Out of The Morning Call comes the story, Debt management firm mismanages debt, in which United Financial Systems of Margate, Florida is thrown under the bus for collecting money from a consumer and not sending it to her creditor. Oops!
Greene said United Financial Systems withdrew money from her account as scheduled, but failed to make three payments to Chase on time. It missed the March payment but made it later that month. It also missed payments in May and June.
That resulted in several collections calls a day from Chase.
“They were supposed to be there to help me, not to ruin me,” Greene said.
The lack of payments got her booted out of a special program Chase offers to customers enrolled in a debt management plan. While in the program, she had been offered a 6 percent interest rate and no late fees, down from a rate of 26.99 percent.
In June, Chase told her late fees would resume and her interest rate would be “adjusted” according to the card terms — which could have meant a jump to 29.99 percent — though it never raised the rate.
She said she told Chase the overdue payments were not her fault. She said the bank didn’t want to hear it.
I Was Surprised
I was surprised to see some claims on the United Financial Systems site from the old credit counseling days. Claims that I thought most companies had stopped making.
They are an IRS Nonprofit Company
Many of the groups I check on that claim to be not-for-profit are not legitimate IRS approved companies, United Financial Services is. Here is their 2009 public return to prove it.
Consumer Problems
The mark of a good company is not if a problem is going to occur, it is how they handle it when it does happen. There is no reason why a consumer should not have their payment transmitted to the creditor on a timely basis.
I’ll contact the company and ask them to post a comment so we can hear their side of the story.
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State of Florida announces United Financial Systems refund possibility. See this article.
I just found your blog and I am not surprised. The owner, Ron Parks is a scam artist. He owes my sister and I money for working for him and owes many former employees and former clients a lot of money. He hides behind claiming he is a Christian. A true Christian would not do the things he has done. My sister and I were hourly employees. Without notice we showed up to work one day back in late 2004 (when it was still United Financial Services and were told we had to be out of the building by 1 PM that day that the business was closing. I was given a check a few days later and nothing was given to my sister. I argued the amount of my check was wrong and was told they were changing me to commission only and could only pay me on contracts that they had already been paid for. I did go back several times over the next couple of months following when they were supposed to close and no one was there. One day I went and finally the office was open. I was talking to a supervisor and in walked Ron Parks. I talked with him about the money he still owed me and he verified my address and phone number and said he would send me a check for what was still owed to me. I never received anything from him. After that I was unable to go back to the office because I had begun new employment in which my hours kept me from being able to go to the United Financial office when they were open. Whenever I called the phone numbers I always received the voice mail where I left a message, but of course I never received a call back. The State Wage and Hour office could not reach them after that and so there was nothing we could do about. The company apparently reopened later under a changed named of United Financial Systems. Unfortunately the laws are written to better protect business owner, not the employees or clients. Did you know that in the state of Florida a business can operate making less than $500,00 per year and close their doors and not be obligated to pay the employees? Plus, no matter the rate a person is hired at, Wage and Hour will only go after an employer for minimum wage. Oh yeah, there is no law allowing for breaks and lunches. Those are only company policies and Wage and Hour does not enforce that.
I have also had continuous problems with this company promising to send me my refund on the money they took but never paid to the creditors. I am totally at my wits ends becuase I just don’t know what to do anymore. I have filed complaints with Florida Attorney General. I was contacted by ADC in December telling me they were taking over the debt management for UFS so I have been working with them and not had any problems other than with the creditors that UFS dealt with. Both of my Citicard accounts refuse to let me be set on debt management for them because of what UFS did. Now I am having to pay them myself. Totally messed over with by UFS.
I have also had continuous problems with this company promising to send me my refund on the money they took but never paid to the creditors. I am totally at my wits ends becuase I just don’t know what to do anymore. I have filed complaints with Florida Attorney General. I was contacted by ADC in December telling me they were taking over the debt management for UFS so I have been working with them and not had any problems other than with the creditors that UFS dealt with. Both of my Citicard accounts refuse to let me be set on debt management for them because of what UFS did. Now I am having to pay them myself. Totally messed over with by UFS.
Looks like promised refunds by Jamie Lyons did not materialize for Wisconsin resident and Wisconsin booted UFS out of the state. See this story just published.
Looks like promised refunds by Jamie Lyons did not materialize for Wisconsin resident and Wisconsin booted UFS out of the state. See this story just published.
United Financial Systems Update
702 BBB Complaints
FL Att General Civil Investigatin501 Counts
Not Forwarding Client Payments
http://www.myfloridalegal.com/…
Voice: 954-712-4600
Fax: 954-527-3708
Mailing Address
Economic Crimes Division
Office of the Attorney General
110 SE 6th Street, 9th Floor
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-5000
107 Att Gen Comps
http://csapp.800helpfla.com/cs…
I had the exact same problem. There were two payments that were debited from my account and were never made to my credit card company. I called to ask what was going on and they assured me that I would see the payments on the next statement, which did not happen. I ended up receiving a check from United Financial saying I finished the program and this was the money left over from what I owed and I would get my refund check as soon as the credit card company turned in some kind of paper or statement. But as I watched my credit card statement keep coming in it kept saying I owed almost $600, which would be the two missed payments. I tried to contact UFS and they wouldn’t answer their phones, nor would they return messages that I had left. I also emailed and even faxed letters in desperate attempt to get in touch with them and I have yet to hear back (though it has been multiple months). I contacted the credit card company to explain my situation and they say I was listed as “opting out” of the program, which is completely false. So they took $582 (two payments) from me and I had to pay the credit card company that same amount (actually more due to interest that added up as I was trying to talk to anyone at UFS) so I wouldn’t be sent to collections, and that adds up to nearly $1200 I had to pay to finish off my account. Oh yeah, I am apparently also out the $291 which I am owed for my refund check for finishing the program. This whole situation is ridiculous and I am disgusted with this company!
I had the exact same problem. There were two payments that were debited from my account and were never made to my credit card company. I called to ask what was going on and they assured me that I would see the payments on the next statement, which did not happen. I ended up receiving a check from United Financial saying I finished the program and this was the money left over from what I owed and I would get my refund check as soon as the credit card company turned in some kind of paper or statement. But as I watched my credit card statement keep coming in it kept saying I owed almost $600, which would be the two missed payments. I tried to contact UFS and they wouldn’t answer their phones, nor would they return messages that I had left. I also emailed and even faxed letters in desperate attempt to get in touch with them and I have yet to hear back (though it has been multiple months). I contacted the credit card company to explain my situation and they say I was listed as “opting out” of the program, which is completely false. So they took $582 (two payments) from me and I had to pay the credit card company that same amount (actually more due to interest that added up as I was trying to talk to anyone at UFS) so I wouldn’t be sent to collections, and that adds up to nearly $1200 I had to pay to finish off my account. Oh yeah, I am apparently also out the $291 which I am owed for my refund check for finishing the program. This whole situation is ridiculous and I am disgusted with this company!
United Financial Systems Update
702 BBB Complaints
FL Att General Civil Investigatin501 Counts
Not Forwarding Client Payments
http://www.myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/D0EE6303CE4C25878525782500745C35
Voice: 954-712-4600
Fax: 954-527-3708
Mailing Address
Economic Crimes Division
Office of the Attorney General
110 SE 6th Street, 9th Floor
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-5000
107 Att Gen Comps
http://csapp.800helpfla.com/cspublicapp/businesssearch/businesssearch.aspx
How dare Ms. Lyons put this against the customer!! There are 1000s of UFS’s customers receiving the same storyline, that it is *OUR* fault. What does she have to say to the customers, such as myself who had direct deposit of $550/month on the 3rd day of every month, yet it took them over 1-2 months to get that money sent to the creditors. You would think that a company who is so great at TAKING your money would be responsible to get it distributed to appropriate creditors in a timely manner! I had issues arising as far back as December 2009. It took until August 2010, when I filed official complaints for someone from UFS, in this case Ms. Lyons, to contact me (AFTER they received BBB complaint). She informed me my payments not being paid on time were due to “clerical error” from new software installed in January 2010. Jaime also assured me this would never happen again. I believed her. Then the phone calls from creditors began again in November 2010. Upon some research, the last posted payments from UFS to my creditors was on September 23, 2010. I opened my case with BBB, the FTC, Attorney General office of FL, as well as been in discussion with my local media consumer protection departments, whom are more than happy to help me out. I am owed $1100 from October & November 2010 payments being taken from my checking account, but NEVER APPLIED to my creditors. Sadly, UFS has ignored almost all emails & calls. Maybe Jaime realized she is in hot water and left (or changed her name). I have been “dealing with” a Ms. Anissa Foster, who seems to have an attitude and doesn’t care to listen to what WE have to say, then just hangs up at the end of conversation without saying ‘sorry for inconvienance’, or ‘have a good day’…NOTHING. Definately NOT a customer service representative! UFS is a joke. I do not understand how this can take over 5 months to get ahold of a representative. IF there was any sincere reason for what is going on, they would inform us, correct?! I guess the government could care less that someone is flat out STEALING money from everyone. What burns me the most, is that these companies are out there, doing what they do, all to vulnerable and desparate people, who believe their lies. UFS’s website (which, by the way I don’t think is running anymore…hmmmmmm???) promised a “100% satisfaction guarantee”. I hope they can back this up with their lawyers! For their sake, they should be glad most of us do not live nearby their office.
Jaime, I sincerely hope you read this & understand my frustration and that you & UFS call/ email me VERY soon to fix this. Remember, it is UFS who is in a BREACH OF CONTRACT! If it were me not making my payments, as I signed away to do, I’d be getting nasty emails, calls, plus threats of rising interest rates on my balances.
Look yourself in the mirror, smile your fake smile, and swallow your pride, knowing you and the company you represent are really the one’s to blame…
Brad Kett
I’m definately interested in pursuing legal action. I’ve contacted the Florida Attorney General’s office, BBB and Florida legal assistance. Non seem eager to help. I have tons of correspondences since October 2007 regagarding problems with them and would gladly help. This company is (was) scum and in order for my money (close to $5,000.00) to be refunded, they want me to sign a disclaimer in which I state not to seek legal action against them … no way!
A Jamie Lyons has resurfaced as a supervisor with Vortex Debt Group. Could it possibly be the same Jamie Lyons? Interesting.
See the comment on this article.
A Jamie Lyons has resurfaced as a supervisor with Vortex Debt Group. Could it possibly be the same Jamie Lyons? Interesting.
See the comment on this article.
My husband and I have had many, many horrible experiences with this company. To sum it up:
1) We started this program right after we were married and were told it would take 4 years to complete. We had the payments automatically deducted each month. Never paid late – never missed a pyament. It took us 5 years. When I called to ask why, I was told they NEVER tell people how long the program will take. That’s a lie – I was told exactly four years and upon review of other complaints, others have had the same problem.
2) There were many times our cards were not paid and we had to call and find out why. They were paid usually within 30 days – but I never understood why it took that long to pay them and why they were late numerous times (a couple of times even 60 days late).
3) You know that refund check you are supposed to get for completing the program that’s equal to one month of payment? Well, we completed the program successfully (FINALLY!) and I had to contact them NUMEROUS times to have them send me the paper that I had to sign to get my check. They finally sent it – we signed it. That was beginning of August (a month after we finished the program – took that long to get them to fax/email it to me). We still have not received our check (roughtly about $450). I spoke with Jamie Lyons twice and each time she told me she would personally make sure it was in the mail. It never came. I’ve since tried contacting them (leaving voicemails and emails) roughly around 20 times. Jamie has never called me back. Someone else names Anissa will every once in a while respond via email and tell me she is “looking into it” – only to never call me or email me back.
In the end, you will NOT received your refund as it states in your contract. I am actually going to file a small claims court suit against them since I have a contract (and the paper I signed to get the release of my check).
A few people have mentioned they are interested in a lawsuit – please let me know because I would be willing to get all of my emails/paperwork/etc togetehr and assist in this. I have copies of credit card statements that show they were late.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!
My husband and I have had many, many horrible experiences with this company. To sum it up:
1) We started this program right after we were married and were told it would take 4 years to complete. We had the payments automatically deducted each month. Never paid late – never missed a pyament. It took us 5 years. When I called to ask why, I was told they NEVER tell people how long the program will take. That’s a lie – I was told exactly four years and upon review of other complaints, others have had the same problem.
2) There were many times our cards were not paid and we had to call and find out why. They were paid usually within 30 days – but I never understood why it took that long to pay them and why they were late numerous times (a couple of times even 60 days late).
3) You know that refund check you are supposed to get for completing the program that’s equal to one month of payment? Well, we completed the program successfully (FINALLY!) and I had to contact them NUMEROUS times to have them send me the paper that I had to sign to get my check. They finally sent it – we signed it. That was beginning of August (a month after we finished the program – took that long to get them to fax/email it to me). We still have not received our check (roughtly about $450). I spoke with Jamie Lyons twice and each time she told me she would personally make sure it was in the mail. It never came. I’ve since tried contacting them (leaving voicemails and emails) roughly around 20 times. Jamie has never called me back. Someone else names Anissa will every once in a while respond via email and tell me she is “looking into it” – only to never call me or email me back.
In the end, you will NOT received your refund as it states in your contract. I am actually going to file a small claims court suit against them since I have a contract (and the paper I signed to get the release of my check).
A few people have mentioned they are interested in a lawsuit – please let me know because I would be willing to get all of my emails/paperwork/etc togetehr and assist in this. I have copies of credit card statements that show they were late.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!
I’m definately interested in pursuing legal action. I’ve contacted the Florida Attorney General’s office, BBB and Florida legal assistance. Non seem eager to help. I have tons of correspondences since October 2007 regagarding problems with them and would gladly help. This company is (was) scum and in order for my money (close to $5,000.00) to be refunded, they want me to sign a disclaimer in which I state not to seek legal action against them … no way!
Before my post, I’d like to mention that I have been working via email and phone with a “Sekenia Smith” at the following email address: ssmith@unitedfinancial.org.
========
I recently spoke with a lawyer. He told me just to send a “refund demand letter” via US certified mail, stating that UFS has 10 days from the date on the letter to issue my refund, and if they do not, threaten to take legal action.
If they do not comply, file with my borough—making sure to set my borough as the jurisdiction (so I don’t have to fly to Florida) for my refund amount plus filing fees.
If they show up, I state my case to the judge. If they don’t, I win and they have to pay.
I had the same experience with United Financial and two months later they have not returned my emails and have not refunded my money.
I had the same experience with United Financial and two months later they have not returned my emails and have not refunded my money.
i want to know about a class action suit also. This is rediculous.
Hi Vikingstude11 and Client 477724, if you both are still interested in getting your money back and help United Financial Systems come to an end to hurting rather than helping please e-mail me @ Tottallytasha@gmail.com . Hope to hear from both of you soon!
Hi Former,
I couldn’t help but to agree with some great points you have. Would you mind e-mailing me if you are interested in helping those who are getting, excuse my language “screwed over”? It would be beneficial to you and everyone else to stop United Financial Systems from pocketing our hard earned money if you ask me! My personal email is Tottallytasha@gmail.com I sincerely hope to hear from you, this company has gone way to far in damaging debt rather than eliminating it.
Hey Bubba,
I went threw the same situation as you, exxxceepptt for the reimbursment part. You should be intitled to getting your credit fix! Don’t give up, I won’t. If you are interested in trying to get your credit back that they have made worse (it sounds!) please e-mail me. I have been going threw this crisis for months, and with others help we can do this. Please e-mail me for more information if you are still intersted!! Tottallytasha@gmail.com
This company has apparently affected millions of people and we are the only ones taking notice, we need to take another step before innocent people are filling their companies pockets, and they claim to be NON-PROFIT???! E-mail me if you or anyone else are still interested in pursuing the matter further.
Hi Financially Frustrated,
I have been on this since August of 2010, have you had your issue resolved yet? I haven’t, after reading all these numerous post, it makes me sick! If you or anyone else are interested in pursing this matter further with me to get what we deserve rather than continue to ruin our credit e-mail me @ tottallytasha@gmail.com. They have done this to wayy to many people, everyone seems to give up, but I will not! Bad people do not deserve to be rewarded with our money.
-SAMIAM
If anyone is interested in standing behind me on this matter please feel free to e-mail me anytime! “Together, anything is possible!”
Hi Melissa,
I am a former client of United Financial Systems, Inc. as well who also was in the same situation you were in. If you are interested in pursing this matter with me and well as others to get our well earned money back you can contact me via e-mail @ tottallytasha@gmail.com. This company needs to refund their clients, as well as do their job by helping those as they “non-profit”ly claim instead of digging deeper holes in others credit situations. I am thankful for people like Steve who acutally allow these posts to become public knowledge!
-SAMIAM
An update…my creditors got paid!!! I finally sent them an email explaining that I would be filing criminal grand theft charges if my money was not sent to the creditors and then found an email on another message board: cestabrook@unitedfinancial.org, her name is Carolee and appears to be the only person who is working at UFS.
UNITED FINANCIAL UPDATE
602 complaints filed against business
Failure to respond to 271 complaints filed against business
FL ATTORNEY GENERAL
UNITED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC.
1117 BANKS RD, MARGATE, FL 33063-6702
Phone 561-883-2398
Complaints 22
License Type License# Issued Expires Status
Charitable Organization CH22168 12/21/06 12/21/10 Closed – out of business
UNITED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC.
1117 BANKS RD, MARGATE, FL 33063-6702
Phone 800-510-8765
Complaints 2
UNITED FINANCIAL UPDATE
602 complaints filed against business
Failure to respond to 271 complaints filed against business
FL ATTORNEY GENERAL
UNITED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC.
1117 BANKS RD, MARGATE, FL 33063-6702
Phone 561-883-2398
Complaints 22
License Type License# Issued Expires Status
Charitable Organization CH22168 12/21/06 12/21/10 Closed – out of business
UNITED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC.
1117 BANKS RD, MARGATE, FL 33063-6702
Phone 800-510-8765
Complaints 2
He seems to pick up his cell phone – too bad he can’t do the same at his unethical and fraudulent company!!!!!!!!
Mr. Chris Boulahanis – President
HIS CELL PHONE NUMBER IS 954-610-1156
He seems to pick up his cell phone – too bad he can’t do the same at his unethical and fraudulent company!!!!!!!!
Mr. Chris Boulahanis – President
HIS CELL PHONE NUMBER IS 954-610-1156
Oh, please do tell more.
Ok, I want to first state that if you decided to go with United Financial Systems for consolidating your debt..DONT!!!!! I was a former employee and let me tell you this company is so shady with the members money it isnt funny…They will take payments every month on time, but instead of paying your DEBT, the Owner CHRISTOPHER BOULAHANIS is spending the money on his personal crap (house cars boat) and of course the buildings bills. Let me tell you, that if you go with this company expect your credit score to DROP! They expected us to LIE to the members about the payments posting. Telling the employees to blame it on the creditors. Also, its been told me me by a few attorneys I have spoke to with this company, that Mr. Boulahanis owes a quite a bit of change to the IRS…so if you are in this consolidation…WITHDRAW from it! This was the worst company to work for. Not Only was Jamie Lyons a rude and lousy boss, but she ALWAYS talked bad about EVERY member that called in and complained about their payments. Make this known that Chris BOULAHANIS also has a debt settlement company in the SAME BUILDING! So when they tell you settlement is bad, right next door is a settlement deptartment!!!!!! And according to an attorney I spoke with, you cant have 2 conflicting businesses in the same office!!!! I just wanted to vent and explain to everyone on RIPOFF REPORT that UNITED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS is beyond the WORST company to do business with…trust me, I worked there!!!!”
