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A reader and tipster (send in your tips here) just sent in a mailer they received from Legal Helpers Debt Resolution and Macey, Aleman, Hyslip & Searns.
The reader sent the mailer in through the tip line here and said:
Here is a solicitation letter I received form Legal Helpers/Macey Aleman. I am a North Carolina resident. The required disclaimer for lawyer advertising is not on the outside of the envelope. I have sent this to the NC State Bar for investigation but I thought you might be interested.
Why yes, I am interested, thank you.
A couple of issues jumped straight out at me.
The letter claims the consumer owes $31,000 and the debt will be “potentially” settled for $15,500. That’s 50 percent of the debt. I wonder if that figure is inclusive of fees charged by Legal Helpers Debt Resolution. If so, and the fees match what was being charged before, as you can see here, the actual amount of the settled debt, assuming a 24 month program would have been $8,034. That is of course if the resolution claim made is inclusive of all the fees below.
- $900 retainer
- $79/mo fee = $1,896
- 15% of debt ($31,000) = $4,650
Estimated Total Fees Paid LHDR = $7,446
Legal Helpers Debt Resolution Letter
But these are not the only fees to be paid. The mailer also says “Court costs and case expenses will be the responsibility of the client.” That sounds like a blank check the client will have to pay.
This means LHDR is presenting to the consumer they are going to settle the debt for 26 percent of the original balance. Again, if the resolution amount quote was truthfully inclusive of fees to be paid.
The legal advertisement makes the claim that “In many cases, we can resolve your debt for $15,500.” Which begs the question, in how many cases? It appears the mailer boldly does not give the consumer full and accurate information as other non-attorney debt settlement firms are required to do these days. Apparently they are using the fact they are a law firm to place consumers in a poor position to make informed decision as the law requires for all other debt settlement companies.
The mailer also directs consumers to a site, debtreliefbonus.com. The site appears to not be owned by the law firm and instead it is registered to:
DR Bonus
68 Gilbert
San Francisco, California 94103
A seemingly anonymous entity.
A search of State of California records of authorized businesses could not locate any LLC or corporation by the name of DR Bonus or Debt Relief Bonus.
Pictures of 68 Gilbert Street
The mailer directed the consumer to this website.
According to public records this site is hosted on a server that also hosts the following marketing domains.
- 678match.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com
[You will notice that both Twice Verified and Seville Marketing use email addresses for Bill. Coincidence or habit?] - askmoola.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - bankruptcyhelpers.org
Neill Sullivan
Seville Marketing
522 Harrions St.
San Francisco, California 94105
bill@bridgecaploans.com - bankruptcyumbrella.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - bkfreebie.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - borrardeuda.com
Intermundo Media LLC
1426 Pearl Street
Suite 201
Boulder, Colorado 80302 - christiandebtremedy.com
Hidden (No very Christian like.) - debt-answers.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - debt-consolidation-guarantee.com
Debt Consolidation
68 Gilbert
San Francisco, California 94103 - debt-phone.com
Debt Phone
68 Gilbert
San Francisco, California 94103 - debtchat.us
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - debtfreecowboy.com
Neill Sullivan
Seville Marketing
522 Harrions St.
San Francisco, California 94105
bill@bridgecaploans.com - debtmasher.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - debtreliefbonus.com
Hidden - free-debt-consolidation-tools.com
Debt Consolidation
68 Gilbert
San Francisco, California 94103 - freebankruptcyhelp.us
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - greentreedebt.com
Hidden - interwebops.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - lhfinancialresolution.com
Hidden - lhtaxandfinancial.com
Yuan, Derek accounting@twiceverified.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103 - momnation.org
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
tramn@trupathfinancial.com - mybankruptcyumbrella.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - mydailyinfo.com
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103
Yuan, Derek bill@twiceverified.com - mytaxconsultation.com
Hidden - nextloan.org
Neill Sullivan
Seville Marketing
522 Harrions St.
San Francisco, California 94105
bill@bridgecaploans.com - ridofred.com
Derek Yuan
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103 - savingsapproval.com
Hidden - settletaxnow.com
Derek Yuan
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103 - simplequotesearch.com
Hidden - smartdebtchoice.com
Seville Marketing
522 Harrions St.
San Francisco, California 94105 - sunrisedebt.com
Hidden - taxconsultation.us
Derek Yuan
Twice Verified Inc.
