Complaint Review: Corporate Turnaround - Paramus New Jersey

     I contacted Coporate Turnaround in late October 2013 when I was having trouble paying my business debt. I was told that they were expert negotiators that could get my business debt settled for a fraction of my balances and "buy me time" and free up my cash flow. The sales person told me that they charge a totla of 2% of what I owe my creditors, plus 30% of the difference between what I owe my creditors and what they settle the debt for. I was told that the settlemennts would be structured over a 5 year period from the time settlement was made with each creditor. They were going to do ACH debits weekly in order to build up a balance in an account they held that was to pay settlements in the future. I t was very important that I build up my account with them so the funds would be ready to make deals with my creditors. They sent out certified letters about a month after my first ACH debit. I told the salesperson that I was not sure I could handle making the required ACH debits to fund my settlement account and specifically asked if I could opt out of their program if I wanted to. She said that I was under no obligation to stay with them, and that all I would have to pay is 2% of what I owed my business creditors for setting up the account and sending out letters and offers. She said that I would be buying time with my creditors since they would contact them and handle all collection calss from my creditors. I wanted to think about it and look into this whole debt consoldation business, but she was very insistant that I sign the contract right away and that I could quit at any time. I had a Merchant Cash Advance that I signed for personally that I was most concerned about and she told me that they had recently negotiated with this exact crreditor for 5% of the total balance owed. This convinced me to sign the contract and start the ACH debits. After a month they had not sent out any letters or even set up my online account to view their progess as was promised.

Finally after calling they assigned me an account representative and told me letters were sent out to my creditors. My creditors continued calling me and stated that they had not been contacted by Corporate Turnaround. I was given access to an online account dashboard but nothing showed up except for the ACH debits for about 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, they listed that they had made offers to my creditors but had not gotten any response. I looked at the offers and they were rediculous, low ball offers that were laughable. After a month of no activity from my creditors and continuous flow of letters and collection calls rom them, I decided to handle this myself. I emailed my account rep and asked to close my account and get a refund for the money that was being held in escrow to pay my creditors. His response was that I actually owed more than the $1820.00 I paid in but he was willing to settle my acccount for that amount and close my account. I was horrified! I asked haow was this so? He said that their fee was 2% of my credtor balances MONTHLY! This is insane! They told me I was buying time with my creditors, but they didn't tell me I was paying them! This has to be ilegal. It is definately unethical and should be looked into by government regulators. I looked on the BBB to see what was there and saw that 6 complaints had been filed but they still have an A+ rating. This company is taking money from hurting businesses and the businessess probably do nt even know what they are actually being charged because of their escrow accounts they set up from the begining. Beware! Beware! Read thecontract carefully, aask lots of questions, record youor phone calls!