Ok, I want to first state that if you decided to go with United Financial Systems for consolidating your debt..DONT!!!!! I was a former employee and let me tell you this company is so shady with the members money it isnt funny…They will take payments every month on time, but instead of paying your DEBT, the Owner CHRISTOPHER BOULAHANIS is spending the money on his personal crap (house cars boat) and of course the buildings bills. Let me tell you, that if you go with this company expect your credit score to DROP! They expected us to LIE to the members about the payments posting. Telling the employees to blame it on the creditors. Also, its been told me me by a few attorneys I have spoke to with this company, that Mr. Boulahanis owes a quite a bit of change to the IRS…so if you are in this consolidation…WITHDRAW from it! This was the worst company to work for. Not Only was Jamie Lyons a rude and lousy boss, but she ALWAYS talked bad about EVERY member that called in and complained about their payments. Make this known that Chris BOULAHANIS also has a debt settlement company in the SAME BUILDING! So when they tell you settlement is bad, right next door is a settlement deptartment!!!!!! And according to an attorney I spoke with, you cant have 2 conflicting businesses in the same office!!!! I just wanted to vent and explain to everyone on RIPOFF REPORT that UNITED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS is beyond the WORST company to do business with…trust me, I worked there!!!!”
Oh, please do tell more.
Hi Former,
I couldn’t help but to agree with some great points you have. Would you mind e-mailing me if you are interested in helping those who are getting, excuse my language “screwed over”? It would be beneficial to you and everyone else to stop United Financial Systems from pocketing our hard earned money if you ask me! My personal email is Tottallytasha@gmail.com I sincerely hope to hear from you, this company has gone way to far in damaging debt rather than eliminating it.
I have been getting call backs fairly regularly from a woman named Anessa @ UFS. She has kept assuring me that my accounts will all be brought up to date. Problem is that was over 3 weeks ago, still no distributions made, still withdrawing funds from my account, and they tell me to forward any future questions to the new service they transferred my account to. I asked my bank about a stop payment on their withdraw, which happens to be Monday Dec. 27th, and all they recommended was to close the account and re-open with a new number. Problem is I have many accounts that draw on my checking account number and that could pose even more problems with other obligations. Of course with Christmas here, getting any response, or even telling them to close my account @ UFS is a lost cause until after the new year I am sure. I have called the new counseling service for info but of course, no return calls yet. So, I am stuck having to let them withdraw funds again tomorrow along with the previous months funds they have of mine and have not distributed to my creditors. Then I will have to fight, scratch and claw my way out of this incredibly horrible situation they put me in. I was on the egde of disaster before I took up UFS services, now I am for sure on a runaway train to debt hell with no stop in sight. I have no funds otherwise to even pursue any sort of legal action personally. All I can do is report to BBB and Attorney general as others have done, but it probably doesn’t even matter to them anymore with so many compaints. I’m just another number they seem to have swept away to another counseling service to “wash their hands” of the situation.
My contact @ UFS:
Anessa
1-561-883-2398
ext. 343
I have not gotten anyone to ever answer the phone when I call, but she has been returning my messages thus far. Up until this week anyway.
I’ve tried this e-mail but my correspondence was returned to me … do you think he closed it out?
Thanks for the number to Chris. I was so mad when I read it I didnt realize it was his personal cell. I have been trying to contact anyone at UFS for 3 months now and no real reply. I have recieved 2 emails from Sekenia Smith saying that they will make the payments out but that was over 2 weeks agoa nd nothing has posted to any account as of yet. I also called every business that Chris owns and told them to get ahold of him or Jamie Lyons and have tehm contact me. I told tehm I would call back every day until I heard from them. Maybe I can get this resolved before the end of the year.
Bubba-
What got them to pay? I’ve emailed, called, Filed with the BBB, FTC and AG of FL and my state and sent certified letters….still nothing. They have stopped corresponding with me and the BBB. My AG sent them a letter and today is the deadline for them to respond…so far–crickets! What’s your secret?
UFS finally paid all my accounts off after ruining my credit. They also sent my reimbursement check. I am just happy to be done with this terrible and unethical company. I cannot believe that they are actually opening another office. They should be sued instead for ruining my credit by 50 to 100 points depending on the which score I look at. I just received a letter today too saying that I am being switched to another company even though I am all paid off and done with the program. If there is ever a class action law suit please post it on here. I’m pretty sure we all have documentation of their errors and would have a good case.
Update on United Financial Systems
428 BBB Complaints
16 Florida Attorney General Complaints
THEY HAVE OPENED ANOTHER OFFICE SO IT SEEMS. SEE BBB REPORT TODAY
http://www.bbb.org/central-flo…
Business Contact and Profile
Name: United Financial Systems
Phone: (800) 510-8765
Fax: (561) 883-7302
Address: 921 Douglas Ave Ste 100
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714-5202
Website: http://www.unitedfinancial.org
Principal: Jaime Lyons, Client Services Manager
Customer Contact: Jaime Lyons, Client Services Manager – (800) 936-5982 or jlyons@unitedfinancial.org
Email Address: jlyons@unitedfinancial.org
File Open Date: April 2005
Type of Business: Credit – Debt Consolidation Services
BBB Accreditation: This company is not a BBB Accredited business.
Additional DBA Names: United Financial Services
Related Businesses
United Financial Systems – 921 Douglas Ave Ste 100, Altamonte Springs, FL United Financial Systems, Margate, FL
SAME JAIME LYONS
http://www.bbb.org/south-east-…
IF CLIENT WANT TO GET IN TOUCH WITH
Mr. Chris Boulahanis – President
HIS CELL PHONE NUMBER IS 954-610-1156
EMAIL CHRISB@EARTHLINK.NET
On September 7, 2006 I became a client with United Financial with the hope of paying off credit card debt quicker. I cruised along for 4 years until this past September when I received a letter from one of the credit cards stating that the past two months payments had not been made. I called the other two card companies and found the same things to be true. After seeing that a total of $1254 had been withdrawn from from checking account and NOT distributed as they were supposed to, I immediately closed my checking account and contacted the credit card companies.
I have resumed paying the card companies after telling them my dilemma and was forced to reopen a whole new checking account. I can’t tell you how angry and upset I am and would like to know what the h*ll has happened to my money and how I can go about retrieving it. How many other thousands of people have they done this to? They claim they have sent my info to another debt consolidating company, but I will no longer be involed. I am about 12 months from being done and will take care of it on my own. This company has the nerve to continue to have a website to set up new clients, yet they surely need to be dragged into court and forced to pay back the money they have absconded with. What a bunch of scum bags
Update on United Financial Systems
428 BBB Complaints
16 Florida Attorney General Complaints
THEY HAVE OPENED ANOTHER OFFICE SO IT SEEMS. SEE BBB REPORT TODAY
http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/credit-debt-consolidation-services/united-financial-systems-in-altamonte-springs-fl-25434272
Business Contact and Profile
Name: United Financial Systems
Phone: (800) 510-8765
Fax: (561) 883-7302
Address: 921 Douglas Ave Ste 100
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714-5202
Website: http://www.unitedfinancial.org
Principal: Jaime Lyons, Client Services Manager
Customer Contact: Jaime Lyons, Client Services Manager – (800) 936-5982 or jlyons@unitedfinancial.org
Email Address: jlyons@unitedfinancial.org
File Open Date: April 2005
Type of Business: Credit – Debt Consolidation Services
BBB Accreditation: This company is not a BBB Accredited business.
Additional DBA Names: United Financial Services
Related Businesses
United Financial Systems – 921 Douglas Ave Ste 100, Altamonte Springs, FL United Financial Systems, Margate, FL
SAME JAIME LYONS
http://www.bbb.org/south-east-florida/business-reviews/debt-consolidation-services/united-financial-systems-in-margate-fl-26001633
IF CLIENT WANT TO GET IN TOUCH WITH
Mr. Chris Boulahanis – President
HIS CELL PHONE NUMBER IS 954-610-1156
EMAIL CHRISB@EARTHLINK.NET
On September 7, 2006 I became a client with United Financial with the hope of paying off credit card debt quicker. I cruised along for 4 years until this past September when I received a letter from one of the credit cards stating that the past two months payments had not been made. I called the other two card companies and found the same things to be true. After seeing that a total of $1254 had been withdrawn from from checking account and NOT distributed as they were supposed to, I immediately closed my checking account and contacted the credit card companies.
I have resumed paying the card companies after telling them my dilemma and was forced to reopen a whole new checking account. I can’t tell you how angry and upset I am and would like to know what the h*ll has happened to my money and how I can go about retrieving it. How many other thousands of people have they done this to? They claim they have sent my info to another debt consolidating company, but I will no longer be involed. I am about 12 months from being done and will take care of it on my own. This company has the nerve to continue to have a website to set up new clients, yet they surely need to be dragged into court and forced to pay back the money they have absconded with. What a bunch of scum bags
Thanks for the number to Chris. I was so mad when I read it I didnt realize it was his personal cell. I have been trying to contact anyone at UFS for 3 months now and no real reply. I have recieved 2 emails from Sekenia Smith saying that they will make the payments out but that was over 2 weeks agoa nd nothing has posted to any account as of yet. I also called every business that Chris owns and told them to get ahold of him or Jamie Lyons and have tehm contact me. I told tehm I would call back every day until I heard from them. Maybe I can get this resolved before the end of the year.
I have been getting call backs fairly regularly from a woman named Anessa @ UFS. She has kept assuring me that my accounts will all be brought up to date. Problem is that was over 3 weeks ago, still no distributions made, still withdrawing funds from my account, and they tell me to forward any future questions to the new service they transferred my account to. I asked my bank about a stop payment on their withdraw, which happens to be Monday Dec. 27th, and all they recommended was to close the account and re-open with a new number. Problem is I have many accounts that draw on my checking account number and that could pose even more problems with other obligations. Of course with Christmas here, getting any response, or even telling them to close my account @ UFS is a lost cause until after the new year I am sure. I have called the new counseling service for info but of course, no return calls yet. So, I am stuck having to let them withdraw funds again tomorrow along with the previous months funds they have of mine and have not distributed to my creditors. Then I will have to fight, scratch and claw my way out of this incredibly horrible situation they put me in. I was on the egde of disaster before I took up UFS services, now I am for sure on a runaway train to debt hell with no stop in sight. I have no funds otherwise to even pursue any sort of legal action personally. All I can do is report to BBB and Attorney general as others have done, but it probably doesn’t even matter to them anymore with so many compaints. I’m just another number they seem to have swept away to another counseling service to “wash their hands” of the situation.
My contact @ UFS:
Anessa
1-561-883-2398
ext. 343
I have not gotten anyone to ever answer the phone when I call, but she has been returning my messages thus far. Up until this week anyway.
I’ve tried this e-mail but my correspondence was returned to me … do you think he closed it out?
These People are Awful!!! I too, have had isssues as the others have posted here too. So, after they ruined my credit, by non payment, I quit the program, but they still have one bill unpaid. I cannot get my money back, and of course can reach no one at UFS, they’ve since disconnected their 800 number, and you have to actually call the Florida number. No big deal, called yesterday, was on hold over an hour just to get hung up on. Jamie Lyons, has not responded to a single email I’ve sent over the last 6 months! It’s very frustrating, but I’ll be speaking to the AG in order to file against this. I was pleased with them for over three years, and this year they’ve ruined my credit, and now I’m not only finishing paying my credit cards myself, but i’m having to work on getting those negatives removed from my credit! Very Frustrating.
These People are Awful!!! I too, have had isssues as the others have posted here too. So, after they ruined my credit, by non payment, I quit the program, but they still have one bill unpaid. I cannot get my money back, and of course can reach no one at UFS, they’ve since disconnected their 800 number, and you have to actually call the Florida number. No big deal, called yesterday, was on hold over an hour just to get hung up on. Jamie Lyons, has not responded to a single email I’ve sent over the last 6 months! It’s very frustrating, but I’ll be speaking to the AG in order to file against this. I was pleased with them for over three years, and this year they’ve ruined my credit, and now I’m not only finishing paying my credit cards myself, but i’m having to work on getting those negatives removed from my credit! Very Frustrating.
UFS finally paid all my accounts off after ruining my credit. They also sent my reimbursement check. I am just happy to be done with this terrible and unethical company. I cannot believe that they are actually opening another office. They should be sued instead for ruining my credit by 50 to 100 points depending on the which score I look at. I just received a letter today too saying that I am being switched to another company even though I am all paid off and done with the program. If there is ever a class action law suit please post it on here. I’m pretty sure we all have documentation of their errors and would have a good case.
Bubba-
What got them to pay? I’ve emailed, called, Filed with the BBB, FTC and AG of FL and my state and sent certified letters….still nothing. They have stopped corresponding with me and the BBB. My AG sent them a letter and today is the deadline for them to respond…so far–crickets! What’s your secret?
Hey Bubba,
I went threw the same situation as you, exxxceepptt for the reimbursment part. You should be intitled to getting your credit fix! Don’t give up, I won’t. If you are interested in trying to get your credit back that they have made worse (it sounds!) please e-mail me. I have been going threw this crisis for months, and with others help we can do this. Please e-mail me for more information if you are still intersted!! Tottallytasha@gmail.com
This company has apparently affected millions of people and we are the only ones taking notice, we need to take another step before innocent people are filling their companies pockets, and they claim to be NON-PROFIT???! E-mail me if you or anyone else are still interested in pursuing the matter further.
Just amazes me that in the USA companies can do this to countless numbers of people without any action being taken against them. I am sure most of these people are like me and are just hard working, trusting individuals. I only signed aggreement with UFS in an attempt to better my financial situation without defaulting on any of my obligations. It is utterly ridiculous that this can happen to soooo many people from one company and yet they remain in business. I did file complaint with the FTC but have spent most of my time begging creditors to forgive the late payments that accumulated on my accounts.
Just amazes me that in the USA companies can do this to countless numbers of people without any action being taken against them. I am sure most of these people are like me and are just hard working, trusting individuals. I only signed aggreement with UFS in an attempt to better my financial situation without defaulting on any of my obligations. It is utterly ridiculous that this can happen to soooo many people from one company and yet they remain in business. I did file complaint with the FTC but have spent most of my time begging creditors to forgive the late payments that accumulated on my accounts.
I also made the huge mistake of trusting my finances to this company. For months now I have been trying to repair my credit score which was good prior to UFS failing to made payments as aggreed. It is a complete rip-off and I have spent countless hours trying to fix this big mess!
I also made the huge mistake of trusting my finances to this company. For months now I have been trying to repair my credit score which was good prior to UFS failing to made payments as aggreed. It is a complete rip-off and I have spent countless hours trying to fix this big mess!
I am in the same boat. Just sent e-mail to Fl attorney general and attorney general elect transition group. I have stayed on the phone for up to 45 min, where at that point it rings and I get all excited and I get sent to another message instructing me to leave a voicemail in a full mailbox.
I have sent e-mail to
info@
jlyons@
service@
unitedfinancial.org
and I have not ever received a message back. I did get one call that I received while out of cell reception that went straight to voice mail informing me that my account has moved to American Debt Counseling. And to call them. Problem lies that my BBB case put pressure on them a couple months ago to straight up and all my payments were finally made. I told them I would stay in the program one more month while they tidy things up before I remove myself along with my full deposit back and they agreed. That was two months ago. I did stop payments with ADC (They may be a good company, I don’t know) so now my beef is with trying to get check and my deposit back…and a couple of late fees they agreed to over the phone as well.
I even went so far as to try and find someone that lives in that part of FL that can pay them a visit and ask what is going on and why no one answers their phone!
I refuse to let them break contract and win. I will get my deposit back and I have already started reading Steve’s roadmap to do just that! Hell, I keep pretty good records and I can show them all the late fees incurred because a payment was not sent…not that it was late as I can understand that and what UFS will say, but it was never sent!!!
I was using the snowball effect and just increasing how much went to another payment once one card was payed off. But they incurred 115 in late fees when the balance was finally at 100 after they dropped the ball.
I’ll keep yall posted on any info I receive!
I am in the same boat. Just sent e-mail to Fl attorney general and attorney general elect transition group. I have stayed on the phone for up to 45 min, where at that point it rings and I get all excited and I get sent to another message instructing me to leave a voicemail in a full mailbox.
I have sent e-mail to
info@
jlyons@
service@
unitedfinancial.org
and I have not ever received a message back. I did get one call that I received while out of cell reception that went straight to voice mail informing me that my account has moved to American Debt Counseling. And to call them. Problem lies that my BBB case put pressure on them a couple months ago to straight up and all my payments were finally made. I told them I would stay in the program one more month while they tidy things up before I remove myself along with my full deposit back and they agreed. That was two months ago. I did stop payments with ADC (They may be a good company, I don’t know) so now my beef is with trying to get check and my deposit back…and a couple of late fees they agreed to over the phone as well.
I even went so far as to try and find someone that lives in that part of FL that can pay them a visit and ask what is going on and why no one answers their phone!
I refuse to let them break contract and win. I will get my deposit back and I have already started reading Steve’s roadmap to do just that! Hell, I keep pretty good records and I can show them all the late fees incurred because a payment was not sent…not that it was late as I can understand that and what UFS will say, but it was never sent!!!
I was using the snowball effect and just increasing how much went to another payment once one card was payed off. But they incurred 115 in late fees when the balance was finally at 100 after they dropped the ball.
I’ll keep yall posted on any info I receive!
Should I continue to try to call/email UFS after I have followed this plan?
I would like to, please email me, ufsclient@hotmail.com. They have not paid my creditors for 4 months now.
Thank you, I am one of those unresolved BBB complaints office. I will be filing with the Attorney General as well.
UFS BBB COMPLAINTS
383 complaints filed against business
Failure to respond to 104 complaints filed against business.
3 complaints filed against business that were not resolved
FLA ATTORNEY GENERAL COMP-LAINTS
1117 BANKS RD, MARGATE, FL 33063-6702
Phone 561-883-2398
Complaints 13
I want to get a lawyer as well. Let me know in replying if you are interested in doing it jointly, I am sure there are countless others seeing as though this company has come into being a “F” rating on the BBB website almost overnight.
My client number is #477724 and my payments have not posted for over 4 months. I have been for the past 3 months trying to get in contact with ANYONE including you that could help but to no avail. Every single one of my creditors have dropped me from the program and you haven’t even gotten in touch with me, yet every 17th of the month UFS deducts $407. If anyone else that reads this is thinking about filing a lawsuit or an official complaint with the attorney general please reply to this so that there is strength in numbers. I am tired of trying to get UFS playing with my money and want a full refund as well as a reimbursement of my deposit since it was UFS who has not upheld their part of the contract. If I get a lawyer I will also be going after the late fees that I have accrued on my creditors. This company is a fraud and am willing to reach out to the news press in South Florida to expose what this company is doing to individuals like myself, who are trying to pay their creditors but are being scammed by so called “non-profit” organizations.
Jaime, aren’t you afraid that you will lose your job because it sounds like this company is going under?
I also got a letter saying that ADC is taking over our account. As we cancelled with UFS, I called ADC to see what the story is. They seem helpful and say that they have been able to get creditors to reaccept customers on debt management by explaining that this is UFS’ error, not their customer error. I’ve already changed to a new debt management company, but it seems that ACD will work with UFS customers at least as far as creditors are concerned. They also asked what steps I had taken with UFS and advised that those are encouraged steps to take. I’m very interested in seeing what happens to UFS. Hoping that we’ll get the full story at some point.
Allison Brown from the Federal Trade Commission!!
THE POST TELLS YOU WHERE YOUR STOLEN MONEY IS GOING!!
Consumer Alliance Processing Corporation (CAPC) for profit and has huge fees!!
http://www.caprocessing.com/
5816 Dryden Place #101
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Toll Free: 888-533-3016
Fax: 888-546-9424
Consumers Alliance Processing Corp.
