Complaint Review: Jefferson Capital Systems LLC - EMBLEM Fresh Start Solution Program

I'm very sorry to hear you fell for this scam. I do hope it will cause you to be more skeptical in the future.
First of all any company that is threatening legal action for unpaid debts while at the same time offering you a new credit card is absolutely a scam.

I also recieved a letter from Jefferson Capital threatening legal action unless I signed up for their credit card to pay off an old debt. Only problem was the debt had been paid in full and closed five years ago.

Since you have already accepted this offer and been involved in it for some time your options are limited. You can start with pulling up your credit report for free at www.annualcreditreport.com. That will give you a list of all the debts you owe and to what companies. Contact these companies directly and explain your situation and tell them you would like to set up a payment plan with either them or an affliate who has nothing to do with Jefferson Capital.

Cancel your card with Jefferson Capital immediately. Yes it will hurt your credit but I think it will be much better for you in the long run. If they try to threaten you with legal action remember, NO company can ever force you to sign up for and/or keep a credit card just to pay off old debts. Just tell them that they misrepresented themselves and you will be making your own arrangements to pay off these debts through a different organization. If they still refuse, threaten them with legal action yourself.

You can then file claims with the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) and the Federal Trades Commission (www.ftc.gov). The FTC already has a suit filed against Jefferson Capital for "Deceptive Credit Card Marketing." While filing with the FTC will not help your credit or get you your money back they will continue to investigate and hopefully prevent anybody else from falling for this scam. The BBB does allow you to seek damages against the company you are filing a claim against. I would strongly suggest only seeking the amount of money you have already sent them and the ability to pay your debts through another company which is absolutely your right.

Lastly, you are not a stupid person for falling for this. You were just naive and believed this company at face value. You are also not a bad person for having unpaid debts. This happens to so many people. Things get tough, it's hard to make payments and sometimes it comes down to either paying your credit debts or buying food. While companies can get bailed out, we as citizens can't. Don't let yourself be discouraged, just stand your ground and get out of this mess and then set up a payment plan with another company to pay these debts. Do NOT under any circumstance open more credit cards. Your number one concern should be getting out of debt.

Hey Guy , I hear what you are saying about not being able to trust anyone and understanding how the credit game. What I did is educated myself on this whole mess. You see most of us aren't playing by the rules of Credit. It's a shame that we have to resort to people like Jefferson Capital to intervene in our credit problems and offer solutions. I have been contacted by them and accepted their offer as well and it worked out pretty well BUT only after I understood what it was that they were trying to do and how the credit game is being played.

First off you need to have self control over your finances, don't live up to your total income. Live off of 70% of your income and invest and save the rest in stocks, commodities, CD's and PAST DEBT. This extra money of course should be used for your retirement and your fun living expenses, not all of it but about 5%, a fellas gotta live. Believe me I didn't use to live like this, I was always at the mercy of whoever whenever I spent all of my money and got into debt trouble with horrible credit. Believe me this is to your advantage and to your well being for your stay on planet Earth.

Second, when dealing with the credit game this is the real deal of how creditors give you credit and how they look at you. If you have on your credit report 3 Revolving accounts and at least 1 paid Installment account in good standing and not using more than 30% utilization rate ( Ex: $1000 Credit Limit - Don't ever go over $300 on that card, if you can keep it lower like to 10$ that is even better) on your Revolving Accounts (Credit Cards) You are considered to be responsible to repay your debt and any other creditors looking at you will want to extend you credit. This is a formula that they use on your FICO credit score. They like to see a mix of Revolving, Installment, and Real Estate.

You can do this right now if you have horrible credit. just find the cards for BAD Credit, pay the participation fee, program fee, whatever and start from that point on to get credit increases by paying on time. If you have student loans, or a car payment , start paying those on time, believe me your credit rating will increase within 30 to 90 days by at least 60-80pts. Mine did. It is a whole other world when credits are chasing you down and trying to offer you deals with the best interest rates.

