“I contracted a debt settlement company now that it changed. I signed with them back in May of 2010, this was before the new law changed for settlement companies not to be able to charge up front for settlements. The contract is crazy, and I was stupid to sign it. I was totally delusional from stress and depression when I ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, My husband paid a debt relief company approximately $4200.00 over a period of 7 months. He paid around $600.00 a month. No debt was ever settled for him. He ended up filing for bankruptcy instead. We followed most of your steps for requesting his money back. The company has only agreed to pay us back $750.00. This is ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, 2 months ago I signed with a debt-settlement company to settle a $14,000 Chase credit card account. I recently found your web-site and your article from May 19, 2010 where you explain that Chase is no longer working with settlement companies. Of course no one from the settlement company advised me of this. I’ve spoken to Chase and ... Read More »

I hired Liberty settlement to reduce my debt and paid for them some period of time then i Decided to cancel them due to nothing being done as promised. Keith Everitt who deals with the refunds does not answer phone calls or emails I am wondering what I can do to get my money from these crooks? I am gonna ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, 14 months ago I entered into a credit card settlement company. I have a debt of $8,200.00 and they had told me, in writing, that the debt could be settled for $4,200.00. Ever since that, I had been making payments of $528.00 per month to this company. They have a 15% fee charge, which they collect right off ... Read More »

South Carolina has had a tough stance on debt settlement companies, only permitting a $50 setup fee and $10 monthly. According to the news report below approximately 3,100 South Carolina residents have received refunds from debt settlement companies that charged fees illegally. Thanks kind tipster (send in your tips here) for pointing out this story to me. Read More »

As part of the testimony of the Senate hearing today on Protecting Consumers from Deceptive Debt Settlement Schemes a consumer provided testimony that named Financial Freedom of America, a USOBA member. It appears the company may have since changed their name, the FinancialFreedomOfAmerica.com website now brings up Financial Freedom Processing. What Financial Freedom Tells Consumers We advocate fairness for every ... Read More »

Not that long ago I wrote an article about how to get a refund from a debt settlement program. I’ve already heard back from some readers that have used the process effectively but I wanted to ask a debt settlement company leader I know if he thought the process would be effective for consumers. I love this quote from his ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, I tried using one of these debut relief companies you spoke of called Impact Debut in San Diego (it appers they also go by Impact Debt Relief and a couple other names) but I was referred to this Impact Debut company by trying to do a loan modification and was outright lied to about the fees. I was ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, I emailed you yesterday and was not very clear about my situation. I would like to start by saying I am scared,confused and feel like I made the wrong decision when I chose to go the debt settlemnt route-especially now with everything I am reading. At the end of December I contacted Freedom Financial to learn more about ... Read More »