(888)533-3016
fax(888)546-9424
5816 Dryden Place, Suite 101
Carlsbad, CA 92008
WEB: http://www.caprocessing.com
Who is the new service provider?
Follow up to my initial post. I actually was able to finally leave a voice message with Jaime’s extension, and recieved a call back(not from Jaime) one day later. I had been attempting to contact any live human there for 2 weeks without success. The representative that returned my call(didn’t think to get her name) assured me that my accounts would all be brough up to date by Wednesday of this coming week, and she would personally check back with me by midweek to confirm this. She also told me about the “glitch” in their system that has affected many of their customers, and they are working dilligently to correct all situations. I have some doubts though, seeing as they are moving accounts to other debt mangement services. In my eyes, making an attempt to wash their hands clean of these issues of non-payment to our creditors. I am PRAYING they stay true to their words and get my funds distributed FAST, and to the proper accounts. She also informed me to forward any questions to the new service that will be handling my account. I haven’t researched them as of this time, but i surely will very soon, so i know what to expect from the new service I have been directed to. I will update my experience as things progress.
Follow up to my initial post. I actually was able to finally leave a voice message with Jaime’s extension, and recieved a call back(not from Jaime) one day later. I had been attempting to contact any live human there for 2 weeks without success. The representative that returned my call(didn’t think to get her name) assured me that my accounts would all be brough up to date by Wednesday of this coming week, and she would personally check back with me by midweek to confirm this. She also told me about the “glitch” in their system that has affected many of their customers, and they are working dilligently to correct all situations. I have some doubts though, seeing as they are moving accounts to other debt mangement services. In my eyes, making an attempt to wash their hands clean of these issues of non-payment to our creditors. I am PRAYING they stay true to their words and get my funds distributed FAST, and to the proper accounts. She also informed me to forward any questions to the new service that will be handling my account. I haven’t researched them as of this time, but i surely will very soon, so i know what to expect from the new service I have been directed to. I will update my experience as things progress.
Who is the new service provider?
Consumers Alliance Processing Corp.
(888)533-3016
fax(888)546-9424
5816 Dryden Place, Suite 101
Carlsbad, CA 92008
WEB: http://www.caprocessing.com
Hi Financially Frustrated,
I have been on this since August of 2010, have you had your issue resolved yet? I haven’t, after reading all these numerous post, it makes me sick! If you or anyone else are interested in pursing this matter further with me to get what we deserve rather than continue to ruin our credit e-mail me @ tottallytasha@gmail.com. They have done this to wayy to many people, everyone seems to give up, but I will not! Bad people do not deserve to be rewarded with our money.
-SAMIAM
If anyone is interested in standing behind me on this matter please feel free to e-mail me anytime! “Together, anything is possible!”
I’d suggest you follow this process for your best chance at a resolution.
And you are welcome.
Steve
Unfortunately, I live in neighboring Prince George’s County. But I will file a complaint with my county’s Consumer Affairs division. Maybe I can follow it up with there. Thanks for your help Steve!
Hopefully you live in Montgomery County, Maryland. If you do, file a complaint with Consumer Affairs in Montgomery County and once you do that and they receive it, let me know. The executive director there is a friend of mine and I’ll contact him to fill him in on the backstory which will help their investigation.
Steve,
I wish I read your article sooner, and I would have put a stop payment on my check to UFS. This is my story, and I am wondering if you have any insight:
I did not realize that UFS has missed my payments since July until last week of November, when I received a notice from mail forwarded to me from Chase and Bank of America saying that they have not received anything since JULY!
I moved once in February, and then again in mid September, so the forwarding, changing addresses, etc took a while until they caught up with me, along with the past due statements from Chase and BoA last week (November 29th, 2010). I did not deal with Chase and BoA directly ever since I started working with UFS because they were taking care of everything (and I had been a client with them since late 2006), so I assumed everything was fine, and didn’t bother to let my creditors know about my address change, since they were my parent’s houses, which is why the mail finally took a while to get forwarded to my new address.
In the meantime, I had not received anything from Chase or BoA regarding my now delinquent account, but, I thought everything was humming along fine, and I called UFS in September to give them a big payoff amount (which I have been saving all last year) to finally pay off my debt. So, I spoke to a lady named Ella in late September, when I called to tell them that I am ready to pay off my remaining debt. She quoted me some numbers, from both creditors, which totaled $2717.00, and told me to send it via Cashiers check. I asked why Cashier’s Check, and she said it was because they wanted to make sure I had the funds available, which I figured was normal anyways. Ella then told me to follow up about 7 to 10 days later to speak with someone about getting my deposit money, since I had finished the program with them, and congratulated me. She had also cancelled my ACH, which was the only thing that they managed to do correctly since that conversation with Ella.
So, I sent them a cashier’s check to the address that Ella told me (the one in Margate, FL) for $2717.00 via certified check. They received it 2 days later, and I had thought everything was taken care of. November came, and about 14 days later (second week of November), I sent them an email because I couldn’t reach them through their voicemail since end of September trying to follow up, and no response. On a side note, once I told them I was ready to pay off, they did all the calling during October and waited patiently for my cashiers check. I then tried to call a few times the week of Thanksgiving, but no response. When I went to visit my family (old address) during the Thanksgiving weekend, and get the remainder of my mail which were not yet forwarded, I saw the mail from Chase. I immediately opened it, and saw that I had owed Chase over $3000 now and was delinquent beyond 90 days.
After trying to call them all day Monday, Nov. 29th, faxing them a letter saying I will report them to the FTC, and emailing them using all the contact email addresses on their website on Tuesday, I finally found your site later that evening. By Wednesday, I was on the phone with Chase, and a representative from Chase couldn’t help me with UFS after I explained to her my story, and told me that I had been dropped from the debt relief program in Oct., since I wasn’t making any payments. But, she gave me a one time quote, which I had to pay off from my savings accounts. I also spoke to BoA, but he was a little more forgiving and gave me 2 weeks to work out whatever with UFS, and he will follow up. I think this was because I owed significantly less for BoA, and my due date is the day before x-mas, plus, the BoA rep. was a little sympathetic when I told him that now I am a little more than $6000 down from my savings, and have nothing left for a while.
Finally, thanks to someone that I found on this and another forum, I managed to contact someone at UFS named Carolee via email, and she told me in the email today (12/3/2010), that they have dispersed the payments to my creditors, and that the accounting department is reviewing my situation.
That is where it stands for now, but given the situation, and the hundreds of complaints here and elsewhere, as well as the fact that this company has not been transparent and open, and actually very “smart-assed” in their responses, I don’t believe a word that anyone says, until someone “shows me the money.”
My next course of action is:
– Follow your advice in sending them a return receipt mail requesting a refund for my cashier’s check of $2717, plus 3 months (July, August, September) worth of ACH payments @ $429/month
– File a complaint with the FTC
– Already filed a complaint today with the BBB
– File a complain with the local media Consumer Protection Agency here (I happen to live in the Washington, DC suburb), for anyone who is in this area, its WTOP.com‘s “Cal for Action”
– Contact the Florida State Attorney General’s Office
– Contact my state’s Attorney General’s Office
– According to my local banking representative, where the Cashier’s check was made, UFS deposited the check on November 2nd, and since I never received the “product”, she advised me to report my cashier check as a theft to my local police department, since it has been more than a month, just so that its on the record should there be some legal actions later.
Thats a very long list of to-do’s, but I (all of us UFS customers) want our money back! The nail in the coffin is that I am up for a basic security clearance (most federal jobs require this), which look at my background and credit score, so I am really really worried, that this whole mess will cost my career!!!!
Do you have any other insight, besides what I have in my to-do list?
Thanks Steve!
-Prince
Steve,
I wish I read your article sooner, and I would have put a stop payment on my check to UFS. This is my story, and I am wondering if you have any insight:
I did not realize that UFS has missed my payments since July until last week of November, when I received a notice from mail forwarded to me from Chase and Bank of America saying that they have not received anything since JULY!
I moved once in February, and then again in mid September, so the forwarding, changing addresses, etc took a while until they caught up with me, along with the past due statements from Chase and BoA last week (November 29th, 2010). I did not deal with Chase and BoA directly ever since I started working with UFS because they were taking care of everything (and I had been a client with them since late 2006), so I assumed everything was fine, and didn’t bother to let my creditors know about my address change, since they were my parent’s houses, which is why the mail finally took a while to get forwarded to my new address.
In the meantime, I had not received anything from Chase or BoA regarding my now delinquent account, but, I thought everything was humming along fine, and I called UFS in September to give them a big payoff amount (which I have been saving all last year) to finally pay off my debt. So, I spoke to a lady named Ella in late September, when I called to tell them that I am ready to pay off my remaining debt. She quoted me some numbers, from both creditors, which totaled $2717.00, and told me to send it via Cashiers check. I asked why Cashier’s Check, and she said it was because they wanted to make sure I had the funds available, which I figured was normal anyways. Ella then told me to follow up about 7 to 10 days later to speak with someone about getting my deposit money, since I had finished the program with them, and congratulated me. She had also cancelled my ACH, which was the only thing that they managed to do correctly since that conversation with Ella.
So, I sent them a cashier’s check to the address that Ella told me (the one in Margate, FL) for $2717.00 via certified check. They received it 2 days later, and I had thought everything was taken care of. November came, and about 14 days later (second week of November), I sent them an email because I couldn’t reach them through their voicemail since end of September trying to follow up, and no response. On a side note, once I told them I was ready to pay off, they did all the calling during October and waited patiently for my cashiers check. I then tried to call a few times the week of Thanksgiving, but no response. When I went to visit my family (old address) during the Thanksgiving weekend, and get the remainder of my mail which were not yet forwarded, I saw the mail from Chase. I immediately opened it, and saw that I had owed Chase over $3000 now and was delinquent beyond 90 days.
After trying to call them all day Monday, Nov. 29th, faxing them a letter saying I will report them to the FTC, and emailing them using all the contact email addresses on their website on Tuesday, I finally found your site later that evening. By Wednesday, I was on the phone with Chase, and a representative from Chase couldn’t help me with UFS after I explained to her my story, and told me that I had been dropped from the debt relief program in Oct., since I wasn’t making any payments. But, she gave me a one time quote, which I had to pay off from my savings accounts. I also spoke to BoA, but he was a little more forgiving and gave me 2 weeks to work out whatever with UFS, and he will follow up. I think this was because I owed significantly less for BoA, and my due date is the day before x-mas, plus, the BoA rep. was a little sympathetic when I told him that now I am a little more than $6000 down from my savings, and have nothing left for a while.
Finally, thanks to someone that I found on this and another forum, I managed to contact someone at UFS named Carolee via email, and she told me in the email today (12/3/2010), that they have dispersed the payments to my creditors, and that the accounting department is reviewing my situation.
That is where it stands for now, but given the situation, and the hundreds of complaints here and elsewhere, as well as the fact that this company has not been transparent and open, and actually very “smart-assed” in their responses, I don’t believe a word that anyone says, until someone “shows me the money.”
My next course of action is:
– Follow your advice in sending them a return receipt mail requesting a refund for my cashier’s check of $2717, plus 3 months (July, August, September) worth of ACH payments @ $429/month
– File a complaint with the FTC
– Already filed a complaint today with the BBB
– File a complain with the local media Consumer Protection Agency here (I happen to live in the Washington, DC suburb), for anyone who is in this area, its WTOP.com’s “Cal for Action”
– Contact the Florida State Attorney General’s Office
– Contact my state’s Attorney General’s Office
– According to my local banking representative, where the Cashier’s check was made, UFS deposited the check on November 2nd, and since I never received the “product”, she advised me to report my cashier check as a theft to my local police department, since it has been more than a month, just so that its on the record should there be some legal actions later.
Thats a very long list of to-do’s, but I (all of us UFS customers) want our money back! The nail in the coffin is that I am up for a basic security clearance (most federal jobs require this), which look at my background and credit score, so I am really really worried, that this whole mess will cost my career!!!!
Do you have any other insight, besides what I have in my to-do list?
Thanks Steve!
-Prince
Hopefully you live in Montgomery County, Maryland. If you do, file a complaint with Consumer Affairs in Montgomery County and once you do that and they receive it, let me know. The executive director there is a friend of mine and I’ll contact him to fill him in on the backstory which will help their investigation.
Unfortunately, I live in neighboring Prince George’s County. But I will file a complaint with my county’s Consumer Affairs division. Maybe I can follow it up with there. Thanks for your help Steve!
I’d suggest you follow this process for your best chance at a resolution.
And you are welcome.
Steve
Should I continue to try to call/email UFS after I have followed this plan?
Me too.
Thanks for the heads up on Jamie. Here’s hoping she can help me. here’s what I sent her:
I have been told by other disgruntled clients of UFS that you may be able to help me. I have been a client since March, 2005. This year everything went haywire on my accounts with numerous late payments (by 60 plus days). I myself made minimum payments to ensure that my credit was not further effected by UFS’s super late payments.
I am lucky that all of my accounts are now paid in full and no creditors are hounding me. BUT, UFS had a payment early in 2010 in the amount of $592 that never was received by Bank of America/Fleet. Pamela Lee had Accounting verify that that payment was returned to UFS. The account was paid in full by the time this error was confirmed. Instead of sending me the $592, Pamela said that it was sent out to Bank of America on August 25, 2010. To date, it has not been received by Bank of America/Fleet account ending in 3870. I call daily to check if the payment has been received. The September 8th email below is the last time I heard from Pamela Lee. She no longer responds to my emails. I try to call and there is no way to get through to your company.
I thought this non-profit agency was there to help me improve my credit, not run it into the ground. I’m very disappointed.”
I guess its nice to know that I am not the only one they screwed. But I am sorry for all of us.
Melissa M.
Me too.
Thanks for the heads up on Jamie. Here’s hoping she can help me. here’s what I sent her:
I have been told by other disgruntled clients of UFS that you may be able to help me. I have been a client since March, 2005. This year everything went haywire on my accounts with numerous late payments (by 60 plus days). I myself made minimum payments to ensure that my credit was not further effected by UFS’s super late payments.
I am lucky that all of my accounts are now paid in full and no creditors are hounding me. BUT, UFS had a payment early in 2010 in the amount of $592 that never was received by Bank of America/Fleet. Pamela Lee had Accounting verify that that payment was returned to UFS. The account was paid in full by the time this error was confirmed. Instead of sending me the $592, Pamela said that it was sent out to Bank of America on August 25, 2010. To date, it has not been received by Bank of America/Fleet account ending in 3870. I call daily to check if the payment has been received. The September 8th email below is the last time I heard from Pamela Lee. She no longer responds to my emails. I try to call and there is no way to get through to your company.
I thought this non-profit agency was there to help me improve my credit, not run it into the ground. I’m very disappointed.”
I guess its nice to know that I am not the only one they screwed. But I am sorry for all of us.
Melissa M.
Hi Melissa,
I am a former client of United Financial Systems, Inc. as well who also was in the same situation you were in. If you are interested in pursing this matter with me and well as others to get our well earned money back you can contact me via e-mail @ tottallytasha@gmail.com. This company needs to refund their clients, as well as do their job by helping those as they “non-profit”ly claim instead of digging deeper holes in others credit situations. I am thankful for people like Steve who acutally allow these posts to become public knowledge!
-SAMIAM
I am doubtful as well. A few BBB complaints is one thing but when a debt relief company has so many complaints and issues with the AGs, it almost never ends well. I keep saying it but anyone still with UFS needs to run for the hills before you get dropped by a creditor or worse.
Another update – still no money. Complaints filed with FL AG, IN AG, BBB, FTC, and our local TV investigative reporter. UFS says they are reviewing the payments with the accounting department. As they have yet to keep their word, I am doubtful.
I have read a bunch of these and recently had the same problem. I’m still waiting for them to refund $582 directly to me, but I was able to finally get them to post the almost $1500 in back payments to my credit cards. I had to get in contact with both the Attorney General for the state of Florida and the consumer complaints board for Florida. It took about 3-4 weeks, but eventually after many e-mails and messages letting them know I meant business, they posted. They tried to fill me with the same bull about a mistake with their system, but ultimately the only thing that worked was to file a formal complaint. I had been on the program for about 3 years and have very little left to pay off on both credit cards so the companies both allowed me to keep the low interest rate and payment so I was lucky there. I hope this helps someone, it seems so unbelievable that they are allowed to get away with this. I am keeping my complaint open until they pay the last $582 so hopefully that will encourage them to do so.
I have read a bunch of these and recently had the same problem. I’m still waiting for them to refund $582 directly to me, but I was able to finally get them to post the almost $1500 in back payments to my credit cards. I had to get in contact with both the Attorney General for the state of Florida and the consumer complaints board for Florida. It took about 3-4 weeks, but eventually after many e-mails and messages letting them know I meant business, they posted. They tried to fill me with the same bull about a mistake with their system, but ultimately the only thing that worked was to file a formal complaint. I had been on the program for about 3 years and have very little left to pay off on both credit cards so the companies both allowed me to keep the low interest rate and payment so I was lucky there. I hope this helps someone, it seems so unbelievable that they are allowed to get away with this. I am keeping my complaint open until they pay the last $582 so hopefully that will encourage them to do so.
Forward to Allison who? I’m not sure what your post is other than listing some assets he may, or may not actually own. I’m a little confused.
United Financial owner CHRISTOPHER BOULAHANIS
chrisb@earthlink.net
from the tax records
7140 NW 126th Terrace
Parkland FL 33076
Land value: $180,680
Building value: $1,212,300
Total value for property: $1,392,980
Last sale date: 08/24/2004
Assessments for tax year: 2009
Building area: 5,214 square feet
Boat
Boat Name MOVIN N SHAKIN
Boat Owner (Managing owner of the vessel) CHRISTOPHER M BOULAHANIS
Registered Address (Address the US Coast Guard has on file for this vessel) (available with membership or
data download)
Hull Identification Number (A unique 12 digit alpha-numeric identification number that all boats manufactured after 1972 are equipped with on their transom (the flat rear end of the boat) and reflects the manufacturer, serial number, and month and year of build) (available with membership or
data download)
Hailing Port (Displayed on the vessel’s stern and may be used to best determine the vessel’s geographical area of operation) (available with membership or
data download)
Official US Coast Guard Vessel ID (Unique ID awarded by the U.S. Coast Guard to a documented vessel and is permanently marked on some structural part of the hull interior but not to be confused with the manufacturer’s hull identification number.) (available with membership or
data download)
Lloyd’s Registry Number (This is a unique number that is assigned by Lloyd’s Registry for the life of the vessel. Most vessels with this number are self propelled, over 100 gross tons, and operate on ocean and/or coastwise waters.) n/r
Call Sign (Unique code designated for the vessel’s radio transmissions) n/r
Flag (United States)
Service Type (General use of the vessel) Recreational
Boat’s Length 32.3 ft
Boat’s Gross Tons 15.0
Boat’s Net Tons 12.0
Vessel Build Year 2004
Ship Builder SEA RAY DIVISION OF BRUNSWICK CORP
Hull Shape (e.g. Monohull, Trimaran, Catamaran, Unknown) Ship
Propulsion Type UNSPECIFIED
Now that he is selling his client’s to Consumer Alliance I hope it’s not too late to
get our money back. can you foreward this to Allison FTC?
I am also a UFS customer since May 2010. Up until September things were fine, then the payment issues started. So glad I found this site. I see I am not the only one with troubles. I had used them previously without issue, but this time around has turned into a nightmare. Today I received in the mail, a letter which states…..
UFS effective 12/1/2010 has assigned your debt management plan to Consumers Alliance Processing Corp. Pursuant to this transfer you will continue reciving a debt management plan without interruption.
