We Are Not Happy With Debt Settlement Group and Debt Rx. – Jer

“Dear Steve,

My husband and I went with a debt settlement group several years ago(2006). Debt Settlement Group(DSG), Inc also known as DebtRx, http://www.debtrx.com/ at
13017 Wisteria Dr. #443
Germantown, MD 20874
800-395-5353

They sounded too good to be true. That should have been the first red flag…but we went with them, hindsight is 20/20. In spring of 2010, with only three of the six credit cards settled, we quit their program. Within the next month, we contacted the three remaining credit cards and settled for a fraction of the balances.

This DSG or DebtRx company charged us a percentage of what they saved us. In that total ‘saved’, original balance and interest/late fees so that raised the balance and in return raised the amount of money they saved us. When we settled the last three credit cards, there were no interest/late fees.

DSG or DebtRx lied to us every chance they had. They told while in the program, our credit would not be good but once we paid all credit companies off we would have good credit if not better than when we started. LIE!

Now, we are trying to rebuild our horrible credit. It is almost near to impossible. However, we were told to write letters to all three bureaus explaining the situation. We were scammed, lied to, and have bad credit now. We have contacted the Att. Gen, we were offered $1313 dollars but we didn’t accept it. They LIED about everything. The Attn. Gen. office didn’t want to go any farther so we are now in contact with Consumer Protection Agency headed by Eric Friedman. Nothing has been settled as of right now.

What would be the perfect letter to write to the bureaus? What should I put in the letter?

Do you have any other info on this company?

Jer”

Dear Jer,

How ironic, I was just in Eric Friedman’s office visiting with him. He’s an old friend and a good guy. I’ll email him and let him know about your question here.

Honestly I don’t know what writing to the credit bureaus is going to accomplish. The fact is that as a result of participating in any debt settlement program your accounts probably went delinquent and that was reported to the credit bureaus as factual but negative information. In fact the settlements will show up as negative information as well. The amount forgiven will be reported as a bad debt and written off even though the percentage you paid will be reported as settled.

There is no way to settle a debt without a hit to your credit report.

But all is not lost on the credit front. You can start to rebuild your credit using this guide. I know the guide is for bankruptcy but settling debt has the same impact on your credit.

I’ve traded emails with the CEO of Debt RX in the past and I’ll email him about your question and situation. It would be a fantastic example of customer service if they would work with you to achieve a mutually satisfactory refund in light of your dissatisfaction.

Let’s give him five to seven days to deal with the issue and post a comment here. If you have not heard anything by that time then you may want to follow my guide, How to Get Out of a Debt Settlement Program and Get a Big Refund.

I can’t give you any assurance what Debt RX is going to do about this matter but from my point of view the mark of a good company is not if problems arise, but how they handle them once they do. A problem is an opportunity to show what great customer service they can provide. Let’s see how they do.

Please update me on your progress by