This review is the result of a question from a reader asking me what I know about the company.
Address:
201 SE 15th Terrace, Suite 206
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
866-958-3328
Website:
ChristianDebtConsolidators.net
Domain name belongs to Christian Debt Consolidators and was registered April 7, 2005. The administrative contact is Charles McConnell II at du1902@yahoo.com.
Description:
Debt settlement company.
Christian Debt Consolidators consolidates your debts without the need for a loan. All of your outstanding bills can be consolidated into one, low monthly payment that will be catered to fit your budget. Your monthly payments can be reduced up to 60%. – Source
Company was registered in Florida on April 4, 2005.
Management
Daniel Upbin – Source
Charles McConnell II – Source – President – Source
Contacts
Relationships
Daniel Upbin was or is an officer in the following companies in Florida:
Christian Debt Consolidators, LLC
Christian Credit Counseling Center, LLC
Christian Debt Foundation, LLC
Platinum Debt Management, Inc.
Interesting Points
I have a real issue with this company. In my opinion, holding yourself out as a religious organization should require you to be transparent, open and honest about the implications of the programs you offer. The FAQ page of this site is horrible. It does nothing to disclose to potential clients that debt settlement can lead to you being sued by your creditors, can increase the balances owed, and will lead to negative items being reported on your credit report. – Source
It is interesting that they are not a non-profit religious organization. They are a for-profit company.
Let’s just look at their page on their debt settlement services. – Source
Christian Debt Consolidators makes the following claims:
“Debt Settlement is highly effective and can save you between 50-75% in outstanding debt.” – Yet the industry success rate for debt settlement is only about 10%. Debt settlement is not higher effective. – Source
“The Christian Debt Consolidators debt settlement program was developed to provide you immediate debt relief.” – I can’t even begin to guess what the premise would be behind this statement since the minute you start sending money to the company instead of your creditors you will be in default on your credit agreements. This will lead to higher interest rates, collections activity, negative marks on your credit report and can lead to lawsuits.
“Our Certified Counselors will then help you establish a monthly savings plan that is designed specifically to settle your existing debt with your creditors.” – Typically debt settlement fees are paid first so isn’t the plan specifically created to first collect fees owed the company before money is available to actually settle debts?
“Upon being accepted into the Christian Debt Consolidators’ debt settlement program, your creditors will be immediately notified and we demand they stop calling you.” – They can demand this all they want but it does not give them any power or authority to make creditors stop calling. If you are being pursued by a collection company and a cease and desist letter is sent to the collection company to stop calls that can accelerate a possible lawsuit. Original creditors may continue to call you even if a cease and desist letter is sent. If we are going to make demand then I demand they stop putting this crap on their web site.
“Our program allows you to pay back a fraction of what you owe as soon as possible.” – What part of Christian is that? It the goal to reduce the debt in a Christian way or to pay back a fraction of what you owe as soon as possible? And how soon is “possible?” Is that as soon as you have paid us all our fees and then saved enough money to be acceptable to the creditors, hopefully, and praying that you don’t get sued in the meantime?
“The Christian Debt Consolidators debt settlement program makes an immediate impact on the amount of money in your pocket. Our program frees up more of your money to help your cash flow.” – That would be because if you are paying the company less than you are obligated to pay your creditors it can result in less money being paid out but Christian Debt Consolidators fails to mention that it will also result in you immediately going into default with your creditors if you start sending them money instead of your creditors.
“Once your debt has been negoted for you, the anxiety associated with your debt problems will be a thing of the past.” – Maybe but in the prevailing years you will be subject to bad credit, collection activity and lawsuits. So I’m not really sure how your anxiety will be reduced once you join the program.
BBB Reviews & Ratings
For all the complaining that debt settlement companies make about their BBB report and ratings I actually think the BBB rating for Christian Debt Consolidators is generous based on the large number of complaints they have had. You can read the review at the time I wrote this by clicking here.
