Complaint Review: Harbour Credit Counseling

After hearing about this site and reading the previous comments, I must respond. Harbour Credit is no different than any of the other mention credit counseling agencies. Actually, Harbour services most of the companies accounts mentioned, these are partner agencies. Yes, including First Mutual Financial which is now operating as American Debt Solutions. Harbour will also began servicing The Credit Network accounts in the near future. Harbour operates as a Christian based ministry but will accept accounts from any company willing to pay them, whether for profit or non-profit. I never saw anything from them that suggested their ministry is any different than other credit counseling agencies. Their priority is getting payments from clients. Once a credit card company has agreed to accept payments through Harbour, Harbour receives a certain percentage of each payment as fair share from the creditor. This is how they make money, even under non-profit status and of course with those monthly donations/set-up fees. Although, clients can never seem to reduce or waive these "donations" once they sign the agreement. Harbour is a company that does not value their clients and definitely not their employees. The concerns mentioned in the original report from 10/4/2001 are valid issues that are ongoing problems to this day. However, they are swept under the rug to maintain a certain type of image. Also, employees feedback to management regarding these type of issues are never addressed as valid. With the proper management team, equipment and values this company could be successful. The service dept is trying to do their best to help clients with the limited resources they have and the conditions they must work under. They endure the frustration from clients, the demanding attitudes of the partner agencies and the inadequate, under educated management staff. However, it seems as if the owner Ray Noftsinger, the operations manager and their Human Resources manager are blind to everything brought before them. Employees are not important to them, only client payments. Maybe they will think this is important and take care of their clients and employees. How can this possibly be a ministry??

I have been with Harbour for a little over a year. They are part of a larger network of debt consolidation agencies which transfer accounts as appropriate to satisfy requirements of creditors with whom they negotiate. As a result, my account has been transferred several times over the course of the past four years.

Since Harbour has taken over my account, I have regular statements that tell me when my last payment was made, how it was distributed, and the remaining balance on the accounts according to their records (Harbour recommends you verify account balances with ceridtors directly).

Their customer service department has been proactive and responsive to all my questions and requirements. Any time I have had a question or needed any assistance, they have been very reactive and friendly. My account manager is Shelly. I know her name and she knows mine.

I have not always been the most faithful remitter and have missed a payment here and there, and the company continues to help me maintain the agreements made on my behalf despite my own irresponsibility. As a result, I am now within 6 months of paying off my original debt.

I sincerely regret the previously reported experience that started this whole string of commentary and would like to state that that is completely contrary to everything I have seen of this company. I hope that the person(s) who offered such poor service have long since been let go and that the offended customer has since found a better resource to help solve her financial situation. I do notice that the original posting was three years ago and surmise that things may have changed between then and now.

I continue to find Harbour a reputable and responsive company and would recommend it over any of the others I have previously dealt with, to include Ameridebt, Ameritrust, and First Mutual Financial Services to name a few.

I'm getting set up with Harbor now. They provided the best plan with the lowest out of pocket expense that I could find.

What got my attention from the original complaint is that the first time I called harbor and delt with a representative, he gave me a direct-dial number and his name. I've had to call back once or twice and I've yet to have the same problem as listed above.

I will watch for timely payments now though.
Thanks.

I've been with Harbour for a little over a year. Here is what happened to me. I had several credit card companies to whom I owed money - some of them more reputable than others (according to "Consumer Reports").

I had two cards with a certain company that had received criticism from "Consumer Reports" and two other cards that had not. When I entered debt reduction, the companies that were not negatively mentioned in "Consumer Reports" complied with the debt reduction request by Harbour within a couple of weeks.

The certain company that got a negative report from said publication took over 5 months to adjust my account on the 2 cards I had with them. In the mean time, it charged me "late" and "over limit" charges, and I never got that money credited to me.

The main reason this went on for 5+ months was because it took me that long (for various reasons) to start to examine my credit card statements. Harbour told me in the beginning, in no uncertain terms, that it was important that I do this. And I did not. When I did realize the innapropriate charges, I contacted both Harbour and the credit card company. The problem was resolved very soon after that.

To avoid this dilemma in the future?? Don't expect a debt reduction program to spoon feed you a solution to your financial situation. YOU still have to be involved and pay attention! I've never heard Harbour claim otherwise.