I went through this whole process in about 9 months and believe me its better to start paying your bills on time and establishing new credit then sitting there letting your problems pile on top of each other. If you have bad debt on your credit of which I am sure you do, only the ones that are 2 years or newer really affect your credit the most. Go pull your credit report and see which ones are going to roll off of your credit because of sol (statue of limitations) and start trying to work with your creditors with those ones that are 2 years or newer on your credit. What I mean is try and negotiate with them. Get a course on credit repair if you have to to learn how to do this. Information is KING!!!

What you can do is Negotiate for a Letter of Deletion with your creditors NOT a Letter Of Payment if you pay off a certain amount if your debt is gone to a collection agency already, those criminals are glad just to get .20cent on the dollar of the original debt. Just negotiate and let them know what you can do and no more all your doing is negotiating for a Letter of Deletion in exchange for a payment and it will usually take about 30 days to get it off of your credit. Do all dealings while doing this with Certified Mail , Return Receipt. This is your proof that you did in fact contact the company and if they reply and want to negotiate then deal. If they wanna play hard ball what you do is get them to verify and validate the information using the same process. If they don't in 30 days verify your so called debt, then send your a letter to the Credit Bureaus with your Certified Return Receipt as proof then the credit Bureaus have to remove it by law. If you want more in detailed information or anyone wants more info on how this credit game is played email me at branman055@yahoo.com thank and good luck in understanding this vicious cycle.

About a year ago we had jefferson capital contact us about a bill we had. We paid it off and get signed up with emblem to help fix our credit. The last 3mos with a credit limit has been great.
As with all credit cards, be wise. Any credit card should only be used as an emergency not a life style, cash is best. So if not having something is not going to kill you, don't get it till you have CASH IN FIST. Any credit card can be a blessing or they can be a curse. USE WISDOM WHEN USING A CREDIT CARD.

"I signed up for it and started making payments. I bragged about this great opportunity to a friend. He assured me it was a scam. I have checked it out. He is right. There are at least three different addresses to two separate companies and 3 separate States. No email. No website. No direct contact to anyone other than 'billing'."

The only thing you stated that sounds like something that would anger me is that there is no direct contact to anyone other than billing. I don't feel as though this is evidence of a scam, nor is anything else you have stated.

Three different addresses: try to find as many separate addresses as you can for all the Citi companies. I'll bet you come up with at least 100, and that's not including branch offices. Beyond that, maybe they have more than one location.

Two separate companies: again, not suggestive of a scam. I'll use the "Citi" example again. Even as all of the Citi companies are basically a part of the same company, I can think of at least four separate names they use. If there are two separate companies, then there are two separate companies. Do you get mad at McDonald's because there's a Burger King across the street?

Three separate states: how many different states have at least one Wal Mart? Again, how far fetched a notion is it that they have more than one location?

No email: Try this one, I found it in about 30 seconds: clientservices@mn.compucredit.com. And guess where I found this email . . .

No website: other than jeffersoncapitalsystemsllc.com, of course, which happens to be the first Google hit for the company you're complaining about.

No direct contact to anyone other than "billing": again, I don't like this one either. But at least you have a direct contact to someone and, as it seems like your entire business relationship with this company is BILLING, what's the problem? If you need to speak with someone other than billling, can you at least call the billing depatment and hav them transfer you?

But here's the big truth: debt consolidation plans are only successful wbout 10% of the time. Generally, people who enter into these programs are those that either couldn't or wouldn't pay their bills. So how is it expected that a modified debt repayment plan will work any better?

Likewise, with Chapter 13, the success rate is only about 15%. The remaining 85% of cases are either dismissed or converted to a Chapter 7. Of course there are several other factors to consider but, if you were to the point that you were "overwhelmed with debt," Chapter 7 probably was (and is) your best option.

Consult with a bankruptcy attorney for another perspective on how to deal with your debts. I know alot of people worry about the effect a Chapter 7 will have on their credit. The truth is that, by the time someone is even contemplating Chapter 7, it's probably their best option. And most bankruptcy attorneys will give a free consultation (but make sure the "free consultation" isn't merely a explanation of the different chapters of the bankruptcy code - go to someone who will actually ADVISE you for free).

Best regards!