“Dear Steve,
I live in NY state and have been working with Donaldson Williams in Michigan. Currently I am 90-120 days past due on 4 of my credit cards. They will be working on negotiating a settlement for me when the time is right. I was hesitant about trusting anyone but after speaking with
We decided to settle because up to this point I was never late with a payment but due to interest rate increase it was getting unmanageable. My debt to income ration was narrowing but my score was still pretty good st 775 (prior to the apr increases it was 875). Now my score has gone down to 550! We decided to avoid bankruptcy so I could rebuild my score quicker once we settle with companies. I hope this was the best decision for me????
Recently, I spoke with the company Grayson Financial Services in Jamaica, NY. They claim that there is something called a Charge Off which they say means after 120 days the company charges off your unpaid debt and legally you no longer owe that money. They also claim at this point they can get those creditors removed from your report. They said to research the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act for more details. Their fee is minimal at 2500 total. This all seems to good to be true but my boyfriends friend used them and said they did help him as promised. Have you heard of Charge Off? What’s the deal? Is it a scam?
Heather”
Dear Heather,
If Grayson Financial Services told you that once a debt is charged off you don’t owe it, that is totally incorrect.
A charge-off is an accounting function only and has no bearing on the debt obligation. A debt will be reported as a bad debt by the banks as a regulatory requirement when it is 180 days past due. At that time the bank reports it as a bad debt by “charging it off.” The debt is still fully collectible.
A charged off debt is a negative item and will be reported on your credit report for up to 7.5 years from the time it first goes delinquent. Typically it will be removed from the credit report after seven years.
Again, the removal of a bad debt from a credit report does not mean the lender can’t still sue you if it is within the statute of limitations. Even if it is not, the debt may still be pursued for collections.
I took a look at what appears to be the website for Grayson Financial Services at the990club.com. For me it’s a huge red flag when a site has an official looking government seal on it like they do.
The website of the company says they are located at 161-10 Jamaica Avenue, Suite 205 Jamaica, NY 11432. And then it makes me worried when the company is not registered to do business in the state they say they are located.
It is also troubling that the company offers advanced fee credit repair products which appear to potentially run afoul with the Credit Repair Organizations Act. – Source
Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act it is prohibited to “make any statement, or counsel or advise any consumer to make any statement, the intended effect of which is to alter the consumer’s identification to prevent the display of the consumer’s credit record, history, or rating for the purpose of concealing adverse information that is accurate and not obsolete to–any consumer reporting agency;” – Source
The quickest and least expensive way to get rid of debt is with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If you want to avoid bankruptcy and have sash on hand to settle but not pay the full amount due then debt settlement would be the second fastest method.
You can compare all the major debt elimination methods by using the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
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Update 10-3-2012
Received an error report form from alleged marketing manager for Grayson Financial Services, Richard Nunez-Lawrence.
There is a lot of miscommunication and misinformation within that URL. As Marketing Director of Grayson Financial Services I know we work hard to provide services as a team everyday. I’m working now to correct some of the issues we’ve had in the past. Social Media is a large part of that project. When Grayson Financial Services is googled, this URL comes up. It paints a negative picture of our company; a picture that will be fixed shortly. I will fix many of the issues pointed out within the thread of comments including having testimonials of clients available on our website and removing the federal seal with our company logo. Ultimately, this URL will be outdated and will not represent the initiatives of the company.
My suggestion is that you remove this URL from your website. When this URL is removed, our website remodeled, and our testimonials of services rendered are readily available the rating of our company could be drastically improved. Our job is similar to yours, to provide top-tier financial services. This URL impedes as from doing that unfortunately. If you accept my request to remove this URL from your website we could promote the valuable financial service information within our social media platforms. If you refuse I will proceed to contact search engine representatives to and their web search request removal tool to not have your website be available when our company is searched. Obviously, the latter is a much longer process. My hope is we can have a consensus to support each others primary initiatives in providing the best financial services without negative stigmas. I hope you can comply. Thank you.
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Updated story with error report submission from alleged marketing manager for Grayson Financial Services, Richard Nunez-Lawrence.
Steve Rhode you are very misguided because you are critiquing something that has been working. Obviously you are not as “smart” as you think you are. Grayson worked for me and hundreds of others. Please don’t give feedback to something you are clearly not knowledgeable about. Thanks and have a nice day 😉
What specifically are you claiming is incorrect in my answer?
In regards to credit, this companies credit repair program does work, at least it did work for me. Within 2 to 2 and a half months my credit scores did go up by whatever they did to get the “bad stuff” off is what I call it. IT worked ! and im happy who am I to judge
What kind of information did they help you remove?
I’ve been a credit agent at Grayson financial for a little over a yr.We have helped alot of clients overcome their credit woes,be it derogatory items,erroneous items,etc.We follow the credit laws as defined,and if i felt that we were doing anything unethical in any way,i would NOT be employed here.Dr Grayson has helped many clients with their homes,getting judgments and garnishments overturned,etc.Keep in mind,once we complete each case,and the scores have improved,it is the responsibility of the clients to maintain these scores.