Consumers Alliance Processing Corp will continue as the processing agent for your debt management account. rest assured your program will continue as previously set up. Your monthly fee will not change. the dates you make your payments, and the dates we debit your account by ACH will not change. If you have any questions you can reach us at our toll free customer service number.
Consumers Alliance Processing Corp.
(888)533-3016
fax(888)546-9424
5816 Dryden Place, Suite 101
Carlsbad, CA 92008
WEB: http://www.caprocessing.com
It continues to stae that none of my previous terms will change. Amounts, dates, etc.
States there will be a seemless transition period, with no delays.
I still have some unpaid balance issues from the past 2 months with UFS. But as most everyone else has experienced, I have been unable to get any response from my phone calls, and messages left. Yesterday, my monthly withdrawal was debited from my account. I wonder if any of that will be going where it’s supposed to. My job allows very little time to address these issues. I still have some worries. Not sure what to do at this point.
I am also a UFS customer since May 2010. Up until September things were fine, then the payment issues started. So glad I found this site. I see I am not the only one with troubles. I had used them previously without issue, but this time around has turned into a nightmare. Today I received in the mail, a letter which states…..
UFS effective 12/1/2010 has assigned your debt management plan to Consumers Alliance Processing Corp. Pursuant to this transfer you will continue reciving a debt management plan without interruption.
Consumers Alliance Processing Corp will continue as the processing agent for your debt management account. rest assured your program will continue as previously set up. Your monthly fee will not change. the dates you make your payments, and the dates we debit your account by ACH will not change. If you have any questions you can reach us at our toll free customer service number.
Consumers Alliance Processing Corp.
(888)533-3016
fax(888)546-9424
5816 Dryden Place, Suite 101
Carlsbad, CA 92008
WEB: http://www.caprocessing.com
It continues to stae that none of my previous terms will change. Amounts, dates, etc.
States there will be a seemless transition period, with no delays.
I still have some unpaid balance issues from the past 2 months with UFS. But as most everyone else has experienced, I have been unable to get any response from my phone calls, and messages left. Yesterday, my monthly withdrawal was debited from my account. I wonder if any of that will be going where it’s supposed to. My job allows very little time to address these issues. I still have some worries. Not sure what to do at this point.
United Financial owner CHRISTOPHER BOULAHANIS
chrisb@earthlink.net
from the tax records
7140 NW 126th Terrace
Parkland FL 33076
Land value: $180,680
Building value: $1,212,300
Total value for property: $1,392,980
Last sale date: 08/24/2004
Assessments for tax year: 2009
Building area: 5,214 square feet
Boat
Boat Name MOVIN N SHAKIN
Boat Owner (Managing owner of the vessel) CHRISTOPHER M BOULAHANIS
Registered Address (Address the US Coast Guard has on file for this vessel) (available with membership or
data download)
Hull Identification Number (A unique 12 digit alpha-numeric identification number that all boats manufactured after 1972 are equipped with on their transom (the flat rear end of the boat) and reflects the manufacturer, serial number, and month and year of build) (available with membership or
data download)
Hailing Port (Displayed on the vessel’s stern and may be used to best determine the vessel’s geographical area of operation) (available with membership or
data download)
Official US Coast Guard Vessel ID (Unique ID awarded by the U.S. Coast Guard to a documented vessel and is permanently marked on some structural part of the hull interior but not to be confused with the manufacturer’s hull identification number.) (available with membership or
data download)
Lloyd’s Registry Number (This is a unique number that is assigned by Lloyd’s Registry for the life of the vessel. Most vessels with this number are self propelled, over 100 gross tons, and operate on ocean and/or coastwise waters.) n/r
Call Sign (Unique code designated for the vessel’s radio transmissions) n/r
Flag (United States)
Service Type (General use of the vessel) Recreational
Boat’s Length 32.3 ft
Boat’s Gross Tons 15.0
Boat’s Net Tons 12.0
Vessel Build Year 2004
Ship Builder SEA RAY DIVISION OF BRUNSWICK CORP
Hull Shape (e.g. Monohull, Trimaran, Catamaran, Unknown) Ship
Propulsion Type UNSPECIFIED
Now that he is selling his client’s to Consumer Alliance I hope it’s not too late to
get our money back. can you foreward this to Allison FTC?
Forward to Allison who? I’m not sure what your post is other than listing some assets he may, or may not actually own. I’m a little confused.
Allison Brown from the Federal Trade Commission!!
THE POST TELLS YOU WHERE YOUR STOLEN MONEY IS GOING!!
I have worked with UF for 4 years and everythings been fine. Now I’m getting calls from Chase saying they haven’t been paid since August 30th. I’ve called and left messages everday with UF, I’ve faxed a letter, emailed, and no one has called me back. I filed a complaint with BBB and still haven’t heard anything. The money has been taken out of my account every month so where is the money going? So now I have to pay Chase extra money so I don’t get sent to a third party collections. Chase says they can’t contact UF, how is that possible? How can they do buisiness with them but can’t contact them? I wish I would’ve never worked with UF, they’ve screwed me out of $450 so far. I’m going to close my bank account so they can’t take anymore money, I bet you I hear from someone then. How can they do this to all these people when we’re trying to get are debt problems fixed.
I have worked with UF for 4 years and everythings been fine. Now I’m getting calls from Chase saying they haven’t been paid since August 30th. I’ve called and left messages everday with UF, I’ve faxed a letter, emailed, and no one has called me back. I filed a complaint with BBB and still haven’t heard anything. The money has been taken out of my account every month so where is the money going? So now I have to pay Chase extra money so I don’t get sent to a third party collections. Chase says they can’t contact UF, how is that possible? How can they do buisiness with them but can’t contact them? I wish I would’ve never worked with UF, they’ve screwed me out of $450 so far. I’m going to close my bank account so they can’t take anymore money, I bet you I hear from someone then. How can they do this to all these people when we’re trying to get are debt problems fixed.
Another amazing story … I can’t believe this company has not been investigated by law enforcement … what is the Florida Attorney General doing about this? None of my creditors have been paid from the October 16 or, of course, the November 16 withdrawals from my checking account. The story submitted by Hml1026 should be submitted as documentation of what a sleazy operation UFS is. I will also be revoking the ACH payment authorization to UFS. I only hope I can also retrieve the last 2 months withdrawals (total: $3,348).
I have been going through the same issues as everyone else on here. I have been with UFS for 4 1/2 years, 6 months away from being out of debt at least I thought. I have had to contact Jami Lyons three times in the last 4 1/2 years about my payments not being made on time, she was full of excuses but did get the payments to my creditors.
I emailed and called her on October 8th asking when was the $1983. that had been deducted from my checking account on Sept. 15th going to be sent to my creditors, well she assured me they got held in accounting and had already been sent. Held it in accounting not a good sign. On Oct. 12th my creditors were paid.
Once again started calling her on Nov. 9 asking when was the October payment sent out….well
here it is Nov. 26 I have gotten no calls from her but two calls from one person named Annisa left a message on my cell phone to call her back, she leaves me the number that goes unanswered. On Nov. 12 I was totally wild about this issue I spent hours called the toll free number I must of left at least 50 messages on their main number, emailed Jami and every other emial address to them I could find. I finally pulled one on them, on their web page ad I filled in with another phone number and email address that I have access to and I claimed to have debt over $100,000 guess and wanted to sign up, well I had someone named Matt from JENSON FINANCIAL GROUP contact me by phone and email wanting to help me out. Please note JENSON FINANCIAL is located two doors down from UFS in Boca and is operated by the same idiot Christopher Boulahanis. The kid from Jenson denied being associated with UFS but knew of Beth Gormley who I had dealt with when I first signed up with UFS. After I put pressure on this kid letting him know about who operated JENSON he told his supervisor would get a message to UFS for me, this also was a lie. Nov. 19 someone from UFS named Sekenia calls me with no idea as to why I was contacting UFS she inform me the payment had gone out on Oct. 20 and she was going to track it and call me back. Still waiting for the call back. I have kept all emails and copies of faxes I have sent to these pepole. I also found odd an email I received on September 28 from them saying that their were having phone line issues, I also kept that email. These people are crooks.
I am now out of $3986.00. I am going to call my bank to revoke the ACH payment to UFS and I am calling my creditors to plea with them to allow me to keep the same interest rate and payment agreement for another 6 months until I am paid up. I will also be contacting Better Business.
I have been going through the same issues as everyone else on here. I have been with UFS for 4 1/2 years, 6 months away from being out of debt at least I thought. I have had to contact Jami Lyons three times in the last 4 1/2 years about my payments not being made on time, she was full of excuses but did get the payments to my creditors.
I emailed and called her on October 8th asking when was the $1983. that had been deducted from my checking account on Sept. 15th going to be sent to my creditors, well she assured me they got held in accounting and had already been sent. Held it in accounting not a good sign. On Oct. 12th my creditors were paid.
Once again started calling her on Nov. 9 asking when was the October payment sent out….well
here it is Nov. 26 I have gotten no calls from her but two calls from one person named Annisa left a message on my cell phone to call her back, she leaves me the number that goes unanswered. On Nov. 12 I was totally wild about this issue I spent hours called the toll free number I must of left at least 50 messages on their main number, emailed Jami and every other emial address to them I could find. I finally pulled one on them, on their web page ad I filled in with another phone number and email address that I have access to and I claimed to have debt over $100,000 guess and wanted to sign up, well I had someone named Matt from JENSON FINANCIAL GROUP contact me by phone and email wanting to help me out. Please note JENSON FINANCIAL is located two doors down from UFS in Boca and is operated by the same idiot Christopher Boulahanis. The kid from Jenson denied being associated with UFS but knew of Beth Gormley who I had dealt with when I first signed up with UFS. After I put pressure on this kid letting him know about who operated JENSON he told his supervisor would get a message to UFS for me, this also was a lie. Nov. 19 someone from UFS named Sekenia calls me with no idea as to why I was contacting UFS she inform me the payment had gone out on Oct. 20 and she was going to track it and call me back. Still waiting for the call back. I have kept all emails and copies of faxes I have sent to these pepole. I also found odd an email I received on September 28 from them saying that their were having phone line issues, I also kept that email. These people are crooks.
I am now out of $3986.00. I am going to call my bank to revoke the ACH payment to UFS and I am calling my creditors to plea with them to allow me to keep the same interest rate and payment agreement for another 6 months until I am paid up. I will also be contacting Better Business.
Another amazing story … I can’t believe this company has not been investigated by law enforcement … what is the Florida Attorney General doing about this? None of my creditors have been paid from the October 16 or, of course, the November 16 withdrawals from my checking account. The story submitted by Hml1026 should be submitted as documentation of what a sleazy operation UFS is. I will also be revoking the ACH payment authorization to UFS. I only hope I can also retrieve the last 2 months withdrawals (total: $3,348).
It’s pretty incredulous now to believe the excuse there was a software problem going on for this long. It sure looks more like they have a trust fund problem, to the point, a short trust fund. Whether it was lost, stolen, or they spent it, money does not appear to be where it should be to cover disbursements, and now they are just sending what they can for the squeakiest wheels.. That being said, i wouldn’t hold my breath for those of you believing there is some deposit coming back if you pay off. I don’t see this place being around past the new year.
It’s pretty incredulous now to believe the excuse there was a software problem going on for this long. It sure looks more like they have a trust fund problem, to the point, a short trust fund. Whether it was lost, stolen, or they spent it, money does not appear to be where it should be to cover disbursements, and now they are just sending what they can for the squeakiest wheels.. That being said, i wouldn’t hold my breath for those of you believing there is some deposit coming back if you pay off. I don’t see this place being around past the new year.
Had Been a customer of United Financial for about 2 years. Recently was able to get out of their program. However credit score was ruined like many of you here. If there is any type of class action lawsuit against this company I would love to participate. They have taken advantage of MANY people simply trying to pay their bills and right their lives. UFS is a scam and should suffer consequences!!!!
Had Been a customer of United Financial for about 2 years. Recently was able to get out of their program. However credit score was ruined like many of you here. If there is any type of class action lawsuit against this company I would love to participate. They have taken advantage of MANY people simply trying to pay their bills and right their lives. UFS is a scam and should suffer consequences!!!!
I would like to, please email me, ufsclient@hotmail.com. They have not paid my creditors for 4 months now.
Hi Vikingstude11 and Client 477724, if you both are still interested in getting your money back and help United Financial Systems come to an end to hurting rather than helping please e-mail me @ Tottallytasha@gmail.com . Hope to hear from both of you soon!
i want to know about a class action suit also. This is rediculous.
I’m trying to find out as well, Shirley. On Friday (11-19) I placed a call to the Florida Attorney General’s Office and have done so today as well. I received a letter from one of my creditors last week notifying me that I’d been dropped from the debt management program due to ongoing late payments. Jaime Lyons isn’t returning e-mails as she once did (promising payment postings that never posted by the dates given) so this is a bad sign. I think more UFS clients need to phone the AG’s office … for all we know, the woner, Chris Boulahanis may have skipped town. This can’t be investigated soon enough. Good luck and make phone calls … I’m continuing to do so.
been paying into united financial for 1 1/2 years and now…
have not had payments made for last 2 month but still had $302 withdrawn from accout toward payment. cant get anyone to answer for over 6 weeks now. Are they still in business that ypou know of or is it gone?
been paying into united financial for 1 1/2 years and now…
have not had payments made for last 2 month but still had $302 withdrawn from accout toward payment. cant get anyone to answer for over 6 weeks now. Are they still in business that ypou know of or is it gone?
I’m trying to find out as well, Shirley. On Friday (11-19) I placed a call to the Florida Attorney General’s Office and have done so today as well. I received a letter from one of my creditors last week notifying me that I’d been dropped from the debt management program due to ongoing late payments. Jaime Lyons isn’t returning e-mails as she once did (promising payment postings that never posted by the dates given) so this is a bad sign. I think more UFS clients need to phone the AG’s office … for all we know, the woner, Chris Boulahanis may have skipped town. This can’t be investigated soon enough. Good luck and make phone calls … I’m continuing to do so.
I would urge you and everyone to follow my process I wrote to obtain a refund. Follow it to the letter. See How to Get Out of a Debt Relief Program and Get a Big Refund.
Steve, Just like all the other I too have been raped by these thieves! They have held my payments for over 6 months and have not disbursed them to my creitors!!
Is there some way you can forward these cries and tears from the above victims to your friend at the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISION?
I would like to know just where are all these milllions of dollars in payments going/
Would’nt you if you were in our shoes? Does he own other companies?
Please help us Steve!!!!!!!
Sorry about your hassel with UFS. You’re not alone. I am SO HAPPY to hear that creditors are finally taking some action against UFS.
I’m one month six of trying to recover my missing payments. I WAS due to have all of my debts paid off next month and hoping to receive my first payment back in time for the holidays… The total amount is $1,900+!
Jamie Lyons has stopped communicating with me when I refused to call off the BBB. She sent so many email assuring me that my payments were made, only to find out that they were not.
My fear is that UFS will attempt to hold my first payment, claiming that I forfeited it by not making payments on time to them (I began stopping payments in Sept. and paying my creditors directly. It was the only way to save my credit)
On Thursday and Friday I started following your plan to the letter. I sent UFS a certified letter, stating the exact amount of money that they owe me and giving them until 12-20-10 to repay me. I also sent letters to the FL and MN Att. Gen. (certified mail/return receipt requested on all letters) I also filed a complaint with the Fed. Trade Com. I CCed the BBB with all of my correspondence with Jamie Lyons, so it is on record with them.
I’m hoping this works. I can’t get the time and energy back that this has sucked out of my life, but fingers crossed, this will recover my missing money.
yeah right you moron, UFS is a real scam, and you know it… then explain why they haven’t pay my creditors for 5 or 6 months, but still taking money out of my checking account??? I tried to call, but your stupid phone system don’t let people get in touch with any representative….unless it is a new customer… how convenient…. moron
UFS is a real scam. They stole my money for 4 months, and my creditors, Wells Fargo and Chase told me that they were doing legal actions against them, and will stop any further negotiations with United Financial Systems. It is really disappointing to see such people trying to scam and steal…
UFS is a real scam. They stole my money for 4 months, and my creditors, Wells Fargo and Chase told me that they were doing legal actions against them, and will stop any further negotiations with United Financial Systems. It is really disappointing to see such people trying to scam and steal…
Sorry about your hassel with UFS. You’re not alone. I am SO HAPPY to hear that creditors are finally taking some action against UFS.
Steve, Just like all the other I too have been raped by these thieves! They have held my payments for over 6 months and have not disbursed them to my creitors!!
Is there some way you can forward these cries and tears from the above victims to your friend at the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISION?
I would like to know just where are all these milllions of dollars in payments going/
Would’nt you if you were in our shoes? Does he own other companies?
Please help us Steve!!!!!!!
I would urge you and everyone to follow my process I wrote to obtain a refund. Follow it to the letter. See How to Get Out of a Debt Relief Program and Get a Big Refund.
You can follow the advice on the top right of this page on how to get your money back from a debt management company. It’s a small hassle in terms of sending a letter, but very effective. It worked for me at any rate.
Don’t hold your breath for a return phone call or email from Ms. Lyons or anyone else for that matter. Even though she told me she always responded to email within 3 days and phone calls within 2, that was simply not true.
Their phone system was “down”, though apparently that has not been resolved. Their main phone system will hang up on you and the only way to get to a human is by calling an extension that no longer works. That way, you at least get to leave a message. Not that that is of much use.
Keep in mind that they will only pay you back what they have not disbursed and your deposit. They will not pay you for any additional interest you have incurred, your credit being worse than before or for any of the fees they collected. If you figure out a way to get that out of them, please let the rest of us know.
I’m in the same boat as all of you. This company promised to rebuild credit for us but due to these late payments and being dropped from the DMP several times, they’ve done the reverse. I’ve contacted the office of Attorney General Bill McCollum and laid it all out. They’ve obviously received many complaints and are aware of UFS’s “F” rating with the BBB. I hope they take action soon … we all got ourselves into this mess in the first place but we took action to resolve things only to have been been preyed upon by this incredibly incompetent company. Now I understand “pain and suffering” when referred to in lawsuits!
Guess im not the only one! They are 1 month behind with me going on 2. Thier phones hang up on you and they are not excepting new clients. You press one and it doesnt work know more. Left a message with lyons but doubt it will be answered. If i cancel my account is there anyway to get the two payments they have taken back? I will be reporting them to the bbs but they might be gone by then. Just another crooked company stealing money from people who are already struggling.
Guess im not the only one! They are 1 month behind with me going on 2. Thier phones hang up on you and they are not excepting new clients. You press one and it doesnt work know more. Left a message with lyons but doubt it will be answered. If i cancel my account is there anyway to get the two payments they have taken back? I will be reporting them to the bbs but they might be gone by then. Just another crooked company stealing money from people who are already struggling.
You can follow the advice on the top right of this page on how to get your money back from a debt management company. It’s a small hassle in terms of sending a letter, but very effective. It worked for me at any rate.
Don’t hold your breath for a return phone call or email from Ms. Lyons or anyone else for that matter. Even though she told me she always responded to email within 3 days and phone calls within 2, that was simply not true.
Their phone system was “down”, though apparently that has not been resolved. Their main phone system will hang up on you and the only way to get to a human is by calling an extension that no longer works. That way, you at least get to leave a message. Not that that is of much use.
Keep in mind that they will only pay you back what they have not disbursed and your deposit. They will not pay you for any additional interest you have incurred, your credit being worse than before or for any of the fees they collected. If you figure out a way to get that out of them, please let the rest of us know.
As I am reading the multitude of comments, it has become clear that I am not the only customer UFS has wronged. I have been a customer since July of 2009. There have been various excuses as to why the payments post late or not at all. This is the third major occurrence with the company. I am at my wits end, and feel there is nothing else to do other than terminate our contract.
