοr thаt. In September, 2010 I received a letter stating thаt mу account wаѕ transferred tο another agecy called American Debt Counseling, аlѕο іn Florida. I paid thеm mу payments fοr September аnd October. According tο mу calculations I wаѕ supposed tο bе fіnіѕhеd paying thіѕ οf іn November (thіѕ month). Firstly, I gοt a harrassing creditor calling mе stating thаt thеу dіd nοt receive a payment ѕіnсе September. I tοld thеm thаt American Debt іѕ supposed tο bе paying οff mу account аnd I referred thеm tο American Debt. American Debt now tells mе thаt I owe аbουt 4 more payments. I gοt a copy οf mу original contract аnd іt doesn’t ѕау anywhere hοw much I owe. I hаνе now even overpaid thе total amount thаt I first ѕtаrtеd wіth. Meaning mу total debt wаѕ аbουt $2,000 whеn I first ѕtаrtеd wіth Freedom Debt аnd hаνе paid a few hundred dollars over thаt. I саnnοt even gеt American Debt οn thе phone becuase thеу οnlу work Monday-Friday 9-5 PM аnd I аm аt work аt thаt time. I dο nοt want tο mаkе thеѕе types οf personal calls frοm work. Mу account manager аnѕwеrѕ mе bу email аnd hе insists thаt I owe 4 more months. Iѕ thеrе аnу type οf agency I саn call tο hеlр mе figure thіѕ out? I dіd contact Freedom Debt (thе οld company) аnd thеу ѕаіd thаt I аm a nοt a client anymore. Please hеlр. Thank уου.
Tags: About, companies, Debt, knows, Management
All these companies are there to make thousands off from you.
They don’t work for free.
Most people end the program and wishing they would have just paid the thousands of dollars directly to the credit card companies.
Stop the program today and get a book on Credit and Debt Repair and do it all yourself.
These companies do nothing for you, that you can’t easily do yourself. . .
The reason that you were still receiving calls from creditors is because Debt Management Companies wait until your credit cards go into collections before they start making payments. They do not make payments on your behalf as soon as you start to pay them. Once you are in collections, they try and make a deal with your creditors and give them a lump some. Try to call them on your lunch break or ask to come in an hour late or leave early one day. I would also call the companies I have debt with and see how much I owe them. It may be cheaper to pay them directly.
Sorry to hear your dilema. You are proof of how these companies are not all they claim.
It sounds like the 2nd company is not reliable like the first.
There is no controlling government agency to oversee these folks. So who to call for help.
You can file a complaint with the FTC WWW. FTC. GOV and you can contact the Attorney Generals office in your home state and in Florida.
So now if you don’t continue to pay these people all will be a moot point and you will still be in debt.
You MUST take the time at work and call, tell your super that you need to make a personal business call at your break and if there is a private phone somewhere you can use.
Good Luck
I did a quick google search and both appear to be non-profit credit counseling services. Neither is a NFCC member credit counseling service but both displayed a logo very similar to the NFCC logo which is a red flag to me. And the transfer to the new company is another red flag.
You may want to check all the debts you included in your debt management program to see how much is still owed to each. It could be that some of your creditors got lost in the transfer to the new company. You need to take the initiative to make sure your creditors are still being paid.
If this is a legit debt management plan, you would have a monthyly fee for processing the debt management program coming out out of your payment. You would also still have interest accruing on your debts. If you’ve only paid a couple hundred dollars more than your inital total debt, it is very likely that you still owe.
If you find that your creditors are not being paid, stop sending payments to the counseling company and pay the creditors directly. You might have to hire an attorney to sue to get any money back from the counseling company.
Did they accept money before they did their work? If so, they broke the law. You are not required to pay until AFTER they tell you what they are going to do with your accounts AND inform you of their results. You have to sign a contract before you sign up with them. You are not required to pay them before perform their work. However many of these companies will not do any work until you pay them, there is a law called Credit Repair Organizations Act 15 U. S. C. 1679 (you can search for it on Google) It states that a credit repair agency CANNOT charge a fee in advance which is in section 15 U. S. C. 1679b(b). To summarize that section they must perform services first, per your contract, and then send you the bill AFTER they have performed these services. Section 15 U. S. C. 1679c makes a contract mandatory with them given you the right to cancel the contract. . . if they didn’t comply with these sections the Credit Repair Organizations Act allows you to sue them for damages, costs, and attorney fees.
I would highly suggest reading myfico. com and Rich DiMaggio’s book, Credit Repair: What the Credit Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know (2003). Most of these credit repair agencies don’t do anything different than you can do, they call the creditors/collection agencies to get a settlement/payment plan on your behalf. However, like I said, they will bill you for their services, and they don’t do anything that you couldn’t do yourself for free. So I would highly NOT recommend their services when you could do what they are doing for free.