Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/25/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I entered into a debt resolution program in January 2023. They settled 12836$ of debt for a drsp fee of 3400$ plus 365$ in other fees. My credit has been destroyed, there are still 13103$ in debt left. Two of the creditors have offered to settle with me for free. I could have chapter 7 or 11 for the amount they have charged and been debt free. Filed a complaint with the attorney general of Illinois office as well. My debt has become a nightmare. Should've seen a local attorney for the problem

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/28/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Mr. ******* complaint.  We would like to clarify that he has paid our firm significantly less than $3400 in earned performance fees.  When our firm was engaged by Mr. ******* he confirmed that he was in hardship and unable to pay his creditors. He also acknowledged understanding of the negative impact on credit.  Our firm has settled nearly half of his debts at a lesser rate than what we initially estimated, and he is on track to get out of debt sooner than we anticipated.  We welcome the opportunity to speak with Mr. ****** to address his concerns and will be having a supervisor reach out to him.  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/28/2024

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/25/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Guardian litigation group was to help me consolidate my credit card bills took my money and my cards are now in collection sadly

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/28/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Ms. ********* complaint.  Nearly a year ago, our firm was engaged to negotiate and settle her debts for less than the balance owed.  During our quality control process and execution of her agreement, Ms. ******* expressed understanding that she was retaining our firm to settle her debts.  Debt consolidation is not a service that we offer, and this was relayed to her verbally and in writing. 
  
  During our engagement, our firm settled more than half of Ms. ********* debts.  Sadly, she stopped making deposits to her set aside savings account over 2 months ago.  Without consistent and timely deposits, we cannot settle her debts.  The overwhelming majority of the deposits that Ms. ******* did make were paid towards settlements with her creditors. We would be happy to provide her with a statement from her set aside savings account administrator detailing those creditor payments.  Should she have any other questions, we would be happy to assist her.  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/28/2024

  your company is a scam most of the credit cards submitted went to collections I have them on my credit report you took my money and never paid the settlement amounts to the cards stop cheating people for money that is considered stealing its terrible I had to involve my bank and the BBB also your company is nothing but scammers misleading innocent people like myself for a whole year or more you've taken my money Liars Liars!!! Pay me back everything taken from my account asap !!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/29/2024

  Were sorry to hear about your experience and appreciate the chance to clarify. Our company operates with integrity and transparency, and we take claims like this seriously. As weve communicated previously, all deposits you made were applied as agreed.  Nearly half of your total enrolled debt was settled according to the terms outlined at the start of our service. You were also aware that accounts would go to collections. Since you failed to deposit funds to your savings account for over two months, we disengaged from representation in line with our policy.
  
  Your Forth Pay account statement and online access details the fact that most of your monthly deposits was applied towards settlement payments.  If you require assistance or have further questions, please feel free to reach out to us.  You may also contact Forth Pay directly for additional confirmation at ************, should you require it. 

  Thank you,
  Guardian Litigation Group

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/29/2024

  sscammers my accounts went to collections so therefore you took money and didn't pay my credit cards ??? Scammers !!!

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/23/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  They are the reigning legal group for Forth Debt Consolidation. Forth and Guardian Litigation (GL) have been the biggest mistakes in my life besides wracking up the debt in the first place. I got sued for a credit card that Forth was not working on. At that time they directed me to GL. ** informed me to send the summons over immediately and basically harassed the importance of sending any and every document over. I sent it that night on reported March 1, 2024. They contacted me a few days later to sign retainer paperwork. Then I did not hear from them again until approximately May. The person I got through to (I had to call Forth to transfer me to them) was snippy that that had tried to call. I have my voicemail set up that I obsessively check. I also had no emails. Come to find out they were calling the wrong number AND had the wrong email. I continue speaking and find out theres a settlement. ** will take the account to end the lawsuit and I will get on a payment plan with them. Great. I get an email yesterday that apparently they never did that. And because I had to close my Forth account in June (to start paying GL) theyre stating they can no longer represent me. This is a crock company with lawyers and paralegals who deserve to be reported to someone. So here I am.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/24/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  We appreciate the opportunity to respond and clarify; it appears from his complaint that Mr. ****** has concerns that his debt settlement provided may be able to address.  He retained our firm to defend him in the event of a creditor lawsuit.  We did not have a debt resolution agreement with him.  In this case, we represented Mr. ****** in court while settlement negotiations took place with one of his creditors.  A negotiated resolution of the lawsuit was relayed to Mr. ****** by his debt settlement provider and Guardians case manager.  Mr. ****** then chose to end his relationship with his debt settlement provider and our firm.  Despite that, we provided him with the creditors documents to allow him to enter a repayment agreement which would stop the litigation process.  Our firm provided all services to Mr. ****** in accordance with our agreement with him and we wish him the best in all future endeavors.  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/24/2024

