Family Credit Counseling Corp (FCCC) Scams to take money out of your bank account that is never used to pay debt consolidation; ruins credit Lauderdale Lakes Florida

In the winter of 2003, I got a telemarketing call from Consumer Debt Solutions. I agreed to the fast hard sell to reduce my debt of $8,000 to $0 in 4 years through their debt consolidation program. I agreed to give them authorization to pull money electronically (EFT: electronic funds transaction) from my bank account. This was in exchange for them using corporate power I did not have, to negotiate a deal with my creditor Citibank, and make payments on a new low-interest rate to make me debt-free in 4 years.

CDS sold my contract to FCCC without my knowing. FCCC took money from my bank account each month through EFT. FCCC did not pay my creditors on time; they did not negotiate a lower interest rate; they did not send any proposal whatsoever to Citibank; they did not follow up with Citibank with any communications. FCCC told me to ingnore communications from Citibank regarding late payments FCCC made, and to ignore threats from Citibank to raise my interest rates, etc. Also, FCCC did not close my Citibank account like they were supposed to to prevent Citibank from increasing my interest rate due to late payments from FCCC.

After 3 months, my interest rate wiht Citibank went from 8% to 28%. My late fees and interest fees were so high that the money FCCC was giving them was not enough to cover the monthly minimum payment. I contacted Citibank and they told me FCCC sounded very fraudulent or at least negligent, and that ultimately I was responsible, not FCCC.

I decided to cancel my contract with FCCC/CDS. I could not contact them. All phone lines, fax lines, emails were dead ends: no answer, disconnect, or answering service that did not return calls. I sent them a letter informing them that I was hereby canceling my contract with CDS (FCCC). I tried to cancel the EFT so they couldn't get my money anymore. The bank told me it was impossible to cancel because I needed to go through FCCC, not the bank, to cancel it. The bank agreed that FCCC was fraudulent, and so I closed the bank account and opened a new one FCCC had no access to.

FCCC has contacted me about once or twice a year because I "owe them money" for the "bounced check" and cancellation of contract. I had already told them in my cancellation letter that they owed me for interest increase of 20% on $8,000 compounded monthly, which was more than what they said I owed them. I never paid them another penny.

Now it is 2007 and FCCC has filed against me on my credit report. I investigated and found that the State of Florida Attorney General's Office, Division of Economic Crimes is investigating. Robert Julian is the lead attorney on the investigation, Case No. L06-3-1067, which is open as of October 2007. He is in the process of assigning an new attorney to the case and will resume taking calls in mid-November 2007. I am filing a dispute with Equifax and the other credit bureaus regarding the collections note FCCC has put on my record.

While I have tried to reply to FCCC over the years from their calls, the numbers they call from and the contact information only has led me to dead ends.

There is no class action suit filed against FCCC yet.

Amy
Rochester, Michigan
U.S.A.