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:01/12/2023

  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 was contacted by this company as w way of reducing a debt or a loan, they presented themselves almost as a non-profit or a government company that was helping people that may have gotten scammed and they were here to help. I was told they worked with all companies and that they were making my payments, I even asked if this was going to hurt my credit score or look bad on my company for going into default. I was told no which is not true. they have not made any of my payments. I am currently in default by my lender and was told they do not negotiate with MCA. I was told by MCA not to talk to my lender and that they would take care of everything. This was presented falsely to me and I was solicited by this company, I was not looking for a debt company.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/12/2023

  The client recently enrolled in our program. No where in any of my sales team do we look like a non- profit or a minimum profit company.

  You can see on the client contract where we informed them how much we intend to make for each clients account.

  My team has worked with her creditor in the past, are currently in talks with her creditor at this time. 

  The client credit has not be harmed, so I would like an understanding where the client felt she was mislead up to this point, and what do they want at this time?

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/18/2022

  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 decide not to go with MCA Debt Advisors, LLC before any Payment had been processed. I was told I still had to pay 20% of the total enrolled debt, even though I canceled and revoked my authorization of withdrawing any funds from my bank account. I think it is bull that they should charge anything when it was less than a week from signing a contract. The total enrolled debt was $13000, so they want $2600 just for me signing a contract. This is theft!!! I was rushed into signing this contract without any time to really think about it, and told to immediately cancel all ACH payments to the enrolled company, which I wasn't behind on any payments at that time. I am now!! The "attached" part of the contract also states that if I cancel before any payments have been made there is a cancelation fee of 5% of the total debt enrolled. Which is still ridiculous, that's $650 for them doing nothing!!! And they still want 20%. I have no bank information to stop payment on the $2600. It's a business account and I can't close it. This is totally wrong!! I don't feel I should have to pay them any thing!! They rush you through signing the contract, so that information is passed up.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/08/2022

  This is in response to the complaint filed by ****** and ***** ******* (I am referencing both
  because they are both on my contract) in regard to a debt relief program that he entered into with
  MCA Debt Advisors. Prior to signing the contract, Mr. ***** was advised about how our
  program worked and what our efforts to reduce or reorganized would consist of per the terms of
  our contract which he voluntarily signed on Sept 8, 2022.
  

  On Sept 9th The clients went through the welcome call process where everything is explained to
  the clients and the client has a chance to ask any questions they may have. MCA Debt Advisors
  set the clients up with an escrow account, retained a credit counselor for them, and sent notice of
  representation out to the creditor. A week later the client elected to cancel the program.
  

  With our contract, there is a 20% default and a 5% cancelation fee. I believe the client has the
  two fees confused, but in this client's situation, they would owe the 5% cancelation fee.
  

  My office has not pursued any kind of fee from the client, they dropped from the program on
  Sept 18th and no one from my office has made an attempt to contact the client since. The client
  never paid anything to MCA Debt Advisors, so I was under the impression this was a dead issue.
  
  Our executed contract contains a full explanation of our fees charged as follows: Early
  

  cancellation fee – 5% of the enrolled amount; $650.00

  Very truly yours,

   

  Michael S*****
  Director of Operations

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/22/2022

  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.

  On April 18, 2022, after running into some financial difficulties, I retained MCA Debt Advisors, based on multiple phone calls and what appears to be outright lies and fraud or at a minimum severe misrepresentations of your services and the related fees. They claimed they would earn 15% of whatever amount I saved in the negotiations. MCA began collecting payments from me, which totaled $10,833.55. They told me my not to correspond with my creditor OnDeck Capital whatsoever. I have 3-months of notes where they avoided me completely. I have no proof they ever attempted to negotiate with my creditor. Finally my creditor filed a civil complaint in court and even after I sent a copy to MCA, and had my attorney send a follow up letter, they still did not contact me. On Monday, August 1, 2022 I randomly received a check from EPPS LLC Refund Account for $6,221.74. In light of what has transpired, all I am asking is that they issue an additional reimbursement for $4,611.81 ($10,833.55 - $6,221.74) from the money they took from me.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/08/2022

  This is in response to the complaint filed by ****** ***** in regard to a debt relief program that 
  he entered into with MCA Debt Advisors. Prior to signing the contract, Mr. ***** was advised 
  about how our program worked and what our efforts to reduce or reorganized would consist of per 
  the terms of our contract which he voluntarily signed on April 18, 2022.