  A. Im a female. If they ever spoke to me they would have known that. 
  

  B. I accepted that offer. Then I asked if I could end my debt consolidation because I couldnt afford the $700 a month for both payments. They said this was fine. You could pull that phone call, where you would hear I am a female. 

  I still have not received a response back from your company after reaching out to request your name be taken off my Discover account so I can handle it myself. After calling numerous times. During those times I got put through to someone eating and would not respond to me, and then I finally spoke to a sweet girl who had no idea what to do. This was understandable. You can pull my phone call with her (where you would hear Im a female also.) She then was told to transfer me to Forth (or Alleviate or **********; whatever theyre going by these days). This was unhelpful.

  Im not looking for Guardian take my account. This is not my intention, if that is what is assumed. I feel like that would be worse than just dealing with it myself. I just wanted BBB to be aware of the practices and now Im even more angry that someone pulled notes and couldnt even realize that I am a woman. 

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/29/2024

  Dear BBB,
  
  Our firm has already initiated the court filing process to withdraw from the matter.  We sincerely apologize for misconstruing Ms. ****** gender and wish that we had been advised of her updated contact information.  *********** showed that our introductory email to her was read, and we did not receive her new contact information until much later.  Ms. ***** should still be able to obtain the negotiated arrangement that was sent to her.  We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/29/2024

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/20/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On September 3, 2024, I called Guardian Litigation to end our (spouse ***** ****) with Guardian Litigation. They had done a decent job contacting and settling four accounts while we were with them. On the last account, it took an unusually long for them to settle, and when they did, Guardian was going to charge us 115 more a month than what the debtor settled for. Additionally, we had ****** in a "savings" account with their partner, Forth Pay. I was told on 3 occasions that the refund will be sent soon, and each day passes. I have since been charged a $9.95 monthly account maintenance fee. This even though I cancelled before any account maintenance should've taken place. I am requesting the money left in the Forth account be returned to *******. The current balance is $529.59. Thank you!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/30/2024

  Dear *** *******:
  
  We were pleased to see that our firm successfully settled your debts with the results we had originally anticipated and that you are now free of those obligations.  For clarification, you notified us of your intent to close your account on 9/9/24.  Once we confirmed all final creditor payments were made, we processed your program completion.  Regarding the refund of your set aside savings account, Forth Pay has already processed a withdrawal check for the balance of your savings and it has been sent to your address on file.  We do see that our staff called you confirming this information on 9/23, 9/26, and 9/27.  Should you have any questions about Forths monthly charges, please contact them.  If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/06/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I entered into an agreement to have them represent me. After working with them for 2 years I was no longer able to keep up the payments. I need for Attorney ***************************** to release me from this representation agreement so I can settle with Discover directly. After 4 days of trying every phone number and email address as well as their chat window on their main web page I have been unable to get a response from anyone at this Law firm. This is holding up my life and because I couldn't get a response I now have a judgement against me.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/09/2024