To whom it may concern,
This makes the third email I have sent to your company this week without any return communication. My Target visa statement arrived today showing a past due amount of $344 and a minimum payment due of $516. I am a point of despair with this situation. My money continues to be withdrawn from my account, and no funds are being siphoned to the appropriate creditors. I have attempted on may occasions to bring this problem to your attention. After the last bout of delinquent payments, I was assured this would never again be an issue and here we are again. It is my understanding that your obligation after I joined the program was to debit funds from my designated account and to then issue payments to the assigned creditors. You are defaulting on your end of this contact. I have $427/month withdrawn from your company per month. I have yet to see where the last three months worth of payments have went. I am trying to remain without suspicion of fraudulent activity from your company, however, without any sort of communication I cannot be certain of anything. If this matter is not resolved by the end of this week, I will be forced to purse a litigious alternative. Please do not let things come to this. Again, my contact information is as follows:
As I am reading the multitude of comments, it has become clear that I am not the only customer UFS has wronged. I have been a customer since July of 2009. There have been various excuses as to why the payments post late or not at all. This is the third major occurrence with the company. I am at my wits end, and feel there is nothing else to do other than terminate our contract.
To whom it may concern,
This makes the third email I have sent to your company this week without any return communication. My Target visa statement arrived today showing a past due amount of $344 and a minimum payment due of $516. I am a point of despair with this situation. My money continues to be withdrawn from my account, and no funds are being siphoned to the appropriate creditors. I have attempted on may occasions to bring this problem to your attention. After the last bout of delinquent payments, I was assured this would never again be an issue and here we are again. It is my understanding that your obligation after I joined the program was to debit funds from my designated account and to then issue payments to the assigned creditors. You are defaulting on your end of this contact. I have $427/month withdrawn from your company per month. I have yet to see where the last three months worth of payments have went. I am trying to remain without suspicion of fraudulent activity from your company, however, without any sort of communication I cannot be certain of anything. If this matter is not resolved by the end of this week, I will be forced to purse a litigious alternative. Please do not let things come to this. Again, my contact information is as follows:
Update: In one month of emailing back and forth with Jamie Lyons I have only been able to recover less than $300 of the $1,500+ dollars of mine that they have misplaced… I recieve promises that my payments have posted only to call the credit card companies (daily) to find that they haven’t. I am working with FL BBB now.
RUMOR IN SOUTH FLORIDA IS UFS HAS BEEN DIVERTING CLIENT FUNDS TO PAY LEADS FOR CAPITAL DEBT RELIEF FOR 6 MONTHS
Anyone else want to SUE mr. boulahanis?
They are still taking my money. At least last month and for one more month they are at least. I only have one more month left, and then I will see if I get my refund check back. However, I have the same story as everyone else, along with my credit being destroyed by this financial disaster company. Jamie Lyons did get all of the back payments they owed my credit cards paid up but not before ruining my credit score because of late payment made on the behalf of UFS. I think we should all find a lawyer and sue Chris Boulahanis for destroying our credit since this has also happened to numerous others.
Christopher Boulahanis, the owner and director of United Financial Systems, is also running a company called Global Credit Management out of the same Margate,FL address. They seem to offer Financial Planning and Debt Consolidation Services. Their phone number is (561) 470-6501. Fax number is (561) 470-6515. This information came from BBB’s website. With a little luck and teamwork, maybe some of us who feel cheated can work together and put some pressure on Mr. Boulahanis and find out what he is doing with our money.
RUMOR IN SOUTH FLORIDA IS UFS HAS BEEN DIVERTING CLIENT FUNDS TO PAY LEADS FOR CAPITAL DEBT RELIEF FOR 6 MONTHS
Christopher Boulahanis, the owner and director of United Financial Systems, is also running a company called Global Credit Management out of the same Margate,FL address. They seem to offer Financial Planning and Debt Consolidation Services. Their phone number is (561) 470-6501. Fax number is (561) 470-6515. This information came from BBB’s website. With a little luck and teamwork, maybe some of us who feel cheated can work together and put some pressure on Mr. Boulahanis and find out what he is doing with our money.
Update to my above post. Attempted to call today and there is no longer and option for new customers and the voicemal person has changed, still have to press “0” every 20 seconds. I didn’t have time to hold today, but will try again tomorrow morning. My payments still haven’t been posted and it is business day 13 of the 7-15 promised. It’s not looking good for my situation. We’ll see. I did manage to get a call back after I emailed them to cancel the program. I’m changing debt management companies and the only reason they called is to say that I don’t need to send a certified letter.
I was afraid this was going to happen. That’s why I issued my warning on October 25, 2010,
It is still not to late to try to save your DMP with creditors if you work with a credit counseling group to switch before the creditors drop you.
As far as getting your money back the best approach is going to be to follow this process.
Keep us all posted if you learn anymore about them.
Steve
Any more news on the status of UFS? My wife and I have a very similar story to many people who have posted on here. Been in their program for about 3 and a half years, and now they have stopped making payments to our creditors. Problems started back in the spring, seemed to be resolved, and now its the same thing again. We have also stopped the automatic payment, and will most likely close the account altogether as a precaution. My feeling, Steve, is that they are already out of business. Phone calls are useless and they are not returning emails. Any advice on how we may be able to get the money that we have already sent to UFS redirected to our creditors? Or is it too late? Or is this some kind of scam? We have been making payments ourselves in order to keep from ruining our credit, but is there anything else we can do(other than talk to my lawyer)?
Any more news on the status of UFS? My wife and I have a very similar story to many people who have posted on here. Been in their program for about 3 and a half years, and now they have stopped making payments to our creditors. Problems started back in the spring, seemed to be resolved, and now its the same thing again. We have also stopped the automatic payment, and will most likely close the account altogether as a precaution. My feeling, Steve, is that they are already out of business. Phone calls are useless and they are not returning emails. Any advice on how we may be able to get the money that we have already sent to UFS redirected to our creditors? Or is it too late? Or is this some kind of scam? We have been making payments ourselves in order to keep from ruining our credit, but is there anything else we can do(other than talk to my lawyer)?
I was afraid this was going to happen. That’s why I issued my warning on October 25, 2010,
It is still not to late to try to save your DMP with creditors if you work with a credit counseling group to switch before the creditors drop you.
As far as getting your money back the best approach is going to be to follow this process.
Keep us all posted if you learn anymore about them.
Steve
They are still taking my money. At least last month and for one more month they are at least. I only have one more month left, and then I will see if I get my refund check back. However, I have the same story as everyone else, along with my credit being destroyed by this financial disaster company. Jamie Lyons did get all of the back payments they owed my credit cards paid up but not before ruining my credit score because of late payment made on the behalf of UFS. I think we should all find a lawyer and sue Chris Boulahanis for destroying our credit since this has also happened to numerous others.
Anyone else want to SUE mr. boulahanis?
I’m in the same boat as all of you. This company promised to rebuild credit for us but due to these late payments and being dropped from the DMP several times, they’ve done the reverse. I’ve contacted the office of Attorney General Bill McCollum and laid it all out. They’ve obviously received many complaints and are aware of UFS’s “F” rating with the BBB. I hope they take action soon … we all got ourselves into this mess in the first place but we took action to resolve things only to have been been preyed upon by this incredibly incompetent company. Now I understand “pain and suffering” when referred to in lawsuits!
I’m one month six of trying to recover my missing payments. I WAS due to have all of my debts paid off next month and hoping to receive my first payment back in time for the holidays… The total amount is $1,900+!
Jamie Lyons has stopped communicating with me when I refused to call off the BBB. She sent so many email assuring me that my payments were made, only to find out that they were not.
My fear is that UFS will attempt to hold my first payment, claiming that I forfeited it by not making payments on time to them (I began stopping payments in Sept. and paying my creditors directly. It was the only way to save my credit)
On Thursday and Friday I started following your plan to the letter. I sent UFS a certified letter, stating the exact amount of money that they owe me and giving them until 12-20-10 to repay me. I also sent letters to the FL and MN Att. Gen. (certified mail/return receipt requested on all letters) I also filed a complaint with the Fed. Trade Com. I CCed the BBB with all of my correspondence with Jamie Lyons, so it is on record with them.
I’m hoping this works. I can’t get the time and energy back that this has sucked out of my life, but fingers crossed, this will recover my missing money.
A tipster sent me the following link on UFS. I am simply reposting the link and reported information here and have no other knowledge about it. But if anyone can confirm if this sounds like the service you’ve received, please comment.
Insider report
SUBMITTED: Friday, January 09, 2009 POSTED: Friday, January 09, 2009
I am an ex-employee of United Financial Systems. The reason I am posting on this website is to make the general public aware of how this company works. I’ve worked for United Financial Systems for about a year and I have left there disgusted by how they treat their customers and employees. There are two sides to the company; sales (enrollment) and customer service. I worked in the customer service area, so I am really familiar with both the customer satisfaction, or lack thereof, and the company’s policies.
First off, before a customer would even be allowed to talk to a customer service rep, they would have to be connected to enrollment. The reason being is because the customer service reps are the ones who “clean up” the mess of customer disgust and frustration after the enrollment agents get done selling the program to them, which is basically the agent lying about every detail of the program. The reason they are allowed to do this is for many, but the main 3 being: 1. Once they debit a customers account, by contract, the first payment is often times held until “successful completion”, meaning cancellation forfeits the first debit, which is usually on average between $500-$1000. So after 2 weeks to a month, when the customer is being bombarded by collection calls, when they see no payments posting with the creditors, when they are being taken to court because one of the agents didn’t clearly explain that once a card is charged off, there are no benefits of having it on the program, they call customer service to cancel, but then there’s that little part in their contract (that usually is not gone over while being enrolled) that states if they cancel they loose their first payment). That’s where customer service cleans up enrollments mess. At that point either 2 things happen: 1. the customer is forced to stay in the program and swallow down their pride and frustration or 2. they say “BBB”. Those my friends, are the magic words at United Financial Systems, “BBB”. If you say those words and mean them it cripples United Financial
into submission. Usually they end up giving only part of the first payment back, but it works. If someone really tried hard enough with a possible BBB complaint there is no doubt in my mind that they could surely get their whole first payment back.
Now in regards to what I mentioned above, there are some clients who are not set up on a “cash back award”. Those clients DO NOT forfeit payment if they cancel, but they loose the bank fee that comes with the debit. Also if they money has already gone out to the creditor, it is too late to refund the check. If we they can refund the payment, it will be returned to the client via snail mail. Now, you think we’ll that might take at most 3 business days to arrive? I would think so! but that’s not the case. Often times when there is a refund going out or a cash back award check, it doesn’t go out at all! What ends up happening is the client calls in after about 2 weeks of waiting and calling cust service, and then FINALLY gets to talk to Jaime Lyons (office manager) or a rep that has spoken to Jaime, The client is then informed the check will go out right away. After about 3 days of waiting the client will call back with no check in hand, they will often times speak with Jaime directly ( and for the clients out there who request a manager and don’t get one, or get voicemail, it is because Jaime YELLS at her own reps for simply informing her there is a client on the phone concerned about their refund, so the cust service reps have some sort of sick fear instilled by Jaime, so clients, don’t take things out on reps all the time! it is not their fault sometimes!) Jaime then says “oh, I don’t know what happened, but I will fed-ex it overnight right away, like she is doing them some kind of favor, it is sick to me. And then the clients usually get their refund, but the process is frustrating to say the least.
Now, if a customer files a BBB complaint, Jaime(office manager) has to tell Christopher Boulahanis (owner), he usually throws stuff against the way and yells curse words and nasty language that can be heard throughout the office. Jaime pretends to cry and usually fires an innocent customer service rep; blaming the BBB complaint on them, when it is usually caused by managers not wanting to take Supervisor calls, or by cash back award checks not being received when promised by Jaime Lyons. again, I have never experienced such behavior while working for a company.
Lets move on. Now, once a person is in the program, if they can get past the first month without problems(which is rare) then it should be smooth sailing, right? HA! Not even close. Now all debt management programs work the same exact way. The debt management company has to send out a “proposal” (which is basically a sheet saying “we are a debt management company, we will offer X amount of dollars a month”) to the creditors. The enrollment agents often times neglect to explain that part of the program to the clients, and never explain that it TAKES 30-60 days for a response to the proposal! and get this, THEY CAN DECLINE IT! If a creditor declines the proposal (which happens ALL the time because the enrollment agents UNDER QUOTE the clients monthly payment, so it seems smaller to the client!) , so if a creditor declines a proposal it takes ANOTHER 30-60 days to hear back from them, but get this; If UFS receives a declined proposal from the creditor, they usually DO NOT inform the client of it, so it sits there and sits there and sits there until one of two things happen: 1. The client calls in (which is usually the case) upset because the creditors are calling them and are advising they haven’t received a new proposal or 2. The creditor sends the client a letter in the mail, causing them to call in and say “whats going on”.
There’s even more! I know it is a lot!
OK. SO, after the proposal process, which takes a bit of a long time if you have been reading, the customer should be set up, ready to go, no problems, smooth sailing, right again? WRONG! United Financial has to make their money, keep the lights on too, right? But how do they do that if they are non-profit? Well, there is “fair-share”, which is something that NO ONE is allowed to talk about to the clients. Fair-share is “kick back” UFS gets from the creidtors, lets say a monthly payment to a creditor is $30, well, we tell clients all $30 goes to the creditor, it even posts as $30, but what you dont know is that $5 of that is going into UFS’s pocket. Imagine that small amount happening on thousdands of accounts a month! we’ll you get the picture. Anyway, Once United Financial Systems debits a customers account, they say the funds take 3 business days to clear. After the 3 business days they tell ALL clients the payments go out RIGHT AWAY and takes 7-10 business days to post, which comes out to about 15 normal days. For the last 5 months of working at United Financial Systems the payments were taking OVER 30 DAYS TO POST! There is many many many things wrong with this. 1. Once a payment goes out electronically ( thats how most payments to creditors are set up) it only takes 3 business days to post (note: I am stating this based on knowledge given to me by creditors directly stating to me that elec debt management payments should not take 3 business days to post, and if there is a problem with elec payment they say they need to be informed of it). But where does the money sit for the 7-10 business days it normally takes?, or the 30 days it has been taking? I don’t feel I need to elaborate, I think by now you get the idea. How does UFS get away with this you ask? They train customer service reps to lie. I know, its a shock, and its wrong, but hey, we need to keep our own lights on too. Even though it is blatantly obvious that there is something wrong, we are told to say “there was an issue with the electronic payments” or ” I don’t know why the creditors haven’t posted the payments yet”, yet we use to be allowed to call UFS’s accounting department to ask days after we tell the client the payment went out, if the payment actually went out , because when it does go out it takes 2-3 days to post. So while United Financial Systems is lying about their clients money, the customer receives a nice letter in the mail “We are sorry to inform you that you have been removed from the Debt program due to missed payments. Your interest rate will go back to the default..ect”… dropped from the program, for what? really, for what? You made your payments on time, you cared about your credit, now its ruined, for what? It makes me sick.
People have the right to know who they are dealing with!
Thank you for reading.
A tipster sent me the following link on UFS. I am simply reposting the link and reported information here and have no other knowledge about it. But if anyone can confirm if this sounds like the service you’ve received, please comment.Insider reportSUBMITTED: Friday, January 09, 2009 POSTED: Friday, January 09, 2009I am an ex-employee of United Financial Systems. The reason I am posting on this website is to make the general public aware of how this company works. I’ve worked for United Financial Systems for about a year and I have left there disgusted by how they treat their customers and employees. There are two sides to the company; sales (enrollment) and customer service. I worked in the customer service area, so I am really familiar with both the customer satisfaction, or lack thereof, and the company’s policies.First off, before a customer would even be allowed to talk to a customer service rep, they would have to be connected to enrollment. The reason being is because the customer service reps are the ones who “clean up” the mess of customer disgust and frustration after the enrollment agents get done selling the program to them, which is basically the agent lying about every detail of the program. The reason they are allowed to do this is for many, but the main 3 being: 1. Once they debit a customers account, by contract, the first payment is often times held until “successful completion”, meaning cancellation forfeits the first debit, which is usually on average between $500-$1000. So after 2 weeks to a month, when the customer is being bombarded by collection calls, when they see no payments posting with the creditors, when they are being taken to court because one of the agents didn’t clearly explain that once a card is charged off, there are no benefits of having it on the program, they call customer service to cancel, but then there’s that little part in their contract (that usually is not gone over while being enrolled) that states if they cancel they loose their first payment). That’s where customer service cleans up enrollments mess. At that point either 2 things happen: 1. the customer is forced to stay in the program and swallow down their pride and frustration or 2. they say “BBB”. Those my friends, are the magic words at United Financial Systems, “BBB”. If you say those words and mean them it cripples United Financialinto submission. Usually they end up giving only part of the first payment back, but it works. If someone really tried hard enough with a possible BBB complaint there is no doubt in my mind that they could surely get their whole first payment back.Now in regards to what I mentioned above, there are some clients who are not set up on a “cash back award”. Those clients DO NOT forfeit payment if they cancel, but they loose the bank fee that comes with the debit. Also if they money has already gone out to the creditor, it is too late to refund the check. If we they can refund the payment, it will be returned to the client via snail mail. Now, you think we’ll that might take at most 3 business days to arrive? I would think so! but that’s not the case. Often times when there is a refund going out or a cash back award check, it doesn’t go out at all! What ends up happening is the client calls in after about 2 weeks of waiting and calling cust service, and then FINALLY gets to talk to Jaime Lyons (office manager) or a rep that has spoken to Jaime, The client is then informed the check will go out right away. After about 3 days of waiting the client will call back with no check in hand, they will often times speak with Jaime directly ( and for the clients out there who request a manager and don’t get one, or get voicemail, it is because Jaime YELLS at her own reps for simply informing her there is a client on the phone concerned about their refund, so the cust service reps have some sort of sick fear instilled by Jaime, so clients, don’t take things out on reps all the time! it is not their fault sometimes!) Jaime then says “oh, I don’t know what happened, but I will fed-ex it overnight right away, like she is doing them some kind of favor, it is sick to me. And then the clients usually get their refund, but the process is frustrating to say the least.Now, if a customer files a BBB complaint, Jaime(office manager) has to tell Christopher Boulahanis (owner), he usually throws stuff against the way and yells curse words and nasty language that can be heard throughout the office. Jaime pretends to cry and usually fires an innocent customer service rep; blaming the BBB complaint on them, when it is usually caused by managers not wanting to take Supervisor calls, or by cash back award checks not being received when promised by Jaime Lyons. again, I have never experienced such behavior while working for a company.Lets move on. Now, once a person is in the program, if they can get past the first month without problems(which is rare) then it should be smooth sailing, right? HA! Not even close. Now all debt management programs work the same exact way. The debt management company has to send out a “proposal” (which is basically a sheet saying “we are a debt management company, we will offer X amount of dollars a month”) to the creditors. The enrollment agents often times neglect to explain that part of the program to the clients, and never explain that it TAKES 30-60 days for a response to the proposal! and get this, THEY CAN DECLINE IT! If a creditor declines the proposal (which happens ALL the time because the enrollment agents UNDER QUOTE the clients monthly payment, so it seems smaller to the client!) , so if a creditor declines a proposal it takes ANOTHER 30-60 days to hear back from them, but get this; If UFS receives a declined proposal from the creditor, they usually DO NOT inform the client of it, so it sits there and sits there and sits there until one of two things happen: 1. The client calls in (which is usually the case) upset because the creditors are calling them and are advising they haven’t received a new proposal or 2. The creditor sends the client a letter in the mail, causing them to call in and say “whats going on”.There’s even more! I know it is a lot!OK. SO, after the proposal process, which takes a bit of a long time if you have been reading, the customer should be set up, ready to go, no problems, smooth sailing, right again? WRONG! United Financial has to make their money, keep the lights on too, right? But how do they do that if they are non-profit? Well, there is “fair-share”, which is something that NO ONE is allowed to talk about to the clients. Fair-share is “kick back” UFS gets from the creidtors, lets say a monthly payment to a creditor is $30, well, we tell clients all $30 goes to the creditor, it even posts as $30, but what you dont know is that $5 of that is going into UFS’s pocket. Imagine that small amount happening on thousdands of accounts a month! we’ll you get the picture. Anyway, Once United Financial Systems debits a customers account, they say the funds take 3 business days to clear. After the 3 business days they tell ALL clients the payments go out RIGHT AWAY and takes 7-10 business days to post, which comes out to about 15 normal days. For the last 5 months of working at United Financial Systems the payments were taking OVER 30 DAYS TO POST! There is many many many things wrong with this. 1. Once a payment goes out electronically ( thats how most payments to creditors are set up) it only takes 3 business days to post (note: I am stating this based on knowledge given to me by creditors directly stating to me that elec debt management payments should not take 3 business days to post, and if there is a problem with elec payment they say they need to be informed of it). But where does the money sit for the 7-10 business days it normally takes?, or the 30 days it has been taking? I don’t feel I need to elaborate, I think by now you get the idea. How does UFS get away with this you ask? They train customer service reps to lie. I know, its a shock, and its wrong, but hey, we need to keep our own lights on too. Even though it is blatantly obvious that there is something wrong, we are told to say “there was an issue with the electronic payments” or ” I don’t know why the creditors haven’t posted the payments yet”, yet we use to be allowed to call UFS’s accounting department to ask days after we tell the client the payment went out, if the payment actually went out , because when it does go out it takes 2-3 days to post. So while United Financial Systems is lying about their clients money, the customer receives a nice letter in the mail “We are sorry to inform you that you have been removed from the Debt program due to missed payments. Your interest rate will go back to the default..ect”… dropped from the program, for what? really, for what? You made your payments on time, you cared about your credit, now its ruined, for what? It makes me sick.People have the right to know who they are dealing with!Thank you for reading.