I saw commments regarding company today on this site so I decided to cancel my business dealings with this company, not even had the first payment they still wanted to take my money from me; since i had sign up with them ; they could not even guarantee a week from taking payments that they would hit my account.

thanks for the info on this site; it really opened my eyes to all the rip off out there

I say commments regarding company today on this site so i decided to cancel my business dealings with this company, not even had the first payment they still wanted to take my money from me.

thanks for the info on this site; it really opened my eyes to all the rip off out there

This email is a rebuttal to RipOff #6946.

It was sent by Ray E. Noftsinger at rayn@40debts.com.



Harbour Credit Counseling Debt Free My a*s!! (#6946)



They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:



Their email: rayn@40debts.com

Their name: Ray E. Noftsinger

Their phone number: (757) 340-2564

Their relationship to the company: Owner



Rebuttal:



Harbour Credit Counseling serves over 10,000 families and has operated for 6 years without a single filed complaint.



This hardly meets the definition of "rip-off".



All disputed matters are handled satisfactorily via direct communication and not sheltered slander.



Harbour's payments are always made as stated in the agreement, Client statements are mailed each month to every client whether funds disburse or not.



All clients were notified months ahead of our relocation to larger quarters.



Harbour's call wait and drop rate is less than 2% which is far below the industry average of 10%.



Harbour maintains a file of customer thank you letters.



Any holds on electronic debits are accomplished as long as the client provides adequate notification time as stated in our agreement and provides the correct client identification number.



If there remains ANY serious concern about this bogus report please call us at (800) 4-0 DEBTS or check out our website www.40debts.org



Harbour is the only website in Debt Management that discloses the location and names of executives. We have NOTHING to hide.

Thank You.

----- Original Message -----
From: Ray Noftsinger
To: info@RipOffReport.com
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 7:26 PM
Subject: Harbour Credit Counseling Debt Free My a*s!!

Hello:
I am President of Harbour Credit Counseling Services. The allegations in the report you are posting are totally untrue and unfounded. By allowing this report to remain posted, you are discrediting a true public service organization with the highest quality of service at the lowest cost to the consumer. (review my rebuttal and website)

The rip-offs in this industry were reported in the Business Week 10/29 issue and the Washington Post on Nov. 4th. Those agencies have hundreds of complaints and truly meet the definition of your mission. Harbour does not even come close to being associated with these types of companies.

I am asking you to remove the posting completely immediately to prevent if from appearing on search engines. If you had even one other report in the last 6 years or even one since this posting, you might have identified a problem company. Since it is obvious that Harbour is not a problem company, do the general public a service and remove the posting entirely. Please do the right thing.

If you do not feel it appropriate to remove, then provide me with the author so that I may proceed to take legal action to have the author request you to remove it immediately. This is a textbook case of pure slander.

Thanks,
Ray E. Noftsinger
President
Harbour Credit Management
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EDitor's Comments to the E-mail above:
Dear Ray,

You don't know how glad we are to hear from you. I also would like to give you a word of advice. You really seem a bit more defensive than needed. Why don't you look at the report on your company a bit more objectively.

I am a bit confused about some of your responses which do not appear to respond to the issue, and actually make you look worse. I don't know if you realize it, but these individuals have a customer service issue. By taking a defensive position, you appear not to be willing to listen to their problems, which only strengthens their position. We actually can see why they had a problem; non-responsive, defensive, and unconcerned with the business at hand...helping people.

You know, at first we were worried that we might face some serious legal action, but then we read your statement more closely. It is obvious that you have not sought competent legal counsel. We are not attorneys (yah right, that's a joke), but it is fairly common knowledge that slander involves oral communication and the Internet is classified as written communication; therefore your case would be libel, although not a classic case.

You see Ray, and I want take the opportunity to educate you and all the readers, we face this type of threat daily. There is not a classic case for libel. I would like to warn you that taking on the legal case is a big and costly undertaking. There are many questions you need to answer before you act. One word of caution: the truth is the perfect defense. And when that is declared, the plaintiff goes on trial and then has to prove their innocence, in a way. Also, unless the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution has disappeared, people have the right to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts.

Good luck to you, Ray, but take care of your customers!