  Hello *******, we were pleased to see that our firm appeared in court on your behalf and was able to successfully settle two legal matters.  As part of the Discover settlement, you signed an agreed judgment which will be satisfied once the settlement amount has been paid.  We can confirm that opposing counsel was already notified that you are no longer represented by our firm.  We will follow up by sending them an additional notification.  Should you require anything further, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/10/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had received an offer for a loan for debt relief when I called they told me that they couldn't approve the loan that they offered me instead they offered a debt relief program. They told me that after I made 6 payments to my account that they will re evaluate the claim for a loan then again a got denied meanwhile I had stop making payments to my accounts because they had told me to stop they needed the accounts to go delinquent so that they can start the process after 7 months paying $845.72 I had a balance of $5,920.03 that went to nothing because according to them they had settled and account and they charged me almost 4k for them just moving paperwork when I called them to get my money back they totally refused I called the office and talked to a manager with guardian litigation group he told me they wasn't going to refund my money I called ***** Fargo and I told them that all those payments where made based on a scam of a debt relief program that they called me offering me a loan and then they changed to a debt relief program that I WAS TOLD THAT AFTER 6 PAYMENTS MADE ON TIME I WOULD QUALIFY FOR THE LOAN NEVER NEVER HAPPENED JUST TOOK ALL MY MONEY AND WALKED AWAY LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED. Because I was advised to stop making payments I went so far behind on payments thanks to them that I didn't had no option but to go in bankruptcy thanks to guardian litigation group.. it's been a year and a half and every lawyer I contacted they don't want to deal with the case because of the bankruptcy I have been told that this was a case of bait switch that they offer something to get you to enroll ni programs but that they are really about something else. Neither ***** Fargo nor guardian litigation group want to take responsibility and refund my money and on top I was a ***** Fargo customer for over 12 years but they didn't even cared about it.. that's why they are under federal investigation for fraudulent transactions.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  ************** engaged our firm in mid-2022 to assist with negotiating and settling certain unsecured debts. He chose to disengage from our services towards the end of 2022. We want to clarify that ************** received a full refund of the remaining balance in his set-aside savings account, which was a substantial amount not mentioned in his complaint.
  
  Before retaining our services, we thoroughly explained to ************** that our firm is not a lender and does not provide loans. He acknowledged this and understood that he would have the opportunity to apply for a debt settlement acceleration loan through a lending partner after successfully making deposits into the set-aside savings account as part of his debt settlement program. Unfortunately, he was not approved for this loan.
  
  The nature and requirements or participating in debt settlement were fully explained to ************** during our recorded calls before engagement, and these terms were also clearly outlined in our agreement. Within just five months of being retained, our firm successfully negotiated a settlement on nearly one-third of the total debt we were engaged to settle, with Mr. ****** explicit authorization. We firmly believe that had ************** continued with our services, we would have successfully settled all his debts in accordance with our agreement. Thank you for your attention.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/08/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I opened a settlement agreement with the group. I was told I would be part of the GA restart program and get help with a mass loan to pay off debt faster after 6 months of payments. that did not happen. also I could not get access to the information they needed to proceed. They proceeded anyway. I was out of contact with the group for numerous months due to legal issues and they decided to proceed with setting up and paying on an account without notifying me of a settlement offer or getting my autorization to proceed. I have attempted to contact the company and have spent numerous hours on the phone trying to resolve this issue and i keep being told i will be called back within a time frame, which did not happen nor have i recieved any communication from them. They stated they would send me paperwork supporting thier claim they were in the right, I have not recieved any of the paperwork even though i confirmed my personal details with every person i spoke with (*************, ********* CS supervisor, and ****** CS Manager). I have even called ******, the customer service manager, directly several times, and left messages with no response. In addition i was paying them ****** per month to forth (the holding company) for the settlement program for 7 months (July through jan). This should have been $3223.01 in my settlement account. The holding company states i only have $6 in my account. ********************** claimed i only had $2200 in my account. They sent $7xx to a company for an unautorized settlement and kept $14xx for their their fees. there is no explaination of what happened to the other $1000. At this point i just want my money refunded they potentially fraudulently took returned and my account with them closed.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/09/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Mr. ******** complaint. He retained our firm to negotiate and settle certain unsecured debts on his behalf. Prior to his decision to move forward with our services, the nature and requirements of participating in a debt settlement program were explained to him verbally and in writing.  As stated in our initial discussions and further detailed in our agreement, we are not a lender and we do not provide loans.  Notwithstanding, ****************** was contacted with an invitation to apply for a debt settlement acceleration loan to expedite the settlement of all his debts, but he could not be reached.
  
