Question:
Dear Steve,
Spring Legal Group, a debt resolution group. They are supposed to be helping, and about $4000+ has been automatically deducted from my checking account. It went to a “third party” holding financial institution. Today I reviewed the account (8/27/2021), and there is only $97 in that account. The review shows all kinds of fees.
What do you know or find about this law office out of Atlanta, GA? I think I got scammed. I am stopping any further ACH and asked for explanations.
Jim
Answer:
Dear Jim,
The first place to look to see if Spring Legal Group is doing what they sold you is to reread the client agreement you signed when you became a client.
The vast majority of these agreements from debt relief companies are very detailed in the way fees are earned, deducted, and the service the company is actually delivering.
The fine print can be lightyears away from what the person on the phone sold you. So often, I’ve heard from consumers who have been rushed through the client agreement and really did not read it first.
What I’m Inferring About Spring Legal Group
It sounds like you entered into a contract with Spring Legal Group for some debt resolution assistance. You appear to have deposited into your escrow account, and that account has had a series of deductions for fees. Your debt remains unresolved.
If my assumptions are incorrect, please let me know.
Stopping Your Payments to Spring Legal Group
You are certainly within your rights to discontinue any service to any company you want. There may be consequences.
Before terminating your account, it seems what you really need is information from Spring Legal Group.
It would be best if you were given an explanation and answers to all your questions. You can and should ask for an explanation for any issue.
If you would like a process to follow to attempt to resolve your concerns and customer service issues you can read this guide I wrote.
Who is Spring Legal Group?
You stated Spring Legal Group might be located in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
The website for Spring Legal Group appears to be springlegalgroup.com.
The website says the company is located at 1201 Peachtree St NE, Ste. 200, Atlanta, GA, 30361. This address appears to be a virtual office by a group Spaces. – Source
Facebook lists a different address for the group at 3379 Peachtree Rd NE, Ste. 555
Atlanta, GA, GA 30326.
The site also says the “attorney responsible for the content of this Site is Melissa Michel licensed in Georgia.” I don’t know what state you live in, but if it is not Georgia and there is no attorney licensed to practice law in your state supervising your account, you may not be represented by an attorney.
However, the site does say Andrew Carroll represents new Jersey consumers and has offices at 285 Chestnut St., Hammonton, NJ, 08037.
The BBB rating for Spring Legal Group shows as in the process of being updated.
Attorney Melissa Michel
As I mentioned above, the site says a Georgia licensed attorney is responsible for the content on the debt resolution site for Spring Legal Group.
What is interesting is the website for attorney Melissa Michel doesn’t mention debt resolution as one of her practice areas. It says:
- Traffic Citations / DUI
- Criminal Defense
- Corporate & Business Matters
- Immigration
- Personal Injury
The attorney site for Melissa Michel says her office is at 66 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. – Source
The State Bar of Georgia shows that only one attorney named Melissa Michel is licensed to practice law in the state. It says her office is Michel Law Firm LLC.
I’ve Given You Solid Guidance on Addressing Your Situation
From all the information and links I’ve put together for you in this post, you should have enough information to start attempting to resolve your issues with Spring Legal Group in an organized way.
Please come back and post a comment and let me know what the result is.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
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I have had almost identical experience with this company. I canceled and they only gave me a portion of what I paid and they did absolutely nothing for my debts. Nor did they contact my creditors after four months of signing up with them I was astounded with the whole situation. Do not use this company!!!! My credit was awesome before I used them and now its ruined beyond belief.
Unfortunately I am in the exact same situation and my credit was good before this. I have now received a summons in which cannot be resolved. There really should be a way to sue this company for misrepresentation.
I really wish that would I have found these reviews before giving Spring Legal Group over $1600. I immediately requested a copy of my contract and did not receive it until October 6 when I started questioning the fees and why there was virtually no money in my escrow account. I am so angry that I have lost this money.
Sorry to hear about your experience.
I had the same experience as many of the above reviews. Do not do it. Get out now. You will pay SLG money for nothing that you could just pay your creditors and negotiate! They took over $6000 from me for nothing. Zero. Zip. I am far worse off than I was when I started. They hire people that are very good at this. They convince you to sign up and tell you the benefits. Nope. Just file Ch 13 or negotiate with your creditors yourself.
Same here. The phone call assured me this was not a service that forces charge-offs like many others, but SLG is exactly that. The first contract was a couple of pages that outlined minimal fees and I agreed to them. A second, more in-depth, contract was several pages and fees that totaled about 96% of my monthly deposit. All debts charged off and I am much worse off. I had them send me all documents but there’s my damn signature. I’ve been told nothing I can do but move on. Consumer beware.
Thank you so much for your comment and feedback.
We have very similar problems with Spring Legal Group has the others that commented before me. Signing with them has been very disappointing and we regret going in this direction. They make sure they get their fees first. Out of 4 creditors in over a year and a half. Only one has been dealt with. I resolved one myself ( payoff agreement in 3 payments) nothing has been done with the other 2 creditors. They are hard to contact and never return calls.
The payments we make every month to Spring Legal probably would already paid almost all of the creditors by now.
BIG MISTAKE!!!!
