Sorry for the delay in responding, there has been a lot going on lately. I would say you did exactly the right thing. CSA and any other debt settlement companies that front loads their fees, in my opinion are a total fraud. Again that’s just my opinion, but when a company collects fees on 100% of clients, and only has success ratios that at best are less than 30%, that is a scam and a fraud pure and simple. The settlement companies that do that, can put a happy face on that all they want, but at the end of the day, most of their clients pay money and do not receive the service that they paid the money for.

I doubt CSA will go after you for this phony 5,000 they claim that you owe them. If they did, I am sure there will be several Attorneys General in various states as well as many news reporters that would like to know that a debt settlement company is going after a consumer for un earned fees. Especially with Federal Legeslation about to become law that will put most of these guys out of business. However, that being said, I am not looking at your contract and I don’t know the specifics of your circumstances, so I can’t just blindly advise you to blow them off. It is criminal the way most of these outfits write their contracts. They are designed to trap people and suck money out of them.

Please update me with your current situation.

I know these guys can be a pain in the you know what. Yes if they call again, then perhaps you should play along to get as much information out of them as possible. Get the name of the person that is calling you, first and last. Make sure you get the name of the company. Ask them what state they are located in. Then ask to speak to a supervisor or a manager and get his/her first and last name. At some point, if you keep asking questions they may just hang up, but the point is to learn as much about them as you can so you can figure out where they are located, do some further research and file a complaint if need be with both the FTC and the attorney general in your state and state they are located in.

If you can get a supervisor on the phone, then tell them under no uncertain circumstances are they to call you again. You have his name, the name of the company, the address, the phone etc, and if you get another phone call from these guys, then you will not hesitate to start reporting them to all relevant agencies including the BBB and rip off report.

Hopefully that will get them to stop. After all, they are just wasting their time and money by calling you, so it would be in their best interest to actually take your number off their list.

Thanks for letting us know how things went. I am glad you were able to get a continuance to get your ducks in a row on this account. I am certainly not surprised that credit solutions offered to keep charging you fees for your other accounts and were more than happy to get out from under the account that you actually need help with right now. I am glad that you have found someone to help you out. As nice as the attorney was for the bank, I would be a little cautious of the people he suggests that you call for help. Legally they are required to produce the best outcome that they can for their client. So it could be a little conflict of interest.

If you would like me to take a look at your current situation and offer some suggestions about what you should do moving forward, feel free to fill out a consultation request. I can point you in the direction of some resources to help you dig out of the hole, that are likely less expensive then hiring an attorney, unless it is perhaps a friend of yours doing it for a highly reduced cost.

Either way, let me know if I can be of any help. Also please keep me posted on your results at obtaining at least a partial refund from credit solutions. I may be of some benefit there as well, as I have helped a few clients obtain partial refunds from them.

.-= Damon Day´s last blog ..Debt Settlement – FTC could put 84% of Companies out of Business! =-.