A company called Consumer Protection Counsel in Florida has raised some questions for me and I’m hoping readers can provide some feedback about them.
What I heard was Consumer Protection Counsel, PA was allegedly going to charge a consumer more than $50,000 to deal with student loan issues.
What made this curious and worth asking for public feedback was the fact the only Consumer Protection Counsel in Florida that is registered to operate is Consumer Protection Counsel, PA. The company was registered just a few months ago in July, 2013. – Source
The state of Florida lists the president as Otto E. Berges and says the company is located at 224 Greenwood Drive, West Palm Beach, Florida. It appears to be a private residence.
The Florida Bar lists an attorney Otto Berges who is active and eligible to practice law. The member listing does not list the middle name. – Source
Otto Berges says he practices law at Berges Law Group, PA, 1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 211, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. His website is listed as bergeslawgroup.com.
It appears the website for the CPC, Consumer Protection Counsel is nearly identical to the site for Berges Law Group.
The exception is the CPC says it is located at suite 211C and uses a different telephone number, 855-756-1785.
The only other major difference I easily spotted was the fact the Consumer Protection Counsel website does not have a bio link on it like the Berges Law Group site does. If you try to reach a bio page on the CPC site you get an error page that mentions the Berges Law Group. – Source
The website for the Consumer Protection Counsel does not mention any experience in dealing with student loans, that I saw.
The ownership of the domain name ConsumerProtectionCounsel.org is hidden.
If you’ve had experience using the services of this company and have some feedback to share, please post it in the comments. If you have a client agreement with this company you would be willing to share, please upload it to me here.
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I cancelled my contract with this company. I am so upset I fell for it. When they try to “recruit” you.. you hear all the answers you want to hear. As you go forward with the process you find out that you’ve been lied to on more than one occasion.
It’s truly upsetting. Thankfully, I was able to get some of my money back. Not all of it. I’m just thankful I got out now before I wasted 30 grand.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
To Anyone Currently Using or Considering Using Them:
My
advice would be to get out while you can or not to do it in the first
place. When it started the representative I talked to (Carmine Attonito
from Debt Be Gone LLC (I think)) was so thorough and kind and assured
me that if they could not help me I would not pay a dime and I would be
refunded what I had already spent. He also assured me I would know
within the first few months if they could help me. What they don’t tell
you is that then you get sent to a completely separate “Partner
Company.” Over time it all turned into empty promises. Once talking to
this new “partner company” once you get started they were telling me
there was NO GUARANTEE. I would not get my money back if they were
unable to help me. Not only that, but I may not know if my “case” was
won until 36 months later. So I could pay for 36 months for nothing and
have no way to get my money back. In my case that would have been
nearly $13,000 wasted. They claim that Wells Fargo would not be allowed
to report negative during that time – all lies. My loans went past due
during my “case” and my credit was being trashed the whole time.
Luckily, I didn’t fall for it for to long and cancelled it. I was able
to get a part time job and get my loans back on track before it was too
late.
I’m not sure that I can call them a “scam” per say,
however, they definitely are not a legitimate company. My belief is
they are a company who makes false promises and offers but in a legal
way that makes it possible for them to do so.
They have 3
different “names/companies” (that I know of), different call centers,
different departments, and all of them tell you different things. There
are so many people desperate, like I was, because of student loan debt
and unfortunately they are one of the many horrible people out there
waiting to prey on desperate young people in desperate situations. When
I confronted them on their bad BBB reviews they even had an excuse for
that. The very unprofessional Mr. James DeMillion from their company
sent me an email containing a link to how the BBB is all “corrupt” and
that is why their reviews are bad.
I’m not sure if anyone
else has noticed all this but there are virtually NO reviews and NO
research on them. I plan on spreading the word the best I can after
this. Anyone who can help me, please do. They go by 3 different names
that I know of:
Consumer Protection Counsel, PA
Otto Berges Law Group
Debt Be Gone LLC
They have many addresses and many different phone numbers. I’m not sure that
there’s
anyway to track them or take any action against them. I would like to,
but I’m just not sure how. I hope this helps someone else in their
decision making before they lose $1800+ like I did! If you have more
questions on it or want to ask me more about my experience my email
address is: juliamarie32@gmail.com.
Did you go through with this and if so, how is it working for you? We signed an agreement today because it seems legit but have a few days to get out of it if necessary. Just wondering!
I worked for this company for 6 months. Get out while you can, get your money back, and let me know if you need help with getting rid of the debt. It is VERY easy and you can do it yourself with no issues.
abNEG…I could use your help. I signed up with them a month ago but was questioning my decision. Can you please contact me at jessica.flinsurance@gmail.com I appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you
Help I signed on with this company to day. It seemed legit. The Florida bar stated no complaints
Might want to read this: https://getoutofdebt.org/62772/berges-law-group-consumer-protection-counsel-still-suit
Might want to read this article: https://getoutofdebt.org/62772/berges-law-group-consumer-protection-counsel-still-suit
Hi abNED I have been with Consumer Rights Firm for almost a year now and many of my loans have defaulted. Can you help me out? I want to get a refund from this company because they have yet to do anything for me. How did you go about getting your refund? my email is carlyjoporter@gmail.com
Maybe this past guide will help. https://getoutofdebt.org//20126/how-to-try-to-get-a-refund-from-a-debt-relief-company
Has there been any further progress in determining if this company is legit or not? They’re claiming to be able to get my sallie mae private student loans dismissed in four years by paying them $500 a month, which I suppose is better that $400 a month for…. the rest of my life. it should be noted that I am over 80k in debt for two semesters of school at Harrington College of Design.
Please…Everyone MUST GO TO>>>>> http://steverhodetruth.wordpre…
Steve is a FRAUD!!
I will post my previous response yet again.
You know it is interesting. That site does not allow me to comment on their false allegations, is not open about who is behind it, and has not update any of their accusations with my response that can be found here. https://getoutofdebt.org/the-getoutofdebt-org-and-steve-rhode-faq/
I looked into this and received some calls and an email from someone at Consumer Protection Counsel. They wanted to get me on the phone but I just responded to their email looking for some information before I waste my time with some scam. This is the response that I received,
“I completely understand your concern. But this here Eric is not a scam. We are an actual Law Firm registered by the Florida bar. We specialize in private student loan defense. We specialize in private student defense because as you stated there really isn’t any help out there. Our process is simple; we approach the lender and ask them for your file pertaining to the loan making sure everything is in compliance. There are a lot of State laws, federal laws, rules and regulations, consumer codes and commercial codes that must be followed in order to collect money from any consumer. So once we find out then we decide to take action which can lead to a settlement where you are only paying a much smaller portion of the loan or ultimately a dismissal which means you don’t have to pay the loan at all.
So thats just a small over view of what we do. Completely legitimate and everything is done under the law.
Hope I answered some of your questions.”
I could find very little online about them… this is how I found this site. Seems sketchy to me.
Wondering the same thing…found this page trying to do research. My husband spoke to someone about helping consolidating private student loans. They want to charge over $500 up front (non refundable) to investigate and see if they can help and then, if they can get a settlement (they say it’s always at least 50%) they charge $250/month for 7 years. I am always very skeptical and trying to find out more.
I was wondering about this company, also. I can’t find alot of research on it on the intranet. Wondering if it is a scam?????????????????
I don’t know. Please feel free to do more research yourself using the following links.
I would recommend that anyone considering using such a company should read the following free guides.
The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Checking Out a Debt Relief Company Before You Sign On the Line
10 Must Do Steps to Find the Best Credit Counseling or Debt Settlement Company for You
How to Check Out a Business or Company to Avoid Getting Scammed or Ripped Off