So you can remove accurate but derogatory information?
All I hear is bullshit double talk. Â Nothing but smoke and mirrors and not one of you idiots can answer the question?
Can you remove accurate but derogatory information?
No, you don’t “follow the credit laws as defined.” Your website advertises that Grayson can remove bankruptcies from credit reports, tax liens, all derogatory information, etc., and hefty upfront fees are quoted per service — all of this is totally illegal per the Credit Repair Organizations Act, as Steve noted in the original post.
Also, fake testimonials are illegal too. 🙂
i had the pleasure to work with grayson financial, i needed help to get my credit fixed. The department assessed my credit situation and found a program to fit my credit scores from where it was to where it needs to be. i admit the services may not be for everyone but it has work for me and i am grateful that it did
I am in the process of getting my credit fix with Grayson Financial Services….my scores have went up a little bit so far. I am pretty excited about the process there Employees have been hands on give them a chance before you judge them Â
I am a regular person living in new york and i have little knowledge on the basis on credit but i needed help with my credit so i went to Grayson Financial for some help. Now i don’t know in details how it was done, but i must say i am a happy with the service that was provided to me. My credit scores has gone up in a matter of a little over 2 months, i did appreciate whatever Grayson financial did to help me.
i just want to add that i used grayson services to help my credit,and it worked for me…i dont know a whole lot about credit,but i am impressed with the program that i signed up for.my scores were in the mid 500’s,The staff contacted bureaus,and collections on my behalf,and after approx.4 mths my scores were up to 640ish.i know theres room for improvement, but this is a step in the right direction for me…thx Grayson!!! Â
I am very happy that i decided to choose Grayson Financial services for my services, they are very professional and did everything they promised to do. I would recommend  this company to anyone
Well I hope these guys can help as I have enlisted in there services as to removing a paid tax lien of my credit report after being highly recommended by a friend of mine. All I can say is to each there own and I will let you guys know what happens with my experience. Thanks!!!
Why would you want to do that?
You do realize that if you remove accurate information from your credit report and then use that new credit report to apply for credit, you commit credit fraud.
i hope you don’t have a large following because you have little or no understanding of debt or credit law. For the record and your edification  the law states that anything on your credit that is inaccurate, incomplete, outdated or unverifiable can be removed legally from your credit.
 In general; if after any re-investigation under paragraph (1) of any information disputed by a consumer, an item of information is found to be inaccurate or incomplete or cannot be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall-promptly delete that item of information from the file of the consumer.Therefore, if the item is accurate you still have three provisions of law to remove that item. So your statement is completely false. Your are misleading people who are suffering needlessly;anything can be removed from your credit report if you have the skill to have it fall into one of four categoriesEmployee of Grayson Financial Services
If you look at my comment I already noticed the issue about incorrect information can be removed since my comment was about correct but negative information.
You made no statement that the information was accurate or incorrect. Hence, my question about why someone would want to do that.
I needed more information (the question) and issued a warning (about accurate but negative.)
P.S. I hope employees of Grayson Financial pay closer attention next time.
i did services with Grayson finacial Services and they helped me with my judgement i got it overturned the Employees were very kind and genuine thank you Grayson Finacial Services
Dear Heather
Please don’t listen to this idiot.  Debt consolidation companies don’t settle your debts right away because they are waiting for them to charge off.  Once they are charged off of course they can settle them because the debt is satisfied.  You should go back to Grayson Financial Services.  I know that they have helped thousands of people over the past 10 years.  They will eliminate your debt and give you perfect credit.
Heather, do yourself a big favor and do not listen to Bmuller22. The statement that “the debt is satisfied” when charged off is, without doubt, an incorrect statement. Anyone with any experience in this field knows this. Bmuller22 either misspoke or is very misinformed. If Grayson stands by that belief, run the other way.
Hello Bmuller, how do you know they have helped thousands of people unless you actually work for them, which I assume you do, given your violent reaction to Steve’s logical response.
Just a little FYI for you, the debt is not satisfied when the creditor charges it off. Clearly you are very misinformed on what charge off actually is. Also, good debt settlement companies will actually attempt to settle some debts before charge off.
Heather, I recommend you stay away from these guys. Sounds like a boiler room sales outfit to me where the sales person doesn’t fully understand what he/she is talking about.
Charge off has nothing to do with whether or not you are still liable for the debt. Also charge off occurs around the 180 day delinquency mark, not the 120. Clearly the sales person is very confused about what he/she is trying to sell.
If you have any questions about this, feel free to email me about it.
“Once they are charged off of course they can settle them because the debt is satisfied.” LOL, and I’m the idiot.
Dear Heather
Please don’t listen to this idiot.  Debt consolidation companies don’t settle your debts right away because they are waiting for them to charge off.  Once they are charged off of course they can settle them because the debt is satisfied.  You should go back to Grayson Financial Services.  I know that they have helped thousands of people over the past 10 years.  They will eliminate your debt and give you perfect credit.