569 7th St.
Suite B
San Francisco, California 94103 - thedebtrescuers.com
Hidden
So it logically appears the domain name is most likely owned by a marketing firm, such as Twice Verified, and not by the law firm. Even Twice Verified, with the related email format looks like it is related to Seville Marketing.
It concerns me greatly that a consumer would receive a letter that appears to be from a law firm, Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, which directs the consumer to a website to give up personal and potentially confidential information to an outside non-lawyer that can’t be identified.
Twice Verified
Twice Verified describes themselves by saying, “TwiceVerified is a marketing and lead generation company that specializes in high-quality leads that are offered to our partnered sales professionals.” –
The Twice Verified website says, “All leads have have proactively expressed interest in debt settlement.”. But I believe the person that received this letter from the “alleged” law firm of Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, did not.
North Carolina Legal Advertising
Legal Helpers Debt Resolution Envelope
According to the North Carolina Bar the following is not permitted. – Source
- Targeted Communications. Unless the recipient of the communication is a person specified in paragraphs (a)(1) or (a)(2), every written, recorded, or electronic communication from a lawyer soliciting professional employment from a potential client known to be in need of legal services in a particular matter shall include the statement, in capital letters, “THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES” (the advertising notice) subject to the following requirements:
(1) Written Communications. Written communications shall be mailed in an envelope. The advertising notice shall be printed on the front of the envelope, in font that is as large as any other printing on the envelope. The front of the envelope shall contain no printing other than the name of the lawyer or law firm and return address, the name and address of the recipient, and the advertising notice. The advertising notice shall also be printed at the beginning of the body of the letter in font as large or larger than the lawyer’s or law firm’s name in the letterhead or masthead.
Conclusion
I’d have to say the letter sent by Legal Helpers Debt Resolution contains some deep concerns. It appears to give the consumer incomplete information, makes unsubstantiated performance claims, directs consumers to provide confidential information to unknown entities, and does not even comply with the NC Bar guidance regarding advertising.
Overall I’d give it an F-.
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I am the person who reported the NC Legal Helpers mailing. My dent is all current and has been for years. The only way that I have ever expressed any interest in debt resolution is by visiting your web site and googling various firms. I checked my credit report and there are no inquiries from any debt resolution company or debt management firm, nor have I ever consented to such an inquiry. Can I assume that this firm got my information from my IP address/Google search history, and took a stab in the dark about the amount of my unsecured debt?
Actually no, that would be an incorrect assumption. Even if they had your IP address, which they don’t from this site, they could not match up the address with a physical name and address without requesting that information from your ISP which I seriously doubt your ISP would give up without a court order.
The much more likely scenario is you were prescreened from credit bureau information which the credit bureaus sell to marketing companies.
There are various data gathering programs that could track IP addy’s in a specific geographical area. Mail marketing companies could use IP data to find a specific region that has an above average amount of IP addy’s looking for specific search terms. They could then use other data to determine the average credit card debt load and mail semi blindly without credit data to potential customers. These are all maybe’s however highly possible.
http://www.vistaprint.com has the ability to do something similar. You can mail postcards to a zip code and select the number you want to send. 100-whatever.
Twice Verified has been around a while. I’d put a nickel on them having some sources for data that is less than conventional. I know of another company that was dropping a million + pieces per month during the mortgage hay-days through them.
Back on topic- What can be done to stop LEGAL HELPERS FROM DOING BUSINESS?
Steve you should raise some money from performance based debt relief and consumer advocacy groups to run a NY TIMES full page scam report on legal helpers.