Complaints
- Christian Debt Consolidators, LLC – COMPLETE HITLERS! Deerfield Beach Florida
- Christian Debt Consolidators Company is fraud on financial and moral level Deerfield Beach Florida
- Christian Debt Consolidators This company is a fraud on a MORAL level I’m so glad someone has finally stood up Deerfield Beach Florida
- Christian Debt Consolidators Christian Debt Consolidators is a ripoff Deerfield Beach Florida
- Yet another company doing America a huge non favor. During these troubling times you would think by doing the right thing to improve your life and try and not fall behind you could rely on these companies. Being a christian myself i fell into the thought i was working with other Christians. I was wrong! I had to break down my debt and give this company all my information. Finally once all that was done and i sent everything in and my payment i though I was ready to start. I was charged 488 dollars which included my first payment. I was never told about a New Horizon or that they were going to forward my info to them. I was contacting by the other company requesting all the information i had already given to CDC. I said I was never told of any of this and I did not want to take part.
I contacted Christian debt consolidators and they were no help. They would not give me a refund because they said i agreed to the service and terms. I was lied to about so many things and they would not refund me my money. They claim to be a non profit organization yet they use the christian name in there title to fool the people in need and feed their hands. The management said they would only give me 150 back for a quote they gave me incorrectly. I argued that they need to give me the full amount and stated my point. They said they talked to the rep and our stories did not match and I was wrong. I kept trying and nothing happened. Instead they took away trying to refund me my 488.
I am not happy at all and this company needs to be taken under. If anyone wants to do a class action law suite let me know cause I will not let more people be screwed over. BTW this happened in 2006. So it looks like they are keeping up their reputation. I’ll let them answer to God. – Source
- In September of 2006 I enrolled into a program that I thought was run as a Christian Ministry for debt relief. I paid an account fee of 199 and informed by telephone that this fee would go towards my first payment to my creditors, consolidating and lowering interest for US Bank, Bank of America, and Dell Financial Services. Little did I know that my account was then transferred to A New Horizons. (I have no complaint against A New Horizons they have been nothing but wonderful to me.)
In the fall of 2008 I figured I was nearing the completion of my debt consolidation as I was told the program would take only two years. Upon attempting to contact Christian Debt Consolidators I ran into roadblock after roadblock. They would never return calls nor E-Mails.
This last week I decided to go through A New Horizons. They were able to get my call returned. The person that originally set my account up at Christina Debt Consolidators called me and left a voicemail. The message was completely unintelligible. I returned the call as soon as possible and was treated with disrespect by the receptionist and then by the Senior Certified Credit Specialist C. Baker.
I was cursed out over the phone and then told they were canceling my account and returning my 199 “activation fee.” When asked about the monthly service fee I was again cursed out. At 8:14 PM I received an E-Mail with an attached unprofessional looking letter stating that they would return my fee upon receipt of the signed letter stating that I would take no legal action against the company. I do not agree and am countering with a letter respectfully requesting my 199.00 and the 10.00 fees totaling 719.00. I will not waive my legal rights. – Source
- I had an awful experience with Christian Debt Consolidators. I called for a quote and wanted to move forward with them even though their quote seemed a bit high. However, I started a new job and had to get licensed and trained for my new job, so I put off the application process for a couple of weeks.
Joseph Miller emailed and called me to say that they were going to take money out of my account even though I never signed the application, asked them to proceed nor gave them my authorization. He also called me a jerk and had no care about my time frame or my needs.
I doubt they are Christian and give the Christianity faith a bad name. Just because he ends every email with God Bless – they do not treat others how they would like to be treated.
After this whole bad experience, I am very weary of dealing with such a company and will have to find another one.
Or we can always do it on our own.
Good luck to you! – SourcePicture of Web Site
Click image for larger view.Is This Your Company?
If this is a review is about your company and you would like to respond to the information I’ve presented here to possibly put it into a broader context or make a correction, please feel free to post your response in the comments section below. I invite you to read my Debt Relief Company and Site Review Policy first.
Thank you for this article. I wish I would have thought to investigate this company before we contacted them 3 years ago.  I hope others are able to view this article and take into consideration all that you had mentioned above so they know what they are getting themselves into with this company.  Based on my personal experience, they have poor customer service they are not up front with their clients.
