Consumer Credit Counseling Service They made a "mistake are very sorry- this has never happened before"! Now, after paying them to help me consolidate my bills, I owe far more than when I began the program! Ocala Florida
I owed credit card debt after myhusband lost his business and wanted to do the "right" thing by paying it off. I joined Consumer Credit Counseling and paid them a fee each month to have my interest rate lowered so that I could pay off what I owed. I paid them for 1 1/2 yrs and then happened to check my credit report.
I was heartbroken to see that on one of the cards - I owed much more than when I started. I called the company and they said Consumer Credit Counseling never obtained a signed agreement from them. All of the money I had paid in- over $1,400 had gone to late fees !!!
Consumer Credit Counseling will not stand behind me- simply says that this has never happened before.
Please know that I also paid them a fee each month to take care of this.
If anyone can help me- please , I dont know how to proceed. I am still amember and am still paying on my other card through this program (and it is working ), but I CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE THIS MONEY AND IT'S JUST NOT FAIR AND JUST NOT RIGHT!!! I went to them for help and they ripped me off.
Robin
Interlachen, Florida
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Nyc People's Lawyer
New York,New York,
U.S.A.
You possibly DO have recourse...
#3Consumer Suggestion
Tue, February 26, 2008
You do have recourse in all likelihood. Look at the actual agreement and all written pieces of paper they sent you. I would venture to say that they told you that they would work with your creditors and they agreed to reduce the interest rate, get late fees reversed, and set you up on a payment plan.
Also check to see if there are any disclaimers in the documents they gave you, such as words where they say it is up to you to check with your creditors or that they can't guarantee that the creditor will agree or that they have to tell you if the creditor does not have to agree or that they have to tell you if the creditor doesn't.
Also, check to see if the payment they quoted you was predicated on all creditors accepting the terms they said to you. If there is anything they said in writing that they were supposed to do and didn't, or represented that the payment quoted assumed accepted by all creditors, then you may have what's called a fraud in the inducement cause of action. However, in this instance, they have to have most likely deliberately mislead you (in other words, the knew the one creditor didn't accept and quoted you the price anyway).
However, you may also have a cause of action for reliance. You relied on what they said (and a court thinks your reliance is "reasonable") and signed the agreement and began making payments based upon your reasonable reliance. In that case, you need to also check at what point the creditor didn't accept, yet CCCS continued to accept your payments without telling you that, in effect, the terms of what you agreed to had changed because you they didn't accept, and you didn't agree to this change of terms.
What's important here is if there is anything in the documents which says it's up to you to check to see if the creditor accepted, then it was it was your responsibility ultimately. There are a million nuances, but, suffice it to say, all is not lost. I'd recommend going to the BBB and filing a complaint, going to the news, the State agency that regulates CCCS. Bottom line...see what your responsibilities were and what theirs were and go from there.
Billcoll01
MESA,Arizona,
U.S.A.
THIS IS NOT UNCOMMON
#3Consumer Comment
Sat, January 26, 2008
WHEN I DID COLLECTIONS, I RARELY CAME ACROSS ONE OF THESE OUTFITS THAT EVEN BOTHERED MAKING ONE PHONE CALL TO THE AGENCIES OR THE CREDITORS! THEY ALMOST ALWAYS WAIT FOR A CALL. IF THAT CALL NEVER COMES, OH WELL THEY HAVE AN IRON CLAD CONTRACT WITH THE CONSUMER WITH NO LIABILITY. LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE LOST YOUR MONEY..SORRY.