Author Archives: Steve Rhode
- My Debt Makes Me Sick and I See No Way Out. – Emily
“Dear Steve, I am in financial turmoil right now and I am extremely stressed out to the point of being sick because of it. I work a full time job, but I don’t make enough to support myself. I do have some physical restrictions due to the physical nature of my job and having it [...]
- Homeowner’s Relief Line Commercial – Caution
Yesterday I spotted a new debt relief commercial on television for some company that claimed to be Homeowner’s Relief Line. The commercial made all sorts of claims about saving your home from foreclosure, helping with loan modification and giving the impression the consumer is the victim. In general and in my experience, these types of [...]
- Student Loan Interest Rates to Double and Might Go Variable
If Congress does not take action the rate subsidized student loan holders pay will double July 1, 2013 from 3.4% to 6.8%. Student loan interest rates have been set by Congress and kept artificially low as a way to encourage education. But a vote in the House yesterday about a Republican proposal is set to [...]
- WFS Debt Relief & Whitelight Financial Services Scammed Me for $1,500. – Wes
“Dear Steve, About 3 yrs ago I was having a difficult time keeping up with my high interest credit card bills and overheard on the local radio station about WFS Debt Relief. At that point I was still making all payments and on time. I was new to the whole “debt consolidation” industry and was [...]
- World Law Debt, Global Client Solutions and Others Sued in NC. TRO.
Yesterday the State of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Bar filed suit against Swift Rock Financial, World Law Debt, World Law Group, Orion Processing, World Law Processing, Derin Scott, and Global Client Solutions. This suit is different than many others I’ve seen in that it is a joint effort by both the State [...]
- Can I Ditch Golden State Debt Management and Save Money? – Art
“Dear Steve, I am using the Consumer Credit Counseling program with Golden State Debt Management. It involves me allowing them to deduct $625 per month from my checking account. In total, they keep about $125 in fees each month. High. But even including those fees, I’m still saving $90 / month versus the astronomical interest [...]
- Is Credence Law Group a Legit Company or a Scam? – John
“Dear Steve, I have been approved for a loan modification thru Credence Law Group. They are now asking for $3600.00 fees. They say they are sending paperwork and contracts for me to sign tomorrow. I need to know if this company is legit? I have nothing in hand to confirm that I am approved. What [...]
- My Experian Credit Report Still Shows Old Negative Items – Joseph
“Dear Steve, I just received an investigation report from Equifax that the 03/2008 Collection Account has been fully paid since 03/2010 and is currently reporting a zero balance for this account. Yet, when I printed my 05/21/2013 Credit Report the said account is still listed with Experian and a part of my High Impact Differences. [...]
- Cockburn & Associate Claims Make Me Wonder If They Are True – Georgia
“Dear Steve, I have quite a bit of debt outside of my mortgage about $60,000 and it is causing us much stress and it just seems to keep going up rather then diminishing at all so I have been trying to figure out ways to pay it down this is how I came across the [...]
- My Retirement Plan Won’t Let Me Borrow Money to Settle My Debt – Quincy
“Dear Steve, I’m thinking of using some of my reitrement to help settle my debt. But my retirement says if I refund the money I will lose all benefits to it. I’m with the Arizona State Retirement System. I do not want to take it all out, just enough to cover my debts. Will I [...]
- My Bank Won’t Give me an Auto Loan Because of My Past Repossession
“Dear Steve, Almost 7 years ago I voluntarily turned my vehicle in for repossession. I wasn’t behind, but I knew I couldn’t afford it and handle a mortgage since I was purchasing a house. Fast forward to this day it is on schedule to be removed off my credit in January of 2014 according to [...]
- I Feel Like I Made a Mistake Going With Student Loan Processing.us – Terry
“Dear Steve, I have used student loan processing.us to help consolidate my student loans. Unfortunately, I didn’t do good enough research before, now I am stuck. Their payments and interest rates are higher than quoted and they did not tell me this before sending my loan info on to my new lender. Now they refuse [...]
- I’m a Real Estate Agent and Facing Bankruptcy – Kelly
“Dear Steve, My husband and I have been down the bankruptcy road and it was discharged. I am embarrassed to say that only eleven years after the discharge, we are now possibly having to consider filing again. We have one child and my husband makes $75,000 a year. I work as a Realtor but pay [...]
- Army Soldier Wants to Fix His Credit After a Messy Divorce
“Dear Steve, 26yr old Army soldier trying to fix credit after a messy divorce a few years back. I was deployed, she decided to leave, and stopped paying on just about everything that was in my name without my knowledge. Upon my return, I joined “freecreditreport.com” to continuously monitor my credit and my debts, and [...]
- NoteWorld / Meracord Loses Arbitration Agreement With Court
An interesting development in the NoteWorld / Meracord world and a court case involving an arbitration agreement. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case between Amrish Rajagopalan and NoteWorld. Apparently NoteWorld tried to rely on the arbitration agreement the debt settlement company had in their agreement to compel this situation out of court [...]