Thank you for this article. I wish I would have thought to investigate this company before we contacted them 3 years ago. I hope others are able to view this article and take into consideration all that you had mentioned above so they know what they are getting themselves into with this company. Based on my personal experience, they have poor customer service they are not up front with their clients.
You might want to look at this refund process and see if it can help you as it has helped others.
I fell for the “Christian” ad. I was under the impression that Michael Edwards ( “Christian” debt counselor) had already contacted and negotiated debt reduction arrangements with my creditors . However, that was not the case. American Debt Foundation out of Florida took over debt reduction and my money goes to Global Client Solutions. Same thing, they had not negotiated with my creditor either. In fact, the creditor sold my loan to a collection agency and now the collection agency is threatening to take me to court. ADF did try to settle the amount but collections refused the 40% offered. I have since hired a lawyer and have sent a certified letter to ADF to terminate my contract, which I was told I could do at any time. Pray that I get the money back I put into it. I should have filed chapt 13 to begin.
I fell for the “Christian” ad. I was under the impression that Michael Edwards ( “Christian” debt counselor) had already contacted and negotiated debt reduction arrangements with my creditors . However, that was not the case. American Debt Foundation out of Florida took over debt reduction and my money goes to Global Client Solutions. Same thing, they had not negotiated with my creditor either. In fact, the creditor sold my loan to a collection agency and now the collection agency is threatening to take me to court. ADF did try to settle the amount but collections refused the 40% offered. I have since hired a lawyer and have sent a certified letter to ADF to terminate my contract, which I was told I could do at any time. Pray that I get the money back I put into it. I should have filed chapt 13 to begin.
You might want to look at this refund process and see if it can help you as it has helped others.
This company is the worst! When I balked at doing business with Dick Head, I mean, Devon Hairless, (a close simili), this guy called my place of work. I mean, I never gave him the number to call me there. I spoke to him once from another number that wasn’t published and he called the operator and had her find me in the building! I don’t even have creditors doing that.
Then, when I told him him I wasn’t doing biz with him (I got an equity loan from my bank,finally!) and to never call my place of work, he sent an email and said “I must not be a christian because I don’t have anyone else and just lied to him!. When I told him thanks for confirmaing my decision to not do bisiness with CDC, he got freakin obscenely upset. I sent an email, I told him “Devon, …..get over it!”…He kept emailing me back! I swear man, one serious douch bag, worse than a used car salesman!!
Yea, there is absolutely nothing “Christian” about this company. This company works like a drug deal in my opinion. Taking a cut of your money as they push you along the route to where? Who knows with this company!
This company is the worst! When I balked at doing business with Dick Head, I mean, Devon Hairless, (a close simili), this guy called my place of work. I mean, I never gave him the number to call me there. I spoke to him once from another number that wasn’t published and he called the operator and had her find me in the building! I don’t even have creditors doing that.
Then, when I told him him I wasn’t doing biz with him (I got an equity loan from my bank,finally!) and to never call my place of work, he sent an email and said “I must not be a christian because I don’t have anyone else and just lied to him!. When I told him thanks for confirmaing my decision to not do bisiness with CDC, he got freakin obscenely upset. I sent an email, I told him “Devon, …..get over it!”…He kept emailing me back! I swear man, one serious douch bag, worse than a used car salesman!!
Yea, there is absolutely nothing “Christian” about this company. This company works like a drug deal in my opinion. Taking a cut of your money as they push you along the route to where? Who knows with this company!
See site terms or link under ads for description of advertising process.
Based on this article, why do you allow them to advertise on this site. I believe this is the same company that is at the top of this page.
Based on this article, why do you allow them to advertise on this site. I believe this is the same company that is at the top of this page.
See site terms or link under ads for description of advertising process.
I am a former employee of Christian Debt Consolidators. This company is a complete rip off. They are a for profit company but claim to be non profit. All they do is sign people up and then send them to other companies, therefore they are a sales office. You can not expect someone to sell you a product and have your best interests in mind. Also, the owner, Dan Upbin is Jewish so how can he claim to be christian? To sell a product!