  
  Mr. ***** came to us with the expectation that we would be in a position to immediately resolve 
  his debt issues. Such promises were never made as he enrolled a debt in the amount of over 
  $71,000.00 from a company known as Ondeck, which is a merchant cash advance company. Debt 
  relief and/or reorganization with merchant cash advance companies take time, as we request a copy 
  of the executed contract from either the client or the mca company, as well as proof of the amounts 
  owed and a payment history ledger. Often times, this will take several weeks to receive. Once 
  received, we perform a debt analysis, determine the reason for the hardship (covid, inflation, loss 
  of business, health issues, etc). 

  
  Once the debt analysis is formed, we discuss options with the client. In this case, Mr. ***** was 
  demanding results from nearly the minute he signed our agreement. We tried to explain to him that 
  it is not that simple, as the companies we deal with hold tight to enforce their contract rights which 
  have high default fees, penalties, and other add-on fees in the event of default.

  
  In reviewing Mr. *****’s finances and his debt ratios, we attempted to reorganize this debt with 
  Ondeck and offered them a payment plan of $54,000 over 17 months. This offer would not only 
  reduced Mr. *****’s obligation but also extend out his payment period so as to increase his 
  monthly cash flow. This offer was rejected by Ondeck. Ondeck has a history of only reducing the 
  debt in cases of extreme hardship, but will work with extending a payment plan out if the full 
  balance is paid. This would still assist the client by freezing any accumulating penalties and 
  interest and giving the client more money to address other aspects of their business. We also 
  attempt to have the mca company reduce or waive its contractual default fees, which is 20% of the 
  clients balance with the creditor.

  
  In this instance, Mr. *****’s obligation to Ondeck was on a $66,000 taken on March 35, 2022. It 
  was to be paid back over 26 weeks with weekly payments of $3,094.38. He would have incurred 
  over $14,000.00 in interest over that time. Given these terms, our intent was to extend out his 
  payment terms so that his monthly payment would be in the range of one weekly payment. This 
  was not good enough for Mr. *****. Nothing we suggested or attempted to do for him was to his 
  satisfaction. We advised Mr. ***** that Ondeck was not going to go away and that they will 
  pursue him on the obligation, as he was contractually responsible for this debt.

  
  When Ondeck stopped communicating with us, we referred the matter to an attorney to see if 
  counsel could make better progress. Our referral places Mr. *****’s matter directly into the hands 
  of the attorney. The attorney is not an employee of our company and works independently to 
  protect the client’s interests. During the course of counsel’s representation of Mr. ***** and 
  settlement attempts directly with Ondeck, we received notice from Mr. ***** that he had retained 
  other counsel, Roger Jacklin. We advised referral counsel of this. Referral counsel was also 
  directly advised by Mr. ***** that his services were terminated effective June 14, 2022, less than 
  2 months after initially contracting with us. That was the last we heard from Mr. *****.
   
  When Mr. ***** unilaterally canceled his contract with us due to his perceived lack of 
  effort on our part, we reviewed the monies he had paid into our escrow account. When a client 
  enters our reorganization program, we have them submit payments to cover our initial fees, as well 
  as to have money on hand to make payments to their original lenders once a remodification is 
  made. In this case, Mr. ***** made payments totaling $10,833.55. Per the terms of our contract, 
  our company was entitled to cancelation fees and expenses of $6,221.74. In late July, we issued a 
  refund check to Mr. ***** for the difference.

  
  A breakdown of the reimbursement is as follows:

  
  Our executed contract contains a full explanation of our fees charged as follows:
  Early cancellation fee – 5% of the enrolled amount; $3,558.54
  Default fee – 20% of enrolled amount- $14,234.14
  Returned payment fee - $30.00 plus bank fees
  Attorney Retainer fee - $300.00 + $250.00 per hour if counsel retained- Attorney 
  retainer $300, $1,100 toward the attorney for negotiations
  Interest on Unpaid fees – 1.5% per month
  The client was refunded the amount of $6,221.71 reducing the fees owes to our office for service.
  Client paid $10,730.60

  
  I hope this explanation clarifies the issues raised by Mr. ***** in his complaint to your 
  agency.

  
  Very truly yours,
  Michael S*****
  Director of Operations