I got into the program back in December. I am with Andrey. I have an account with one of my creditors that says it’s under review. The creditor sent me a letter stating that my account is closed and they received contact from an agent on my behalf. I haven’t heard anything on any of the other accounts. I have 8 enrolled with them.
I am debating on whether to stay in or go. I don’t want anybody knocking on my door when they should be handling it.
Please keep me posted.
Thank you Steve,
I’ll look into the link you posted.
Hi, I started with this program in April of 2021 and have only seen one letter from a creditor that says they have fullfilled a request appointing Law Office of Melissa dba Spring Legal Group as Power of Attorney for that account. I did notice that the “Service Fee” is larger than the amount that was shown on my payment breakdown. I will give them a call and ask why they are taking more than what it is said. I am going to ride this out a bit longer to see any difference. In my account I do see that they have “offer under review” for two of the creditors but amount was approved last year in August. Havent seen any movements from there. I am going to give this a couple more months and see what happens. If nothing has changed I think I will have to cancel with them.
I just posted this and it sounds like you might benefit from it given the outcome and assumptions. See https://getoutofdebt.org//167158/my-guide-to-getting-out-of-debt-with-proven-methods-and-smart-ideas
3/29/23: Wanted to give an update from my post last year. It has been over a year and I now had no choice but to file for bankruptcy. After my initial post not only on this website but on several of their websites, they had contacted me and “escalated” the issue. I was receiving communication from them there on and updates on accounts. Come October 2022 one of the accounts went into litigation. Spring legal attorney reached out to me and because I didnt give them an additional amount that they wanted, they sat on that account and did nothing. Fast forward to January 2023 I agreed to give additional funds but by then it was too late, the creditors had put an involuntary lien on my house. Now March I have received a wage garnishment because they (Spring legal) did nothing. I started this program in April 2021, almost 3 years and only settled 2 very small accounts, made payment arrangements for two others and two (including the wage garnishment) are in litigation. I have called them several times to cancel my account and contract and cancel future payments to all creditors but they have yet to do so. I was to receive a cancellation email within 72 hours of cancellation but it has now been 7 days and no email.
Almost $27,000 later and nothing has been done but paid off two accounts at a settlement amount of less than $1000 each. I could have paid all my debt off with that $27K. Stay away from this company. my credit went to crap and they did nothing but take all my money and Im sure the balance I have with them now in the escrow account will not be refunded. Just take your losses and figure out a different way of settling your debt. This is not worth it.
*almost 2 years
This gentleman is not alone. I heard about Spring Legal Group through a flyer I received in the mail. So I decided to give them a try. BIG MISTAKE! My intitial contact was a Jason Hughes. Jason told me that he would be my point-of-contact throughout this Debt Reduction Program. They sent a third party to my house in Payson, AZ to sign the agreement. I asked Jason to send me a copy of everything I signed. He never did. I was able to obtain a copy from the third party who came to see me. Once I signed I didn’t hear from Jason again. I left him E-Mail messages but he never returned my call. One of the documents that I received showed the payment breakdown. Spring Legal Group takes all of their fees “upfront”. That leaves little for my Creditors to negotiate with Spring Legal Group. I had been with this program for 14 months. I had paid in over $9,211 of which over $7500 went towards fees, nothing to my Creditors. The remaining amount went into a Global Savings Account for “Settlement Reserves. The next thing I know I have a sherriff at my doorstep with a Summons asking for all of their money. Spring Legal Group hadn’t paid them a penny. From the Payment chart I received it would be 23 months before they would negotiate with my Creditors. I thought Spring Legal Group was keeping in contact with my Creditors during these 14 months but I was wrong. Spring Legal Group was more interested in getting their fees instead of helping me with my Creditors. I even tried twice to pay off Spring Legal Group after I decided to sell my house. I asked them for a “Payoff” on 2-16-21 & also on 4-13-21 after I sold my house. Neither time did Spring Legal Group send me a Payoff. I then used those funds to pay off an Auto Loan & other expenses to move to Cedar City, UT. After I received the Summons I tried to get Spring Legal Group to get with this Creditor to get this staightened out. I didn’t hear from a Litigation Attorney until after I decided to cancel this program. I am now with Nation Debt Relief who does take care of my Creditors FIRST! While I was switching over I received another Summons from another Creditor because Spring Legal Group hadn’t paid them a penny either. I cancelled my Global Holdings Account for Spring Legal Group. According to my Records I should receive a refund of $1711 for the funds that were in my Settlement Reserves Account. How much do you want to bet a don’t see a penny of theose funds? Bottom line: Keep people away from this Legal Group. They are more interested in getting their fees then they are at helping their clients!!!
I just got in less than a month ago, so what you’re saying is I should get out? Also if that is the case what would be the best way to go about doing so ?
Hi, my case almost same as your’s, in case I would like to check lawsuit against SLG. Any previous case exist? Any lawyer you know?
Hi Jerry son, I filed a complaint with the Georgia Attorney General but the response was the company could not be verified and there were no other complaints. Georgia is the only address I could find. I’m waiting on a referral from an attorney friend of mine that can go over the contract and decide if there’s a case. It may meet elements of Deceptive Business Practices but not sure since the contracts were signed by me. Worth a shot. I’ll keep you posted.
Hello,
I just wanted to see if you ever sued SLG.