Thanks to another wonderful tipster (send in your tips here), here is another version of the sudden wave of misleading and deceptive debt relief mailers that are being sent out. This one is titled the Credit Card Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2011. What is blazingly stupid is that in the very first sentence it refers to the Credit Card Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. So which is it?
The mailer says it comes from US Financial Solutions, 1718 M St, NW #364, Washington, DC 20036. They list their phone number as 888-777-9032. The letter then later refers to the organization as USEFS. So what’s the E for?
The mailing address is for a UPS mail drop in Washington, DC.
This letter is a horrible example of the worst type of deceptive marketing. It starts out talking about a “government monitored hardship program” and then ends with fine print that says, “This is NOT a government endorsed or sponsored program and USEFS is NOT affiliated with any governmental agency.”
The only thing anyone who receives this mailer has been pre-qualified for is to be marketed to. The pitch made in it is the same as you will see in other recent debt relief mailers that have been sent out.
The claims made are:
- Program does not adversely affect your credit;
- Is not associated with bankruptcy or debt settlement;
- Has been specifically designed to assist consumers in reducing high interest rate credit card debt;
- Reduce full balance in 24-48 months; and
- One monthly installment.
These claims are typically used in other deceptive marketing for debt relief services and historically for debt settlement services. The FTC telemarketing sales rules that went into force in 2010 stopped most of this deceptive marketing but in the past week or so there has been a strong resurgence.
I can’t find anything that convinces me US Financial Solutions is a legitimate company.
My advice if you or anyone you know gets this mailer is to trash it and Run Away!
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US Financial Solutions and USEFS are two separate companies. Did anyone notice that the very thing this website has call to actions for is the same thing that these others companies are doing? Steve, you aren’t a hero for mixing up two companies and offering Debt Settlement and Student loan help, yourself. Are you a free service that does this out of the goodness of your heart? Im pretty sure all of these businesses have to make money somehow, and maybe some are helpful and some aren’t. Its not Disneyland, its debt. Way to bash other companies to make personal gains, that’s not deceptive.
I received two of these CC debt assistance letters, from two different companies, on the same day last week. This one (US Educational Financial Solutions) was sent from an address on the infamous “K” street in Washington DC. I thought, isn’t K street the address of all or most of the Congressional lobbying companies/non-profits, both good and thuggish, who our Congressional and Senate members have to spend inordinate amounts of time attending (dealing with), rather than doing their jobs as representatives of the people?
So, I Googled them and here I am. Now I’m on to discovery of the other one I received from “Lending Club.”
Thank you for this site.
I received one of these in the mail today. Definitely sounded suspicious, so glad I googled them and found this site!
You are welcome.
Thank you Steve! I was on the phone with US Educational Financial Solutions for about 20 minutes. They asked to do a “soft credit check.” Then the phone got disconnected. Wary, I researched online and found this letter. They have updated it and changed the Act date and title to “Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act” Feb 22nd 2010. Now if she calls back I can tell her to never call again. I am a single mom of two and really appreciate you posting this. THANK YOU!!!
Received a mailer today! Noticed these comments are 2 years old, yet they are still sending them out. Beware!
If you can send me a copy of it, please get it to me at https://getoutofdebt.org//confidential-tip-form/
Thank goodness I was on my toes! I received this same letter about two weeks ago & trashed it. Last night I received a phone call fron a guy at this company. I was suspicious immediately when he couldn’t provide answers to my very pointed questions. He quoted 48 months to pay off my debt but now the counseling costs $59.99 per month. He knew way too much about ny business & I am always suspicious of too much BIG BROTHER. How did he get so much of my personal information?
I just had a conversation with NATE at US Financial Solutions. Â He managed to get more info from me than I should have given but I stopped when he asked for my bank routing number. Â When I told him I wanted to do some investigating into the legitimacy of his company his voiced raised slightly, became a little louder and instead of offering me a way to verify their true existence he tried to “convince” me by telling me he promised they were legit. Â He gave me no way of checking other than his “word” and his “promise”. Â How do I make sure that they (he) don’t use the little bit of important info I gave them to access my credit cards?