Just read your story about United Financial not paying accounts on behalf of a customer.
I’m in the exact same situation where United Financial has been drawing on my account but haven’t paid any of my creditors since July 13th I’ve come to find out…yet every month they have debited my account $444.
I cannot get anyone to respond via phone call…line just goes dead after being transferred around and my account rep no longer responds to email.
Any thoughts or feedback since you first posted the story?
Any recourse I can take? I know I can deal direct with creditors myself and cancel the ACH payment, but what about 3 months of payments they have not made?
Just read your story about United Financial not paying accounts on behalf of a customer.
I’m in the exact same situation where United Financial has been drawing on my account but haven’t paid any of my creditors since July 13th I’ve come to find out…yet every month they have debited my account $444.
I cannot get anyone to respond via phone call…line just goes dead after being transferred around and my account rep no longer responds to email.
Any thoughts or feedback since you first posted the story?
Any recourse I can take? I know I can deal direct with creditors myself and cancel the ACH payment, but what about 3 months of payments they have not made?
Three weeks have gone by with multiple promises from Jamie stating that my payments would post on… then “sorry about the misunderstanding, they will post no later than the 30th”. Thepayments are still missing.United Financial has missed a total of 11 payments to 4 creditors (June, July and August) totaling over $1,500. I know a few people have had better luck than I. What is the secret?
Same problem here. The only time I have a hope of getting ahold of anyone at UFS is first thing in the morning. I was actually on hold once for 1 hour and 53 minutes, then the clock hit 6:00pm and their phone system disconnected me. They’ve missed 5-6 payments on each of my two creditors. They’ve agreed to pay all past due amounts and I’m hoping that is what happens, but it doesn’t look good based on comments here. I’ve already contacted another debt management company to see if I can change and it looks like that’s what I’ll be doing.
Same problem here. The only time I have a hope of getting ahold of anyone at UFS is first thing in the morning. I was actually on hold once for 1 hour and 53 minutes, then the clock hit 6:00pm and their phone system disconnected me. They’ve missed 5-6 payments on each of my two creditors. They’ve agreed to pay all past due amounts and I’m hoping that is what happens, but it doesn’t look good based on comments here. I’ve already contacted another debt management company to see if I can change and it looks like that’s what I’ll be doing.
Update to my above post. Attempted to call today and there is no longer and option for new customers and the voicemal person has changed, still have to press “0” every 20 seconds. I didn’t have time to hold today, but will try again tomorrow morning. My payments still haven’t been posted and it is business day 13 of the 7-15 promised. It’s not looking good for my situation. We’ll see. I did manage to get a call back after I emailed them to cancel the program. I’m changing debt management companies and the only reason they called is to say that I don’t need to send a certified letter.
Another update – still no money. Complaints filed with FL AG, IN AG, BBB, FTC, and our local TV investigative reporter. UFS says they are reviewing the payments with the accounting department. As they have yet to keep their word, I am doubtful.
I am doubtful as well. A few BBB complaints is one thing but when a debt relief company has so many complaints and issues with the AGs, it almost never ends well. I keep saying it but anyone still with UFS needs to run for the hills before you get dropped by a creditor or worse.
I also got a letter saying that ADC is taking over our account. As we cancelled with UFS, I called ADC to see what the story is. They seem helpful and say that they have been able to get creditors to reaccept customers on debt management by explaining that this is UFS’ error, not their customer error. I’ve already changed to a new debt management company, but it seems that ACD will work with UFS customers at least as far as creditors are concerned. They also asked what steps I had taken with UFS and advised that those are encouraged steps to take. I’m very interested in seeing what happens to UFS. Hoping that we’ll get the full story at some point.
An update…my creditors got paid!!! I finally sent them an email explaining that I would be filing criminal grand theft charges if my money was not sent to the creditors and then found an email on another message board: cestabrook@unitedfinancial.org, her name is Carolee and appears to be the only person who is working at UFS.
We are experiencing the same problem. For us it started a couple of months ago. Our credit card companies have not received payment since July 2010, and getting in touch with anyone at UFS is next to near impossible. If they are automatically taking funds from our account, someone other than the credit card companies, is on the receiving end. I don’t like this one bit, and have decided to stop payment and demand our money back that was never actually paid to the creditors. I have e-mailed UFS, faxed the threatening letters from our creditors and called them everyday. We continuously get disconnected and have had no response to the fax or emails. This is extremely frustrating and we are in the process of talking to a lawyer. There is obvious fraud going on here, and it needs to be stopped.
Dave,
You brought up a really good point. The issue with UFS that I guess concerns me the most is not that they may have had a potential “software” problem, but that they did such a poor job of being open and transparent when they discovered the issue.
My opinion is once the problem was first discovered they should have immediately sent communications to all clients informing them what has happening. That should have been followed up with massively ramping up customer support and making sure clients, now freaking out, could get through to a human and actually get a response. If it was a software problem UFS should have made the software company pay for the additional staff required. But maybe the software problem was created by UFS itself? I don’t know.
Because UFS did not take these actions and their clients have been left almost effectively stranded without answers I issued my warning to consumers to switch their accounts to another credit counseling group. I also know that at least one Attorney General is looking into the issue.
Ultimately the blame here rests not of software, but on UFS for doing such an incredibly poor job of managing the crisis. They are not going to be able to recover from the BBB hit and loss of reputation.
Today finally things came to a head. My accounts were paid, one account was overpaid by $ 29.00 and change, the other was underpaid by about $ 5.00…yeah. So I called Chase and transferred the balance to kill both accounts. Now…I am NOT grateful for them finally taking care of business and here is why…today is Oct. 26 2010, my 2 Chase accounts were just under 100 day delinquent. The last payment received was July 9, 2010, so 3 and one half months delinquent basically. During that period Chase reported me to the credit bureau, which hurt my credit. When I asked UFS to fix it, they told me to get it in writing, which is actually their job, they are supposed to be working with the creditor for me, that’s what I pay them for. Another thing is they still owe me money. In Sept. 2010 my balance on one account was $ 444.87… today when it was paid, the balance was $ 478.88, so yes they made the payments, but too late and incurred at least $ 30.00 more in unnecessary charges. There is also the problem with them not contacting Chase after they said they would to reinstate me into the credit counseling program with Chase. This lack of follow up on their part caused me to be removed from the program and forced Chase to report me to the credit bureau.
I am not going to thank anyone at UFS for doing their job (eventually). I spent countless hours on the phone with their phone system, I was told more than 5 times my accounts were taken care of. I believe that UFS is trying to right the wrongs they have done. That is because I am a little fish in their 2000 customer issues they have, I didn’t owe that much money. What I do not understand is, when they had this major problem, 2000 clients accounts being screwed up by a computer glitch basically, why did they not do their best to contact all of their customers at least and inform them of the issues. From what I can see on this page, they knew they had a problem and only fixed things when the clients got aggressive and forced something to happen.
Steve, thank you for having a place for me to go to for advice. Much appreciated.
I too was told the same thing. None of my creditors have recieved payment and nothing has been resolved. I have contacted the Florida Attorney Generals office regarding this matter
That is what I figured, thank you.
It would be unlikely you would get all your money back if you were a current client at the time they went out of business and they owed you money.
Check out this link
http://www.bbb.org/south-east-…
I am in the same situation as everyone else here with missed payments and no results from UFS. I requested a pay off amount from UFS and was told I needed to send them a certified check for the payment. I did this in August and the payment as of Oct 22nd still hasn’t been paid. If UFS does close up shop do we ever get our money back?
I am in the same situation as everyone else here with missed payments and no results from UFS. I requested a pay off amount from UFS and was told I needed to send them a certified check for the payment. I did this in August and the payment as of Oct 22nd still hasn’t been paid. If UFS does close up shop do we ever get our money back?
Check out this link
http://www.bbb.org/south-east-florida/business-reviews/debt-consolidation-services/united-financial-systems-in-margate-fl-26001633
It would be unlikely you would get all your money back if you were a current client at the time they went out of business and they owed you money.
That is what I figured, thank you.
Thanks for the tip, Steve. I’m anxious to see what happens. I’m so glad I recently terminated my bank’s monthly payment to them. I’m sure I wouldn’t see that $800 again… I filed a report w/the BBB of SE Florida earlier this month after I had my 2nd set of problems (this year) with the company. UFS had until today, the 22nd to respond to my claim, and has yet to do so… I’m thankful this happened towards the end of my credit card debt, but feel really badly for the new people involved w/UFS. I hope that you all get the resolution you deserve here…
I just received an anonymous tip that said United Financial Systems would be closing their doors soon. If anyone is in a debt management program with UFS and wants to get their account switched before the company goes out of business, if the tip is true, then one option is to complete this credit counseling information request form and get your account transferred before it all blows up.
I just received an anonymous tip that said United Financial Systems would be closing their doors soon. If anyone is in a debt management program with UFS and wants to get their account switched before the company goes out of business, if the tip is true, then one option is to complete this credit counseling information request form and get your account transferred before it all blows up.
Thanks for the tip, Steve. I’m anxious to see what happens. I’m so glad I recently terminated my bank’s monthly payment to them. I’m sure I wouldn’t see that $800 again… I filed a report w/the BBB of SE Florida earlier this month after I had my 2nd set of problems (this year) with the company. UFS had until today, the 22nd to respond to my claim, and has yet to do so… I’m thankful this happened towards the end of my credit card debt, but feel really badly for the new people involved w/UFS. I hope that you all get the resolution you deserve here…
Maybe it should be handled the old fashion way.The owner of the company’s name is Chris Boulahanis And he lives in Parkland Florida.Think maybe someone needs to go pay him a visit personally at his home!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe it should be handled the old fashion way.The owner of the company’s name is Chris Boulahanis And he lives in Parkland Florida.Think maybe someone needs to go pay him a visit personally at his home!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, same story as everyone else. Late payments, missed payemnts. Was great for 3 years, them boom it all fell apart. Finaly talked to someone and they reissued the payments in July. Then in Oct it all happened again. I’m done. I’ll take my chances with the higher interest.
Yep, same story as everyone else. Late payments, missed payemnts. Was great for 3 years, them boom it all fell apart. Finaly talked to someone and they reissued the payments in July. Then in Oct it all happened again. I’m done. I’ll take my chances with the higher interest.
Same thing happened to me! About a month back UFS even congratulated me for completing my program, and I told them I was getting letters from Chase. They told me that they dispersed my payments, and that Chase just needed to post them, and that I would even be getting a REFUND for OVERPAYMENT from Chase!
I have been trying to call and email them to no avail. Even a threat to contact the BBB didn’t help. Everything was great for 4 years—what a horrible way to end.
I received a phone call today, they stated that my account payments are being tracked and should post “any day now”. I asked what that means, next week, next month, tomorrow? The rep had no solid answer. Guess I will have to wait and see, like I have been doing the last 4 times they told me they would be paid. I also asked what they were going to do about the report to the credit union by Chase that lowered my credit rating and his response was I have to get it in writing or they will take no steps to rectify this problem. I asked so I have to fix the problem that you created? His answer was get it in writing sternly, so I guess I have to do their job for them now. What is funny is they had said in past conversations they would call Chase to put me back on the credit counseling program going back at least a month, Chase told me no phone calls or letters had been received regarding this matter. I have to look at this as if I have been lied to.
Steve, thanks for the advice I am giving them a couple of days to rectify otherwise I will take the steps you have recommended.
Today’s update – spent a couple hours more calling yesterday, eventually I gave up. I had finally received a call yesterday but I was not next to the phone ironically. The phone call stated that I would received a phone call today regarding my account from (forgive me if I mispell her name) Sacanya @ ext. 340. Have not heard from her yet, her mailbox is still full yet and can’t get through to anyone at United Financial either. I called Chase yesterday and today to only find out no phone calls to them have been made as well.
Jamie told me that an upgrade to their systems has caused this problem for roughly 2000 of UFS customers. (I WONDER). This company has an F with the BBB and there are only six complaints with the Florida AG office…..maybe if there are more someone will investigate what is really going on with these folks. This company has no complaints in the four years previous to 2010 so I feel something really fishy is going on with them.
I sent Jamie an E-mail…….Subject was this MY ATTORNEY WILL BE CONTACTING YOU SOON.
I gave my client Id and my phone number and received a call from her within a couple of hours.
She has since sent me an email confirming our agreement per our phone conversation and maybe by Friday October 22 I will have zero balances on all my accounts( that is how close I was to being finished with this) Any way I hope she will help others who are having this problem and if her story holds true she said that an upgrade in their computer systems has caused all of this about payments not getting to the creditor. I told her that the upgrade sucked…..customer service( constantly having to press that zero button) sucked and that they should probably never have upgraded………….” If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!
I have to say this in Ms Greenes defense….. I Had an account with Chase(it was originally Providian, then WaMu,then Chase) and Chase NEVER would change my due dates to coincide
with my dispersement date……….NEVER and I asked numberous times
I too am having similar problems with UFS with non payment of my accounts. You call their number and its a never ending hold cycle of extremely high call volume recordings until you are finally hung up on. I called them for a week straight for a total of about 100 time and got a rep on the phone 1 time and he couldn’t answer any of my questions .I then asked to speak to a supervisor but of course noone was available at the time.The next day after calling about a dozen times with no success I then wrote an email to Jamie Lyons stating my problems and that if I got no response I would be contacting the BBB the FTC and the Florida attorney general. The email was sent at 1:10 pm and by 1:30 I had an account supervisor named Randy calling my phone to help me. Her first question to me was not about my accounts but to whom I contacted to complain about them.After that it was just a bunch of excuses about the phone system being messed up.They did keep 2 of the 3 of my accounts current up until august of 2010 But 1 was behind 2 months going on 3 due to the fact that they paid my account twice in a thirty day cycle.1 of the payments goes towards the payment and the other towards principle and then the next month there is no payment made because the payment went towards the principle in the cycle before. My payment comes out of my account on the 18th of every month yet it takes them over 30 days to distribute funds to the creditors.They tell me it takes 3-5 business days to verify funds and the another 7-15 business days to pay the creditors.Because of these problems I have contacted my creditors(chase,discover) and explained the problem,it took a couple of calls but I now pay them directly And they kept the interest rate at the agreed upon amount.As of now I am out 429 dollars but its worth it to not have to give UFS the 60 dollar a month fee.If you do call and try to negotiate with your creditors you will have to bring your account current before they will work with you.
I too am having similar problems with UFS with non payment of my accounts. You call their number and its a never ending hold cycle of extremely high call volume recordings until you are finally hung up on. I called them for a week straight for a total of about 100 time and got a rep on the phone 1 time and he couldn’t answer any of my questions .I then asked to speak to a supervisor but of course noone was available at the time.The next day after calling about a dozen times with no success I then wrote an email to Jamie Lyons stating my problems and that if I got no response I would be contacting the BBB the FTC and the Florida attorney general. The email was sent at 1:10 pm and by 1:30 I had an account supervisor named Randy calling my phone to help me. Her first question to me was not about my accounts but to whom I contacted to complain about them.After that it was just a bunch of excuses about the phone system being messed up.They did keep 2 of the 3 of my accounts current up until august of 2010 But 1 was behind 2 months going on 3 due to the fact that they paid my account twice in a thirty day cycle.1 of the payments goes towards the payment and the other towards principle and then the next month there is no payment made because the payment went towards the principle in the cycle before. My payment comes out of my account on the 18th of every month yet it takes them over 30 days to distribute funds to the creditors.They tell me it takes 3-5 business days to verify funds and the another 7-15 business days to pay the creditors.Because of these problems I have contacted my creditors(chase,discover) and explained the problem,it took a couple of calls but I now pay them directly And they kept the interest rate at the agreed upon amount.As of now I am out 429 dollars but its worth it to not have to give UFS the 60 dollar a month fee.If you do call and try to negotiate with your creditors you will have to bring your account current before they will work with you.
Dave,
I wish I had some fantastic insight to offer. It seems unbelievable that UFS would let this run into the ditch as badly as it has. It might be time to unleash my nuclear bomb on them and follow this process.
I wrote this email to Jamie Lyons after spending 5 hours calling only to get no answer,
I have been trying to call all day, I cannot get anyone on the phone (5 hours of phone calls and all day you have been experiencing high call volume). I have sent several e-mails only to get no response. I have left voice messages and have gotten no responses, you would think as dire as you have made my situation, someone would do something. I don’t understand why you will not contact me but I have posted my issues with your company at getoutofdebt.org now, maybe they will help. I did not want to resort to this but I am left with no choice. I will be posting this email as well.
I wrote this email to Jamie Lyons after spending 5 hours calling only to get no answer,
I have been trying to call all day, I cannot get anyone on the phone (5 hours of phone calls and all day you have been experiencing high call volume). I have sent several e-mails only to get no response. I have left voice messages and have gotten no responses, you would think as dire as you have made my situation, someone would do something. I don’t understand why you will not contact me but I have posted my issues with your company at getoutofdebt.org now, maybe they will help. I did not want to resort to this but I am left with no choice. I will be posting this email as well.
Dave,
I wish I had some fantastic insight to offer. It seems unbelievable that UFS would let this run into the ditch as badly as it has. It might be time to unleash my nuclear bomb on them and follow this process.
Jamie told me that an upgrade to their systems has caused this problem for roughly 2000 of UFS customers. (I WONDER). This company has an F with the BBB and there are only six complaints with the Florida AG office…..maybe if there are more someone will investigate what is really going on with these folks. This company has no complaints in the four years previous to 2010 so I feel something really fishy is going on with them.
