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  • Report:  #704643

Complaint Review: Preferred Financial Serices (PFS) / Wayne A. Ahlquist Lamont L. Wilson Keith Koltunowicz - Andover, Lawrence, Haverhill Massachusetts

Reported By:
DivineALign - Los Angeles, California, USA
Submitted:
Updated:

Preferred Financial Serices (PFS) / Wayne A. Ahlquist Lamont L. Wilson Keith Koltunowicz
300 Brickstone Square, Ste. 102 Andover, Lawrence, Haverhill, 01810-1492 Massachusetts, United States of America
Phone:
9787222488866992740087750
Web:
www.pfsdebtrelief.com; www.pfsdebtsolutions.com
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
In April of 2010, I unfortunately contacted Preferred Financial Services

(PFS)  to help me get out of credit card debt. At that time, I provided

them with my bank information.  After paying them $2,2I3.52 via

automatic withdrawal, I called and asked them to stop debiting my

account and to refund what I had paid them because no payments had been

made to my credit card companies.  The very rude person I talked to

refused to stop withdrawing funds or to refund what I had already paid

stating that I was  bound in contract.  (I never signed anything.) I

changed bank accounts in order to stop the payments and wish I had done

that sooner considering how easy it was. 

 I was not informed upfront (A lie of omission) that PFS would be collecting their own hefty fee in full before

any funds would be paid to my creditors.  Needless to say, this created

even greater financial hardship as my unpaid debts grew with interest

while PFS's accounts grew richer. Who would've thought that via

participation in a debt consolidation program that one's debts would

become delinquent and susceptible to negative credit report ratings? 

Being unemployed,  I was unable to pay both PFS and my creditors

concurrently. After all, I contacted them because of financial hardship

not because I wanted to take on another bill (@ $368.12/mo.).

My credit card companies hounded me incessantly due to lack of payment

and threatened to sue me despite repeatedly informing them of my

enrollment in PFS's debt consolidation program.  Frankly, I wonder if

PFS ever contacted my creditors at all.

They are a decidedly "UnPreferred" company who's employees, in addition

to being dishonest,  completely lack PR skills.  To say the situation

was extremely stressful would be an understatement.  Basically,

Preferred Financial Services exacerbated my financial

situation causing crisis; they increased rather than decreased my debt. I

went to them for helpful "Financial Services" as their name implies,

and wound up being harmed instead.

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FYI:  1.    I understand that of 27 October 2010, Debt Consolidation

Companies can no longer take their own fees upfront before paying

client's creditors.  Wish that were true 6 months earlier.

        2.  Preferred Financial Services is/was under investigation by the New York State Attorney General. 


1 Updates & Rebuttals

DivineALign

USA
(Un)preferred Financial Ruin (Dis)services

#2Author of original report

Mon, May 16, 2011

In April 2011, I was told by a Preferred Financial Services (PFS) Customer Services Representative that the General Manager's name is Gabriel Tavaraz and the Staff Attorney's name is Peter Dauksewicz.  The Rep. did not recognize the General Manager's name of Keith Koltunowitz.  I have sent three invoices to PFS during the months of March, April and May 2011.  In these letters, I wrote the following about why I was unhappy with their "services":

PFS failed to inform me about being and Advanced Fee Program.
PFS failed to negotiate with my creditors.
PFS never paid any money to my creditors.
PFS caused me to be harassed by my creditors.
PFS caused me to be threatened to be sued as well as to actually be sued by my creditors.
PFS refused to stop debiting my account after they were notified of other payment arrangements to my creditors.
PFS severely exacerbated rather than alleviating my financial problems.
PFS caused me to suffer considerable anxiety and stress.
PFS lied to me about being in contract, and thus not permitted to quit their program.
PFS representatives was exceedingly rude to me when I requested to get out of the program and for the return of my money.
PFS FAILED TO DELIVER ANY SERVICES TO ME WHATSOEVER.

To date, (May 2011) PFS has not replied in writing or by phone.  Now, I intend to contact the following agencies for help:

State Attorney General's Offices of Massachusetts and California
Federal Trade Commission (FTW)
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
United States Organization of Bankruptcy Alternatives (USOBA)
Center for Financial Certification (CFC)
Small Claims Court
Other Consumer Protection Agencies

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