Complaint Review: Consumer Law Associates

    Debt settlement is a process and it is a timely process. I USED to work for this company and even though I left on not so great terms I still believe in what they do. Brenda, "Brown Suga" Gray: if you paid a little over 4k in the first 8 months we can average that if you signed a 36 month contract and you were charged their average of about 10% of the entire debt you enrolled into the program, then this fee of the 10% is spread out over time for YOUR conveinence. I am sure you do not call your car insurance company after 6 months of service and demand your money back because you were not in a wreck. Also, if they charged you 10% of your total debt and you paid that in the first 8 months then we can assume that you have about 40k in total unsecured debt. I would guarantee you did not acquire that amount of debt in 8 months so how or why would you think it would go away in that time frame. Also, yes, the more you have a large home, nice car, nice income and any other thing that you may not have told your consultant about are nice things that the creditors are going to come after. Yes some creditors are going to sue but not all are aggressive and once they are aggressive the services that CLA provides does not charge additional, a CLA licensed attorney in your state would provide verbal consultation and all the legal documentation that you need to file in court. CLA still will try and settle the debt to the best interest of you IF you have been saving according to the schedule they set up for you. The chances of you not having much of a savings at this point is somewhat likely (this is something that I had been working with the company to work on) BUT this needs to be on the shoulders of the consumer who is seeking assistance. If someone fully understands how debt settlement works they would not sign a contract breaking down payments with LITTLE or NO funds  being saved in the beginning, this is just not smart. But, lets be realistic if you are going into a courtroom with an attorney by your side and you are trying to convenience a judge that your circumstances are to harsh and you to broke to pay your creditors but you can afford an attorney to come stand by your side in court HELLO the judge is not an idiot and those attorney's time cost $$$, so there fore if you can get a verbal consultation telling you and advising you along the path and what to be prepared for then you come in looking  like a pre-paired, educated, and some-who-knows-what-they are talking about to a judge he/she would be more likely to listen to you. The thing is these creditors all try to scare consumers on daily basis with "we are going to take you to court" then what... let me tell you - You came to this company CLA stating I owe this debt right? The the creditor is going to take it to a judge, after A LONG TIME (people HAVE to realize the amount of time spent trying to get into court over something like this, and hello time is on your side if you are able to save, I am not an attorney nor do I claim to be but I do know that creditors settle and are willing to settle outside of court, pre court), the judge will eventually find a judgement in favor of the plantiff the creditor, that is because you entered into this contract with this ORIGINAL CREDITOR, so there will then be a court document stating you owe the money. Nothing changed you said you owe the money, now a judge agrees with you, this or that particular account would just need to be moved to the top of your priority list. THEY ARE USING SCARE TACTICS. The more assets you have the more likely the creditor thinks they will get paid by legally attacking you. Doesn't it make sense? If you have 2 friends that owe you money they make the same amount but one just got a mortage on a house, a lexus, and has 2 kids, while the other is a debt free bachelor in his mom's paid for house which one do you think you are more likely to get money from if you pursue?