Steve, thanks for the advice I am giving them a couple of days to rectify otherwise I will take the steps you have recommended.
Today’s update – spent a couple hours more calling yesterday, eventually I gave up. I had finally received a call yesterday but I was not next to the phone ironically. The phone call stated that I would received a phone call today regarding my account from (forgive me if I mispell her name) Sacanya @ ext. 340. Have not heard from her yet, her mailbox is still full yet and can’t get through to anyone at United Financial either. I called Chase yesterday and today to only find out no phone calls to them have been made as well.
I received a phone call today, they stated that my account payments are being tracked and should post “any day now”. I asked what that means, next week, next month, tomorrow? The rep had no solid answer. Guess I will have to wait and see, like I have been doing the last 4 times they told me they would be paid. I also asked what they were going to do about the report to the credit union by Chase that lowered my credit rating and his response was I have to get it in writing or they will take no steps to rectify this problem. I asked so I have to fix the problem that you created? His answer was get it in writing sternly, so I guess I have to do their job for them now. What is funny is they had said in past conversations they would call Chase to put me back on the credit counseling program going back at least a month, Chase told me no phone calls or letters had been received regarding this matter. I have to look at this as if I have been lied to.
Same thing happened to me! About a month back UFS even congratulated me for completing my program, and I told them I was getting letters from Chase. They told me that they dispersed my payments, and that Chase just needed to post them, and that I would even be getting a REFUND for OVERPAYMENT from Chase!
I have been trying to call and email them to no avail. Even a threat to contact the BBB didn’t help. Everything was great for 4 years—what a horrible way to end.
I too was told the same thing. None of my creditors have recieved payment and nothing has been resolved. I have contacted the Florida Attorney Generals office regarding this matter
Today finally things came to a head. My accounts were paid, one account was overpaid by $ 29.00 and change, the other was underpaid by about $ 5.00…yeah. So I called Chase and transferred the balance to kill both accounts. Now…I am NOT grateful for them finally taking care of business and here is why…today is Oct. 26 2010, my 2 Chase accounts were just under 100 day delinquent. The last payment received was July 9, 2010, so 3 and one half months delinquent basically. During that period Chase reported me to the credit bureau, which hurt my credit. When I asked UFS to fix it, they told me to get it in writing, which is actually their job, they are supposed to be working with the creditor for me, that’s what I pay them for. Another thing is they still owe me money. In Sept. 2010 my balance on one account was $ 444.87… today when it was paid, the balance was $ 478.88, so yes they made the payments, but too late and incurred at least $ 30.00 more in unnecessary charges. There is also the problem with them not contacting Chase after they said they would to reinstate me into the credit counseling program with Chase. This lack of follow up on their part caused me to be removed from the program and forced Chase to report me to the credit bureau.
I am not going to thank anyone at UFS for doing their job (eventually). I spent countless hours on the phone with their phone system, I was told more than 5 times my accounts were taken care of. I believe that UFS is trying to right the wrongs they have done. That is because I am a little fish in their 2000 customer issues they have, I didn’t owe that much money. What I do not understand is, when they had this major problem, 2000 clients accounts being screwed up by a computer glitch basically, why did they not do their best to contact all of their customers at least and inform them of the issues. From what I can see on this page, they knew they had a problem and only fixed things when the clients got aggressive and forced something to happen.
Steve, thank you for having a place for me to go to for advice. Much appreciated.
Dave,
You brought up a really good point. The issue with UFS that I guess concerns me the most is not that they may have had a potential “software” problem, but that they did such a poor job of being open and transparent when they discovered the issue.
My opinion is once the problem was first discovered they should have immediately sent communications to all clients informing them what has happening. That should have been followed up with massively ramping up customer support and making sure clients, now freaking out, could get through to a human and actually get a response. If it was a software problem UFS should have made the software company pay for the additional staff required. But maybe the software problem was created by UFS itself? I don’t know.
Because UFS did not take these actions and their clients have been left almost effectively stranded without answers I issued my warning to consumers to switch their accounts to another credit counseling group. I also know that at least one Attorney General is looking into the issue.
Ultimately the blame here rests not of software, but on UFS for doing such an incredibly poor job of managing the crisis. They are not going to be able to recover from the BBB hit and loss of reputation.
Before my post, I’d like to mention that I have been working via email and phone with a “Sekenia Smith” at the following email address: ssmith@unitedfinancial.org.
========
I recently spoke with a lawyer. He told me just to send a “refund demand letter” via US certified mail, stating that UFS has 10 days from the date on the letter to issue my refund, and if they do not, threaten to take legal action.
If they do not comply, file with my borough—making sure to set my borough as the jurisdiction (so I don’t have to fly to Florida) for my refund amount plus filing fees.
If they show up, I state my case to the judge. If they don’t, I win and they have to pay.
I too am having trouble with UFS, they are handling 2 accounts from Chase for me, my accounts with Chase are now 68 and 80 days delinquent. They have not made a payment since July 29, 2010. Chase has reported this to the credit bureau and my credit has now gone down because of them. I have contacted them many many times, they always say they will pay the accounts in full and send me a completion letter. On top of that they sent me a check for $ 41.00 because I overpaid them apparently. So, they paid me but can’t seem to find the time to pay my accounts. Now I have been calling and calling and can’t get anyone on the phone, they don’t respond to my emails, or the messages I have left on machines. Please help if you can, I am getting so frustrated its making my stomach hurt.
Thanks,
Dave
I too am having trouble with UFS, they are handling 2 accounts from Chase for me, my accounts with Chase are now 68 and 80 days delinquent. They have not made a payment since July 29, 2010. Chase has reported this to the credit bureau and my credit has now gone down because of them. I have contacted them many many times, they always say they will pay the accounts in full and send me a completion letter. On top of that they sent me a check for $ 41.00 because I overpaid them apparently. So, they paid me but can’t seem to find the time to pay my accounts. Now I have been calling and calling and can’t get anyone on the phone, they don’t respond to my emails, or the messages I have left on machines. Please help if you can, I am getting so frustrated its making my stomach hurt.
Thanks,
Dave
I too am going through the same issue with United Financial. They have ruined my credit by failing to post payments for 120 days on my accounts. Capital One called me stating that they were going to “take legal action against me” if i do not pay my bills. However, i HAD been paying $539 to United Financial every month. They directly debit my account. I have since stopped all payments on my account going to United Financial through my bank and submitted a letter to discontinue services. I have also spoken to the BBB and FTC regarding United Financial (to began in investigation).
As I type this I have been holding for 30 min. to talk to someone at United Financial Systems, they open phone lines at 9 and it is now 9:30. Tried to talk to Jamie Lyons yesterday,,,,,,,sent her e-mails and have gotten no response. My story is just like all others on here. They have 624.00 of my money that they have drafted from my account and have not sent it to my credit card companies. I have been dropped twice from the program due to UFS not sending the payments in a timely manner and now have been trying to find out where the August 2010 and the Sept 2010 payments are. I recently paid off one of my cards by sending them 11.97 and it the Aug and Sept payments had been made I would only owe one ( out of the original four) company any money. I have been with UFS since 2005 had no problems to speak of until this year. Something is definately going on with this Company……….I think that they need to seek some sort of counseling because this is not how you do business to stay in business. As an update to some things I read on here…………..they have an F RATING with the BBB and they have six complaints with the Florida Attorney General……Mine made it six and there needs to be
more. If you have complained on any of these boards, please go there and make one too then maybe something might be done about they way they are doing business.
As I type this I have been holding for 30 min. to talk to someone at United Financial Systems, they open phone lines at 9 and it is now 9:30. Tried to talk to Jamie Lyons yesterday,,,,,,,sent her e-mails and have gotten no response. My story is just like all others on here. They have 624.00 of my money that they have drafted from my account and have not sent it to my credit card companies. I have been dropped twice from the program due to UFS not sending the payments in a timely manner and now have been trying to find out where the August 2010 and the Sept 2010 payments are. I recently paid off one of my cards by sending them 11.97 and it the Aug and Sept payments had been made I would only owe one ( out of the original four) company any money. I have been with UFS since 2005 had no problems to speak of until this year. Something is definately going on with this Company……….I think that they need to seek some sort of counseling because this is not how you do business to stay in business. As an update to some things I read on here…………..they have an F RATING with the BBB and they have six complaints with the Florida Attorney General……Mine made it six and there needs to be
more. If you have complained on any of these boards, please go there and make one too then maybe something might be done about they way they are doing business.
I too am going through the same issue with United Financial. They have ruined my credit by failing to post payments for 120 days on my accounts. Capital One called me stating that they were going to “take legal action against me” if i do not pay my bills. However, i HAD been paying $539 to United Financial every month. They directly debit my account. I have since stopped all payments on my account going to United Financial through my bank and submitted a letter to discontinue services. I have also spoken to the BBB and FTC regarding United Financial (to began in investigation).
I sent Jamie an E-mail…….Subject was this MY ATTORNEY WILL BE CONTACTING YOU SOON.
I gave my client Id and my phone number and received a call from her within a couple of hours.
She has since sent me an email confirming our agreement per our phone conversation and maybe by Friday October 22 I will have zero balances on all my accounts( that is how close I was to being finished with this) Any way I hope she will help others who are having this problem and if her story holds true she said that an upgrade in their computer systems has caused all of this about payments not getting to the creditor. I told her that the upgrade sucked…..customer service( constantly having to press that zero button) sucked and that they should probably never have upgraded………….” If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!
I too am having many of the same issues with UFS. I have tried unsuccessfully to get them to resolve the issues with late payments. I can’t believe companies are allowed to operate this way. Any advice on how anyone permanently resolved their issues (legal action, etc.)? I am trying to find the best way to keep lower rates and still have payments arrive on time and not be dropped from the DRP program.
I too am having many of the same issues with UFS. I have tried unsuccessfully to get them to resolve the issues with late payments. I can’t believe companies are allowed to operate this way. Any advice on how anyone permanently resolved their issues (legal action, etc.)? I am trying to find the best way to keep lower rates and still have payments arrive on time and not be dropped from the DRP program.
I just read your article from August of 2010 about united financial systems and I am having a similar problem with the company. They missed my January and May payment for my bank of America account, and past due payments were applied to by account, then they kept paying my citi bank account late and I was sued in civil court for violating the debt management program guidelines in which I paid off the amount on that card before going to trial.
Next the amount from the citi bank card was to be applied to my chase card since the citi bank card was paid off which was $64 extra dollars a month going to chase, they did not start paying that extra 64 dollars for 3 months, they claimed to have run an audit on my account and were supposed to void payments and issue them again, when I called back to check on the status they said that the person working on my claim no longer worked for the company and my claim was lost and they would restart the audit process.
Every time I called into check on that missing 3 months they said they sent out the payments however I advised them that the payments had not posted to my chase account. Now the new problem is that they have not made payments to any of the 3 credit cards since July and I am receiving calls from creditors advising me that I am 3 months late on my chase card, and capital one card and a total of 5 months behind on my bank of America card.
Over the past two months I have spoke with several different people from united financial systems all who claim an audit of my account was being done and payments would be voided and issued again to the creditors, they have sent me copies of what they claim are sent payments to my creditors however my creditors have not received any payments in three months. The last person I spoke with from united financial promised me that all of the payments from July until the present were being voided out and were being issued again and they would post to all of my accounts by Oct. 8th 2010. This has not happened.
I have been trying to contact someone from united financial systems every day, either I am put on hold for hours at a time, or I am sent to a voice mail in which the mailbox is usually full, or when I have left messages I never get a returned phone call. , I have also emailed the company on two separate occasions with no response. I have been transferred to mangers and hung up on.
Do you know what my options are fro getting my money back that they have been taking out of my account every month and not paying my bills as they are supposed to be doing. They were supposed to be helping me improve my credit and now thy have made it worse. I have been out of work for a little over a year and just started back money is very tight or I would just pay off the credit cards or make the payments on my own. Are there any reliable debt management companies out there?
I just read your article from August of 2010 about united financial systems and I am having a similar problem with the company. They missed my January and May payment for my bank of America account, and past due payments were applied to by account, then they kept paying my citi bank account late and I was sued in civil court for violating the debt management program guidelines in which I paid off the amount on that card before going to trial.
Next the amount from the citi bank card was to be applied to my chase card since the citi bank card was paid off which was $64 extra dollars a month going to chase, they did not start paying that extra 64 dollars for 3 months, they claimed to have run an audit on my account and were supposed to void payments and issue them again, when I called back to check on the status they said that the person working on my claim no longer worked for the company and my claim was lost and they would restart the audit process.
Every time I called into check on that missing 3 months they said they sent out the payments however I advised them that the payments had not posted to my chase account. Now the new problem is that they have not made payments to any of the 3 credit cards since July and I am receiving calls from creditors advising me that I am 3 months late on my chase card, and capital one card and a total of 5 months behind on my bank of America card.
Over the past two months I have spoke with several different people from united financial systems all who claim an audit of my account was being done and payments would be voided and issued again to the creditors, they have sent me copies of what they claim are sent payments to my creditors however my creditors have not received any payments in three months. The last person I spoke with from united financial promised me that all of the payments from July until the present were being voided out and were being issued again and they would post to all of my accounts by Oct. 8th 2010. This has not happened.
I have been trying to contact someone from united financial systems every day, either I am put on hold for hours at a time, or I am sent to a voice mail in which the mailbox is usually full, or when I have left messages I never get a returned phone call. , I have also emailed the company on two separate occasions with no response. I have been transferred to mangers and hung up on.
Do you know what my options are fro getting my money back that they have been taking out of my account every month and not paying my bills as they are supposed to be doing. They were supposed to be helping me improve my credit and now thy have made it worse. I have been out of work for a little over a year and just started back money is very tight or I would just pay off the credit cards or make the payments on my own. Are there any reliable debt management companies out there?
You need to contact Jaime Lyons directly. In the title of the email – put something that will get her attention – like “FRUSTRATED UFS CLIENT!” Leave all of your contact info. If you have legitimate late, or unmade payments, she will help get your accounts up to date. She’s the ONLY one there who has been able to help me… Her email is lyonsj@unitedfinancial.com Don’t even bother trying to call there!! Trust me, I know from experience!!!!
To my VERY pleasant surprise, Jaime kept her word and ALL of my late payments and past due payments were posted to my accounts when she said they would (3 days later). They made over $3,000 worth of past due payments to my creditors and brought my accounts up to date. Honestly, I was truly shocked, but I shouldn’t be – considering that they should have been maintaining their end of the contract all along. Having SO many late payments in the first place was inexcusable, and the fact that they are so difficult to get in touch with is just as bad – but Jaime is the only one there who gets things done. I have since cancelled my contract with them (or should I say, terminated my monthly payment to them with my bank) as I only have two more months of payments remaining, and I refuse to stress myself out that they will not be making those payments. I’ll do it myself and be done with it already!! I attempted to contact them directly and cancel my agreement, but wasn’t the least bit surprised when I couldn’t get in touch with anyone, again…I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Florida. Even though my problem was resolved, it should have NEVER EVER come to this! Keep working with Jaime – she’s great at responding to email – don’t even bother trying to call there! It’s impossible! Good luck!!!
United Financial is difficult to contact by phone, and has yet to respond to any of my emails. I have requested of them to email me a statement regarding their payments to my creditors due to the fact that those that they were supposed to be paying in the beginning are now calling and sending threatening collection notices as a result of missed payments, which threaten to preclude me from participation in the special programs of lowered or no interest as long as the payments are made on time. WHY IS THIS SUCH A PROBLEM, I’D LIKE TO KNOW WHO’S BEING PAID AND WHAT, SO WHEN THEY CALL I HAVE CONFIRMATION TO REFERENCE !!!
United Financial is difficult to contact by phone, and has yet to respond to any of my emails. I have requested of them to email me a statement regarding their payments to my creditors due to the fact that those that they were supposed to be paying in the beginning are now calling and sending threatening collection notices as a result of missed payments, which threaten to preclude me from participation in the special programs of lowered or no interest as long as the payments are made on time. WHY IS THIS SUCH A PROBLEM, I’D LIKE TO KNOW WHO’S BEING PAID AND WHAT, SO WHEN THEY CALL I HAVE CONFIRMATION TO REFERENCE !!!
You need to contact Jaime Lyons directly. In the title of the email – put something that will get her attention – like “FRUSTRATED UFS CLIENT!” Leave all of your contact info. If you have legitimate late, or unmade payments, she will help get your accounts up to date. She’s the ONLY one there who has been able to help me… Her email is lyonsj@unitedfinancial.com Don’t even bother trying to call there!! Trust me, I know from experience!!!!
I received an e-mail from Jamie Lyons on Sunday morning. Fingers crossed- she said that she is working on finding and sending my June, July and August payments and that they should post by the 15th. I believe it when I see it, but I feel that there is some progress! How did your problem turn out?
Wow! This is unbelievable and scary. I have been with UFS for about 4 years now and this past year has been a true nightmare. Not one payment all year has posted to my creditors on time. In the Spring, two payments were missed which resulted in a negative “past due” mark on my credit report and the snowball effect began. My credit score dropped, my open account creditors lowered my limits (which makes it appear that the cards are now “maxed out”) which again results in a lower credit score. If not taken care of this will remain on my report for 7 years! I have spoken to Jaime Lyons at least once a month if not more about all of these issues. She says that she is trying to help get the negative marks off of my report but no such luck so far. As for the payments–I was told to get my due date changed so that the payment would post on time. I made the due date change and the payments are still not posting on time. Jaime is very nice and seems to care but the bottom line is that the problem continues to occur EVERY SINGLE MONTH. I’ve had it. It is really frustrating to pay for a service monthly that is actually ruining my credit instead. Since being with UFS I have made at least 2 complaints to the BBB. I’m about to make another if this is not solved once and for all. I fulfill my end of the contract every month but they are simply not doing as promised. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone. Ever.
Wow! This is unbelievable and scary. I have been with UFS for about 4 years now and this past year has been a true nightmare. Not one payment all year has posted to my creditors on time. In the Spring, two payments were missed which resulted in a negative “past due” mark on my credit report and the snowball effect began. My credit score dropped, my open account creditors lowered my limits (which makes it appear that the cards are now “maxed out”) which again results in a lower credit score. If not taken care of this will remain on my report for 7 years! I have spoken to Jaime Lyons at least once a month if not more about all of these issues. She says that she is trying to help get the negative marks off of my report but no such luck so far. As for the payments–I was told to get my due date changed so that the payment would post on time. I made the due date change and the payments are still not posting on time. Jaime is very nice and seems to care but the bottom line is that the problem continues to occur EVERY SINGLE MONTH. I’ve had it. It is really frustrating to pay for a service monthly that is actually ruining my credit instead. Since being with UFS I have made at least 2 complaints to the BBB. I’m about to make another if this is not solved once and for all. I fulfill my end of the contract every month but they are simply not doing as promised. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone. Ever.
UPDATE: I DID get a call from Jaime Lyons on Friday. She was extremely helpful and said that ALL of my payments would be posted to my accounts by this Wednesday and that included any PAST DUE payments on my cards. UFS would FedEx those payments to the card companies. That would be amazing – considering one card has a past due amount of over $900. Seeing is believing!! At least she was helpful & kind. I will be utterly amazed if it happens… Will keep you posted.
