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Jacksonville,#2Consumer Suggestion
Thu, October 18, 2007
I am by *ALL* means not taking up for hargrave. In fact about 5% of our clientell are people who were with them and did not get anything done. I am just here to offer you some FREE advise on what you need to do.
I would first state that you need to go to Ken Amaro, he loves busting bad credit repair agencies and actually, he doesn't even require proof. There was one complaint about our company that went to him and they just bulldozed us right over even though the person complaining about nothing happening to her account even though her account was suspended with us due to non payment. They still aired it and even mentioned she did not pay. I wish the owner of the company would have sued the news station but that would be like taking down a lion with a toothpick.
I would go in the office ( when I know it is the busiest) and I would start demanding answers. This should usually work, if you do not get a refund within 30 days (and that is a LONG time to process a refund, most of these types of companies dont even have a "refund department" and that is if you deserve a refund based on their the refund policy that you signed with them) I would contact the BBB and the state attorneys office and turn them in for fraud. They are not totally DEBT REGULATION they are also a CREDIT REPAIR COMPANY, i think this should fall under a different heading
But, ( and there is always a but) You need to go over your contract that you signed with them. What does the refund policy state. Ours is VERY descriptive but some are not so much and I don't know what Hargraves is. If you do not have your contract, they better. Once again, I do not know 100% if it is illegal but if you get in a legally binding contract with a company I think they still need to have you sign it and have it on file, and I think you are allowed to see your file anytime you please. If they do not give it to you, report that as well as an added bonus.
This is, even if you signed a contract. If you did not sign a contract then I honestly do not know what you can do. Florida law is that you legally have 3 business days from date of SIGNING the contract to back out without any repercussions what so ever. Although, most legitimate companies give you more. however, if you blindly sent them money with no contract then I think you really are in a boat with no oars. ( I sincerely hope this is not the case)
Now, since Hargrave was obviously no help at all to you, let me tell you some things that YOU can do for YOURSELF to get your score up.
First things first, got credit cards? NEVER PAY THEM LATE. Also, call them and ask them to hike your limit and lower your interest rate. Once they hike your limit do not and I repeat DO NOT spend more than HALF the limit. So lets say you have a card for 500 dollars with an interest rate of 10% DON'T spent 249.99 and have the interest pop on next month and take it over the 500 mark. This is called OVERSPENDING and it really starts to mess with your debt to income ratio. The safe thing to do is NEVER go over 1/3 of your limit, this gives you a buffer from the interest and also annual fees if you have them.
If you are an authorized user on a credit card, have that user call and ask that a NEW card get opened in YOUR name. Take precautionary measures stated above.
If your credit is so bad you cannot get a regular ( visa, master, American express) credit card. Go to a department store. They will usually give anyone a card as long as they have had some sort of good account open on their credit. Granted, the reason they do this is to make A LOT of money off of you, so expect to pay upwards of 18 - 25% interest on these cards, still stay with the rules above.
If you cannot even get a department store credit card, you need to talk to a rep. at your bank. Make them tell you about a secured credit card. What this is, is a card that has a limit of usually 250 dollars and upwards. The reason it is secured is because they will lock that amount of money up for you and you cannot touch it. However, you will still have to use the card like a regular revolving credit card, the money that is locked cannot be touched to pay the bill. Depending on the bank and the card they keep it secured for 6 months to a year and then they give you a real revolving card.
Do not just cancel services with a company and not pay them because you did not like the way they treated you. ( first try to get a district managers number of the company and speak to them, I have found they are much more helpful than the floor managers in the call centers) Most utility companies like Comcast are notorious for putting the same collection account on a credit report more than once. Same goes for Gyms if you have a family plan, sometimes they will break up the amount owed and put it on your credit multiple times with different account numbers.
If you do get a collection letter from an original creditor ( what this means is someone like JEA, not someone that JEA sold your debt to like MAF collections) PAY IT even if it takes a payment plan. Actual collection companies like MAF or Asset Acceptance have no integrity. What I mean by this is they will set up a payment plan with you, you will stick to it, and in the middle they will sell this debt and you will have made no headway. Also, when things get sold to a collection company they will add their own collection fees and interest on top of what you already owed. Collection agencies can sell a debt to a new agency at anytime. What this means for you is, sure MAF has been on your report for 6 years and 11 months and you know that they are not legally allowed to report it for more than 7 years. All MAF will do is sell it to a NEW collection agency who will add their OWN fees on top of it. I have seen a little 60 dollar medical bill go to a full blown 2,000 dollar debt with a collection agency because it has been bought and sold so much.
since you are having problems with a debt with an actual collector, make sure you paid in certified funds that can be proven, that way if they DO sell the debt you can prove you did pay. Also have a CONTRACT with the debt collector stating that as long as you are making payments and you are making them on time they are not allowed to sign off a profit and loss and sell the debt. Do ANY and EVERYTHING you can do to make sure that they do not rip you off.
DO NOT PAY ANYONE TO DO DEBT HELP. The credit repair business I work with charges like this, lets say the debt is 1,000 dollars, you give us 70%, in this case 700, we then talk to the creditor. Lets say the creditor settles for $500.00. That means that $200.00 is left over, we take half , $100.00 as a fee and the other half gets refunded to you. that means you saved 40% off the debt, but we tell everyone they can STILL do this BY THEMSELVEs and if you are assertive 9 times out of 10 you can get them to take at LEAST 20% - 60% off the debt.
Another thing to do is wait until christmas or tax time, you will almost ALWAYS get a settlement letter from these collections companies for about 50% off the debt if you settle with them by a cerian amount of time. If I were in the position to pay at least 50% off and have it settled I would preferably do that compared to a payment plan of 100 dollars a month on a 1000 dollar debt.
Side note - never listen when they, being collection agencies or companies that you owe a debt that is on your report say they will " take it off" I do not know if they CAN but i do know they WILL NOT. If they say they WILL, once again, get it in writing, however I do not know how to get it off the report because by a legal standpoint if you send in the letter stating a debt is paid on a collection, you are technicall verifying the debt was yours, hince the reason it was on your report in the first place. If you settle with them for less than the amount owed, that will go in notes on your report and this looks just as bad as the debt itself. If you pay it, it will still show as a paid collection for SEVEN years. however a FULLY paid collection will look better than a settled collection on your report to mortgage brokers.
I hope this helps you out, if you need more help feel free to respond to this with a way to get in contact with you.