  Several months after our engagement began, our firm negotiated a highly aggressive settlement with Mr. ******** single largest creditor which comprised nearly half of his total debt load.  After repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach him, this settlement was initiated in accordance with written settlement authorization ****************** had provided, where he approved of settlements that met within certain parameters.  This settlement was well within the settlement savings guidelines he consented to.  Our customer service manager has already spoken with ****************** and addressed his complaint. We ask that he contact us directly with any other questions or concerns.
  
  Sincerely,
  Guardian Litigation Group

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/31/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Debt ********************* called me. Started with > Better Debt Solutions (these people contacted me 3/2/24)************************* - senior debt advisor ************************************************** ************ ************ www.betterdebtsolutions.com ****************************** Better Debt Solutions put me in touch with Guardian Litigation Group Guardian Litigation Group - sounds legit - and I was struggling so I tried them. I agreed to have 3 or my 4 debts consolidated with them. Payments began right away. After the 3rd or 4th payment I discovered after speaking to my creditors they were not contacted by any debt consolidation company on my behalf. Apparently they were waiting for my accounts to go into serious default before doing anything. They took my payments and did NOTHING for them. I renegotiated with my creditors and now I am also out the payments that were auto-deducted from my bank account to a company called Fourth (which I would like to recoup). I believe this to be a sophisticated scam group under the guise of attorneys working to help people. My Login info:User ************** 3/2/** enrolled through Better Debt Solutions 3/27/24 1st pmt $395.65 4/26/24 2nd pmt $395.65 5/28/24 3rd pmt $395.65 Total pmts $ *******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to ************************.  She retained our firm to negotiate and settle her debts for less than the balance owed. We do not engage in debt consolidation or the provision of loans or credit repair.  The agreement ************************ executed, her welcome documents, and the recorded phone calls she has had with our staff clarify this.  For the last 2 months, ************************ has ceased making deposits to her set aside savings account and has not responded to our communications.  We will be making a additional attempts to reach her to discuss settlement negotiations.  To date, our firm has not charged ************************ anything; the sum of her monthly deposits is available to her in her set aside savings account.  Thank you,
  
  Guardian Litigation Group

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/06/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Oh my where to start. This company is not very truthful. I have made 10 payments to them on one account they have resolved. I just got served papers two weeks ago to appear in court over a Discover bill they did not contact until the papers were filed, even though they were aware in February 2024 that my account had been placed with a law firm. Now they want me to pay their court appearance fee of $ ****** to appear on my behalf. They also told me that I could apply for a loan not with them but a company they work with after 6 qualifying payments. Then when I ask about the loan they told me that the company would contact me. So at the 9th month **** I asked about it again and they said that they had to stop doing those loans for a couple of months back but they were getting them started again, so I waited a week or so, when I questioned it again I was told that I had to have under ****** worth of debt to be considered and I was at ******. Then they I was told that they can settle my Discover debt but I needed to pay more because the ****** payment I have been paying apparently did not have their fee calculated in, now after I pay the large amount off, I still owe them a littler under *****!!!! It's now been 2 days and I still have not heard about if my offer to Discover has been accepted and the legal department (they are so rude) wants their attorney fee paid by 06/13/2024 or I won't have legal representation at the court date and the court can have a default judgment against me, because Guardian failed to do their job!!!!!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/07/2024

  Dear BBB:
  
  We appreciate the opportunity to respond to ********************** complaint.  ******************** has already been contacted about an acceleration loan option through one of our lending partners.  We are not able to provide details on loans or the approval process because we do not provide the acceleration loans.  ******************** has a significant amount of debt.  As such, the first settlement we negotiated for her was her single largest debt. This was part of our strategy to effectuate the most impact on reducing the total debt she owes as quickly as possible. 
  
  Regarding the Discover account she mentions in her complaint, we negotiated 2 viable settlement options for this debt prior to any court appearance.  ******************** declined both. We have made counter offers that work better within her budget and are awaiting the creditors response.  We will relay their response to her as soon as we have it.  Any increase in her monthly deposit will be applied directly to settlement payments.
  
  Her attorney is ready to appear in court on her behalf so that she has more time to think about her options and build funds for settlement.  As she stated in her complaint, she does not want to pay the courts filing fees.  Our firm cannot control the courts filing fee costs.  However, in ********************** case we have already deferred collection of our earned fees to increase her chances of entering settlement arrangements.  Her monthly deposits are currently being applied solely to her creditor settlement payments, while our firms earned fees are being held in abeyance.  We would encourage her to contact us with any questions.  Thank you for your attention.
  