I am so glad that I found this site! I am having the same problems with UFS. I have been with them since May of 2006. They have done a good job getting my debt paid down, but twice this year, I have had incidents that I am livid about. Back in March, all of my credit cards dropped me from the DMP because UFS was late in making my payments. According to Pam Lee, there was a “glitch” in their system and new proposals needed to be sent out and accepted by the card companies. Problem resolved… NOW, five months later, I just received letters from my three Citibank cards saying that I’ve been dropped again because UFS is late in sending payments. This is completely unacceptable. They debit $806 from my account every month and then sit on it. Pam Lee sent me a breakdown of all of my August dispersements – supposedly sent out to my cards on August 23. “Suprisingly” none of my credit cards have received them, and when I asked where they are, she said she would check into accounting and that could take 3-5 days. BULL *hit!! I did get an email from Jamie Lyons yesterday stating that she would call me today, but I have yet to hear from her to straighten this out. Trying to call UFS is literally impossible. I spent an hour and a half on the phone yesterday calling and not ONCE got a live person… What kind of customer service is that?? I’m getting calls every day from my creditors. It’s Sept 24 and no payments have been made since Aug 13. UNACCEPTABLE! I’m calling the BBB and the Attorney General if I don’t get resolution FAST. This is fraud and theft.
I am so glad that I found this site! I am having the same problems with UFS. I have been with them since May of 2006. They have done a good job getting my debt paid down, but twice this year, I have had incidents that I am livid about. Back in March, all of my credit cards dropped me from the DMP because UFS was late in making my payments. According to Pam Lee, there was a “glitch” in their system and new proposals needed to be sent out and accepted by the card companies. Problem resolved… NOW, five months later, I just received letters from my three Citibank cards saying that I’ve been dropped again because UFS is late in sending payments. This is completely unacceptable. They debit $806 from my account every month and then sit on it. Pam Lee sent me a breakdown of all of my August dispersements – supposedly sent out to my cards on August 23. “Suprisingly” none of my credit cards have received them, and when I asked where they are, she said she would check into accounting and that could take 3-5 days. BULL *hit!! I did get an email from Jamie Lyons yesterday stating that she would call me today, but I have yet to hear from her to straighten this out. Trying to call UFS is literally impossible. I spent an hour and a half on the phone yesterday calling and not ONCE got a live person… What kind of customer service is that?? I’m getting calls every day from my creditors. It’s Sept 24 and no payments have been made since Aug 13. UNACCEPTABLE! I’m calling the BBB and the Attorney General if I don’t get resolution FAST. This is fraud and theft.
UPDATE: I DID get a call from Jaime Lyons on Friday. She was extremely helpful and said that ALL of my payments would be posted to my accounts by this Wednesday and that included any PAST DUE payments on my cards. UFS would FedEx those payments to the card companies. That would be amazing – considering one card has a past due amount of over $900. Seeing is believing!! At least she was helpful & kind. I will be utterly amazed if it happens… Will keep you posted.
I received an e-mail from Jamie Lyons on Sunday morning. Fingers crossed- she said that she is working on finding and sending my June, July and August payments and that they should post by the 15th. I believe it when I see it, but I feel that there is some progress! How did your problem turn out?
To my VERY pleasant surprise, Jaime kept her word and ALL of my late payments and past due payments were posted to my accounts when she said they would (3 days later). They made over $3,000 worth of past due payments to my creditors and brought my accounts up to date. Honestly, I was truly shocked, but I shouldn’t be – considering that they should have been maintaining their end of the contract all along. Having SO many late payments in the first place was inexcusable, and the fact that they are so difficult to get in touch with is just as bad – but Jaime is the only one there who gets things done. I have since cancelled my contract with them (or should I say, terminated my monthly payment to them with my bank) as I only have two more months of payments remaining, and I refuse to stress myself out that they will not be making those payments. I’ll do it myself and be done with it already!! I attempted to contact them directly and cancel my agreement, but wasn’t the least bit surprised when I couldn’t get in touch with anyone, again…I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Florida. Even though my problem was resolved, it should have NEVER EVER come to this! Keep working with Jaime – she’s great at responding to email – don’t even bother trying to call there! It’s impossible! Good luck!!!
Three weeks have gone by with multiple promises from Jamie stating that my payments would post on… then “sorry about the misunderstanding, they will post no later than the 30th”. Thepayments are still missing.United Financial has missed a total of 11 payments to 4 creditors (June, July and August) totaling over $1,500. I know a few people have had better luck than I. What is the secret?
Update: In one month of emailing back and forth with Jamie Lyons I have only been able to recover less than $300 of the $1,500+ dollars of mine that they have misplaced… I recieve promises that my payments have posted only to call the credit card companies (daily) to find that they haven’t. I am working with FL BBB now.
I did not receive any REAL resolution until I stopped the ETF that was due to come out on the 15th of this month. (I did this by moving both savings and checking into my son’s savings and keeping a balance under the amount of the ETF.) United Financial called within 2 days to inform me that they did not receive the payment. Only then was I able to speak with a live person (I had been cut off dozens of times before this) to let them know that they would not be handling any more of my money until the previous 3 payments were made. I received a call 2 days later from them. They said they were sending the payments out (they have said this before) to my creditors. I am now waiting for them to post… hasn’t happened yet. FYI- they sent me an email of my transactions (showing that the payments were made) 6 weeks before this… trust me- just because they sent you the email doesn’t mean they actually sent the payments.
Good luck!
PS- posting here seems to get some attention. You’re on the right track.
UPDATE:
I actually spoke with someone today that ‘seemed’ pretty helpful. I guess we shall see, but if all does go ok, then hopefully I can only deal with her only from here on out. She told me she would send an email of my account and all the payments made since I joined in Nov. ’06. As soon as I got off the phone with her I checked my email and there it was. So, at least that was an email I received quickly. The true test will be if everything is rectified shortly and gets back on track. I find it ironic though that the majority of us seem to have the same issues with the same credit card companies…mainly Citi and Chase.
Wow, I can not believe I found this site. This is exactly what is currently happening to me. I have been with UFS since Nov. 2006 and now within the last few months I have been getting notices from Chase and Citifinancial of late payments. Then I got a letter the other day from Citi stating they have dropped me from the program. I am furious! Every month $229 comes out of my bank account on the 16th. Now, Citi dropped me and Chase gave me a warning that if I miss another payment, I am dropped. This is completely unacceptable…what a bunch of crooks.
Wow, I can not believe I found this site. This is exactly what is currently happening to me. I have been with UFS since Nov. 2006 and now within the last few months I have been getting notices from Chase and Citifinancial of late payments. Then I got a letter the other day from Citi stating they have dropped me from the program. I am furious! Every month $229 comes out of my bank account on the 16th. Now, Citi dropped me and Chase gave me a warning that if I miss another payment, I am dropped. This is completely unacceptable…what a bunch of crooks.
UPDATE:
I actually spoke with someone today that ‘seemed’ pretty helpful. I guess we shall see, but if all does go ok, then hopefully I can only deal with her only from here on out. She told me she would send an email of my account and all the payments made since I joined in Nov. ’06. As soon as I got off the phone with her I checked my email and there it was. So, at least that was an email I received quickly. The true test will be if everything is rectified shortly and gets back on track. I find it ironic though that the majority of us seem to have the same issues with the same credit card companies…mainly Citi and Chase.
I did not receive any REAL resolution until I stopped the ETF that was due to come out on the 15th of this month. (I did this by moving both savings and checking into my son’s savings and keeping a balance under the amount of the ETF.) United Financial called within 2 days to inform me that they did not receive the payment. Only then was I able to speak with a live person (I had been cut off dozens of times before this) to let them know that they would not be handling any more of my money until the previous 3 payments were made. I received a call 2 days later from them. They said they were sending the payments out (they have said this before) to my creditors. I am now waiting for them to post… hasn’t happened yet. FYI- they sent me an email of my transactions (showing that the payments were made) 6 weeks before this… trust me- just because they sent you the email doesn’t mean they actually sent the payments.
Good luck!
PS- posting here seems to get some attention. You’re on the right track.
This is an email I sent to Jamie Lyons and the costomer service department at United Financial. I did receive a read receipt from Jamie, but STILL no reply. I was promised, by anoother customer service rep. that they woudl call me yesterday when the person handling my account came back from break. Still no call and can’t get through today. I don’t know what to try next!
Hello,
I have been working with United Financial Debt program since December 2005 and have been very happy with your company until July of 2010. My creditors have not been receiving the payments even though I have transferred $575 to your company on the 15th of each month.
I have been in contact with United Financial, by phone, multiple times and they have told me conflicting information. First, they told me that my contracts were up with the creditors and that new proposals needed to be sent out and accepted. This was in July. I continued to receive letters and multiple phone calls on a daily basis. My creditors, ALL FOUR OF THEM, claim that they have not received a payment since May of 2010 or new proposals.
Upon further conversations with United Financials Customer Service Department, I learned that they may have to reissue my payments. I authorized them to do this. I then requested a paper copy of all of my transactions, which they provided. This copy does not show that my creditors actually received the payment.
I do not understand why no one at United Financial can tell me, in all certainty, where my money is going and why it is not being received by my creditors. According to my creditors, no proposals have been received, and in most cases, they claim that a new proposal was not needed. This is starting to severely damage my credit and I have worked very hard to repair it. I am hoping that you can provide some answers for me.
This is an email I sent to Jamie Lyons and the costomer service department at United Financial. I did receive a read receipt from Jamie, but STILL no reply. I was promised, by anoother customer service rep. that they woudl call me yesterday when the person handling my account came back from break. Still no call and can’t get through today. I don’t know what to try next!
Hello,
I have been working with United Financial Debt program since December 2005 and have been very happy with your company until July of 2010. My creditors have not been receiving the payments even though I have transferred $575 to your company on the 15th of each month.
I have been in contact with United Financial, by phone, multiple times and they have told me conflicting information. First, they told me that my contracts were up with the creditors and that new proposals needed to be sent out and accepted. This was in July. I continued to receive letters and multiple phone calls on a daily basis. My creditors, ALL FOUR OF THEM, claim that they have not received a payment since May of 2010 or new proposals.
Upon further conversations with United Financials Customer Service Department, I learned that they may have to reissue my payments. I authorized them to do this. I then requested a paper copy of all of my transactions, which they provided. This copy does not show that my creditors actually received the payment.
I do not understand why no one at United Financial can tell me, in all certainty, where my money is going and why it is not being received by my creditors. According to my creditors, no proposals have been received, and in most cases, they claim that a new proposal was not needed. This is starting to severely damage my credit and I have worked very hard to repair it. I am hoping that you can provide some answers for me.
United Financial Systems has 170 BBB complaints 36 months.
Jaime,
What is the status with the Discover payment?
Per your conversation with Carol the other day, you told her you’d call on Monday, 8/23 and the final payment would post on Tues, 8/24.
This is the FINAL payment which you deducted from our account on 6/18.
To date — neither has occurred.
Please call Carol immediately to rectify matters today.
Otherwise I am prepared to take another course of action … this isn’t a threat … just reality and business based on UFS’s actions and empty promises to date.
Regards.
The UFS payment posted today (8/25/10) to our Discover account; albeit the funds taken out on 6/18 … 68 days later, this account is now closed.
Thank you, Jaime for personally handling matters — greatly appreciated.
A complete review of Ms. Greene’s account was performed in providing this response. Upon review, it appears that the issues began with Ms. Greene’s failure to alter her payment date with Chase. Ms. Greene’s enrolled account with Chase was dropped from our DMP due to this failure. Her account due date was the 9th of each month, and it cycled on the 12th of each month. She was instructed by UFS to change her due date to a later date because her monthly payment to UFS was generally not received until the 10th of each month. Essentially, payments were showings as “late” because they were posting after the statements were issued. Payments were not missed by UFS, rather they were credited to her Chase account after her due date. Further, her account with Chase was never assessed an APR in excess of 14%. In fact, while with UFS, her account interest rate was at 6%.
Jaime,
Glad to see you’re watching what United Financial customers are saying about their experience with your team and company.
You give me the impression you do care — please shoe me I am correct in my assessment.
I am in a similar position with UFS. Been with United Financial for 4+ years and you take out the monthly payment like clock work on the 18th of each month; HOWEVER, your payment history to the credit cards isn’t as timely and consistent (check your records; facts speak for themselves).
CURRENT DILEMMA: UFS took out the last payment for Discover on 6/18 and as of 8/20 still HAS NOT made the payment to Discover … completely unacceptable and Discover calls multiple times per day demanding the payment … this is frustrating, stressful and unnecessary.
Meanwhile, UFS gives us the run-around re: why the payment hasn’t been processed to Discover … but come on … it is 65+ days past due.
Please do your job — and help rectify this so the Discover “balance due” is officially behind everyone … this is LAST payment to Discover.
Thank you.
When I first started with UFS I had five credit cards. The first three and half years were great. I paid off three of them.
But recently their payments seem to be getting later and later. Finally early this month I received a call from CitiCards that the July payment had not been made. I checked my other card, Chase, and no payment there either. I called UFS. It is very difficult to get through to anyone. Their phone system requires you to press zero every couple of minutes to stay connected. And even then it will disconnect after a while. E-mail is pointless. I see Jaime Lyons replied to you. (S)he certainly never replied to me.
After three disconnects I finally reached a person who told me the money had been dispersed July 21. My call was on August 9. He told me it sometimes takes fouteen days for the payment to be posted. As the next day was fourteen days I told him I would wait until then.
The next day still no post.
So I called UFS again. After playing with their weird phone system for another half hour got another person who blamed everthing on the credit card company. I told her I wanted to cancel my agreement with UFS. She became quite snippy. She told me I would have to fax a letter to them stating my intention to cancel. I did so.
Received a voice mail the next day from UFS informing me our agreement was canceled.
I waited until the date on which UFS normally withdrew money from my account to ensure they were through taking money, then called the two credit cards and made payments.
As of today (August 20)the money which they say they dispersed on July 21 has yet to appear.
My experience 1 1/2 yrs ago was very similiar. they were taking money from my account but the bills were not being paid. I reported them on one of these sites and the problems were fixed after Jamie Lyons called me. Now I have a problem again, they haven’t paid a credit card and I have started getting calls. I called UFS today and the calls go into a loop etc. eventually getting disconnected. Why aren’t they paying the companies? Do you understand the system? It really makes no sense that they do the “right” thing and then suddenly mess up.
After posting here on the 20th, I received a call from Jaime on the 23rd informing me she would find out what had happened. She never called back but the next day a payment had been made to both Citi-Cards and Chase.
Now the odd part. When I checked today a further three payments had been made. I don’t know if these were to make up for missed payments I was unaware of or…?
But posting on here does seem to get their attention.
We are experiencing the same problem. For us it started a couple of months ago. Our credit card companies have not received payment since July 2010, and getting in touch with anyone at UFS is next to near impossible. If they are automatically taking funds from our account, someone other than the credit card companies, is on the receiving end. I don’t like this one bit, and have decided to stop payment and demand our money back that was never actually paid to the creditors. I have e-mailed UFS, faxed the threatening letters from our creditors and called them everyday. We continuously get disconnected and have had no response to the fax or emails. This is extremely frustrating and we are in the process of talking to a lawyer. There is obvious fraud going on here, and it needs to be stopped.
I want to get a lawyer as well. Let me know in replying if you are interested in doing it jointly, I am sure there are countless others seeing as though this company has come into being a “F” rating on the BBB website almost overnight.
UFS BBB COMPLAINTS
383 complaints filed against business
Failure to respond to 104 complaints filed against business.
3 complaints filed against business that were not resolved
FLA ATTORNEY GENERAL COMP-LAINTS
1117 BANKS RD, MARGATE, FL 33063-6702
Phone 561-883-2398
Complaints 13
Thank you, I am one of those unresolved BBB complaints office. I will be filing with the Attorney General as well.
In the article in question, Ms. Greene says she had been on the program “4 Years” and “For three and a half years, I was pleased with them,” said Greene.
For 3 1/2 years, the due date was fine and all of the sudden, a 3 day cycling forward made a difference? Does Ms. Greene’s statements show her payments in fact arriving 3 days later? It sounds like they weren’t there on 2 of those months at all.
“Greene said United Financial Systems withdrew money from her account as scheduled, but failed to make three payments to Chase on time. It missed the March payment but made it later that month. It also missed payments in May and June.”
If May and June weren’t paid at all those months, then the due date argument is just bull.
I have to say this in Ms Greenes defense….. I Had an account with Chase(it was originally Providian, then WaMu,then Chase) and Chase NEVER would change my due dates to coincide
with my dispersement date……….NEVER and I asked numberous times
yeah right you moron, UFS is a real scam, and you know it… then explain why they haven’t pay my creditors for 5 or 6 months, but still taking money out of my checking account??? I tried to call, but your stupid phone system don’t let people get in touch with any representative….unless it is a new customer… how convenient…. moron
My client number is #477724 and my payments have not posted for over 4 months. I have been for the past 3 months trying to get in contact with ANYONE including you that could help but to no avail. Every single one of my creditors have dropped me from the program and you haven’t even gotten in touch with me, yet every 17th of the month UFS deducts $407. If anyone else that reads this is thinking about filing a lawsuit or an official complaint with the attorney general please reply to this so that there is strength in numbers. I am tired of trying to get UFS playing with my money and want a full refund as well as a reimbursement of my deposit since it was UFS who has not upheld their part of the contract. If I get a lawyer I will also be going after the late fees that I have accrued on my creditors. This company is a fraud and am willing to reach out to the news press in South Florida to expose what this company is doing to individuals like myself, who are trying to pay their creditors but are being scammed by so called “non-profit” organizations.
Jaime, aren’t you afraid that you will lose your job because it sounds like this company is going under?
How dare Ms. Lyons put this against the customer!! There are 1000s of UFS’s customers receiving the same storyline, that it is *OUR* fault. What does she have to say to the customers, such as myself who had direct deposit of $550/month on the 3rd day of every month, yet it took them over 1-2 months to get that money sent to the creditors. You would think that a company who is so great at TAKING your money would be responsible to get it distributed to appropriate creditors in a timely manner! I had issues arising as far back as December 2009. It took until August 2010, when I filed official complaints for someone from UFS, in this case Ms. Lyons, to contact me (AFTER they received BBB complaint). She informed me my payments not being paid on time were due to “clerical error” from new software installed in January 2010. Jaime also assured me this would never happen again. I believed her. Then the phone calls from creditors began again in November 2010. Upon some research, the last posted payments from UFS to my creditors was on September 23, 2010. I opened my case with BBB, the FTC, Attorney General office of FL, as well as been in discussion with my local media consumer protection departments, whom are more than happy to help me out. I am owed $1100 from October & November 2010 payments being taken from my checking account, but NEVER APPLIED to my creditors. Sadly, UFS has ignored almost all emails & calls. Maybe Jaime realized she is in hot water and left (or changed her name). I have been “dealing with” a Ms. Anissa Foster, who seems to have an attitude and doesn’t care to listen to what WE have to say, then just hangs up at the end of conversation without saying ‘sorry for inconvienance’, or ‘have a good day’…NOTHING. Definately NOT a customer service representative! UFS is a joke. I do not understand how this can take over 5 months to get ahold of a representative. IF there was any sincere reason for what is going on, they would inform us, correct?! I guess the government could care less that someone is flat out STEALING money from everyone. What burns me the most, is that these companies are out there, doing what they do, all to vulnerable and desparate people, who believe their lies. UFS’s website (which, by the way I don’t think is running anymore…hmmmmmm???) promised a “100% satisfaction guarantee”. I hope they can back this up with their lawyers! For their sake, they should be glad most of us do not live nearby their office.
Jaime, I sincerely hope you read this & understand my frustration and that you & UFS call/ email me VERY soon to fix this. Remember, it is UFS who is in a BREACH OF CONTRACT! If it were me not making my payments, as I signed away to do, I’d be getting nasty emails, calls, plus threats of rising interest rates on my balances.
Look yourself in the mirror, smile your fake smile, and swallow your pride, knowing you and the company you represent are really the one’s to blame…
Brad Kett