I got as far as looking at the contracts (me and my husband) and declining to sign them, then responded to their email telling thing I would not sign and sighted this website and highlighting comments. I never did hear back from them and it’s been 2 days so far. Now mt major fear is that they will STILL DEDUCT THE MONEY FROM MY ACCOUNT ON JULY 20. Does anyone have any experience like that? They have all my information (I know, Extra Stupid pertains to ME too…..but desperate people do desperate and stupid things) and if they deduct this huge amount of money from my account, I will be in serious trouble!!!
This extra stupid person is in the same boat. Â I didn’t sign anything and won’t but they have enough of my personal information to do damage and I too cannot withstand any more financial hardship. Â
cancel your account or credit card. tell them you fear someone has stolen your information. you will get a new account and the fool who tries to deduct from your account with our your permission will be s… out of luck. you will get a new account or cc and that will take care of that problem. once you report your account no one can post on it. just make sure if you have any auto withdrawls you change the account to the new account number because no one will be able to deduct from your account once its cancelled.
Wow
To answer your question, I’m guessing the “E” stands for ExtraStupid!
Glad I found this, was going to do it with the exact same letter. They claim they have been in business for over 30yrs. Unfortunately this also probably means bankruptcy for us.
 I, too, got wrapped up with this company and got a phone call tonight. I stupidly went through the whole routine up until the part about signing the contract electronically…then told them I needed to talk to my husband who had gone to bed (after I spent 3 hours on the phone….what in the world was I thinking?) and she said she’d call me tomorrow. I just now emailed them a link to this site and told them I will not be signing anything and that they needed to cease and desist from contacting me in the future. One of the first things I caught after the whole long spiel, and going to that page about the BBB, was that they were NOT accredited by the BBB.
    Oh, and she told ME they’d been in business for 8 years, not 30 years. Freddie, check out CCS, Credit Counseling Services….that’s what I plan to do tomorrow. Make that appointment!
I did see them on BBB, but it stated right on there that they were not BBB accredited. Â According to what I read they have been in business less than a year. Â There were 2 complaints filed against them through the BBB that were resolved. Â Still think it’s a scam. Â I too gave them way too much important info. Â
I did not respond to a mailer, but somehow got referred to the USEFS company. They are dishonest and do not even diclose everythign to you until you have e-signed. I did get an interest reduction, but I am also being charged $54 a month for “financial education” until I pay my entire debt off which will be about 48 months. The total for my “financial education” will be $2646. For $2646, I get an online class, a DVD and a book. I am now trying to get out of this program. Lesson learned for me, I hope anyone who sees this will never do business with Cornerstone Financial, USEFS Inc, or US Educational Financial Solutions. All scammers.
 If they reduced your interest a lot, $54 is cheap. even 10% interest on say $50k is $416mo. I was told the interest would be $0 if I did it for the $60k debt we have acquired due to my loss of a good job years ago. Also the web site they referred me to is vague. They are not BBB credited as they claimed, which is another concern.
I did not respond to a mailer, but somehow got referred to the USEFS company. They are dishonest and do not even diclose everythign to you until you have e-signed. I did get an interest reduction, but I am also being charged $54 a month for “financial education” until I pay my entire debt off which will be about 48 months. The total for my “financial education” will be $2646. For $2646, I get an online class, a DVD and a book. I am now trying to get out of this program. Lesson learned for me, I hope anyone who sees this will never do business with Cornerstone Financial, USEFS Inc, or US Educational Financial Solutions. All scammers.
What I found funny about this, is the use of the United Parcel Service shield logo on the front of this mailer.
Thank you! My Father-In-Law got this exact letter, and thankfully called me before he finalized the deal with this creep.. he always gets targeted by this kind of thing. I read him your article and he threw the letter away.
Your comment made my day. Glad I was able to help.
Steve
Oh, in that case I guess all the deceptive messages and claims in the mailer are just fine. (following up on Sarcasmo’s lead)
Nothing gets by you….
It’s for a interest reduction program; not a debt settlement service.
It’s for a interest reduction program; not a debt settlement service.
Nothing gets by you….
Oh, in that case I guess all the deceptive messages and claims in the mailer are just fine. (following up on Sarcasmo’s lead)