  Sincerely,
  Guardian Litigation Group

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/08/2024

  I have not been contacted about a loan as they state. They contacted Discover only after I was served papers. They received a email from me back in February I believe forn this law firm and no one contacted me, I contacted them. I could of made more of a payment to get this settled but that was not an option from them. I have talked to so many people there, and it would not be worth their time to listen to the recordings of these conversations. **** who knows if some of these people are working there anymore, probably got let go for lying to the clients! Other companies do not make the client pay for attorney fees. I have called around. When the lady called me today she just read probably whatever they have scripted for them to say. Nothing that she said was pertaining to my case. I have to admit it was a heated conversation but she kept on talking about other clients and told me that this was always a possibility.  I understand that, I understood the risk but not being ask if I could pay more back in February to my debt to Discover was completely their fault abd they are just using excuses after excuses!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/10/2024

  Dear ********,
  
  On June 7th, 2024, at 12:24 PM, our finance department representative reached out to you regarding the loan option. He left a voice message and sent a text message. Concerning Discover, the settlement options remain the same as they were previously.  You declined to add funds most recently today and we are awaiting the creditor's decision on a counteroffer.
  
  To clarify, you are not responsible for paying any attorneys fees for court appearances on your behalf; the amount you referred to covers the court's filing fees, which vary by jurisdiction and are beyond our control.  During our call today, we aimed to thoroughly explain the settlement offer related to your case. Unfortunately, the call was disconnected before we could complete the explanation. We will make another attempt to reach you within the next 1-2 business days.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/23/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I begin the settlement with them about June 2023 and I made a monthly payment of $850.They committed to settle my accounts for less than the total amount I owe each. And offer me to make a monthly payment for a specific amount of time. That after making a few payments. It turns out the time is only an estimate, and they wouldnt commit to providing me in writing the total amount or time it will take for them to settle. That both are just and estimate.There are so many complaints about this company and after reading other complaints, this company shouldnt be allowed to do business.Just like other users here. I was also told to stop making payments on my cards and as everyone else my credit score went dramatically down an after dealing with the scammers my score will stay down for while unfortunately. Which it takes me to the second complaint and that is while they said that on the contract, they mention their 27% fee for each total amount settled of each account on top other miscellaneous fee which are abundant and each month. They fail to tell you this very important part verbally to their convenience and you only come to find out the huge amounts of fees in the thousands after you see your statements.When they settled my first account, they told me that the creditor agrees to a settlement that will be paid in 4 years. Now it all makes sense. They will be socking the blood out of me with all those huge monthly fees and settlement fees.After I figured out their scam, I came to realize that I could have settled each individual creditor, keep my good credit score and pay less if I had done it myself. Stay away from this company. ********

  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/28/2024

  Hi ******, thanks for your post. Upon review, we were able to see that our firm successfully settled over 40% of the debt you had retained us to settle within just a few months. Those settlements, including our earned contingency fee, were explained to you prior to engaging our firm verbally and in writing. During our recorded calls, we reiterated that our program was for consumers in financial hardship who are unable to pay their creditors and that there would be a negative impact on your credit.
  
  Could you settle your debts yourself? Yes. If you successfully negotiate a debt it may cost you less in the long run to use this approach than to use our service. However, this task is time consuming, stressful, and complex for most people. Why spend all your time and effort trying to negotiate on your own when you can rely on our experience to get the best settlements possible? Having an attorney to assist you throughout this process is an extremely valuable tool since many collection companies will act unscrupulously to collect from you. Additionally, since our firm settles accounts in bulk, we are oftentimes able to obtain excellent settlement results for our clients. We can't guarantee that our settlements would be better than yours, but we can say that we have data about your creditors that you don't have, and we can attempt to settle multiple client accounts all at once with a single collector which is leverage in the process that you also don't have. We are confident that, had you remained enrolled, we would have settled your remaining debts in accordance with our original estimates. Whatever you decide to do, we wish you the best of luck in getting debt free.