Kimberly Credit Counseling RUINED CREDIT, GLORIFIED BILL PAY COMPANY, CHARGED ILLEGAL FEES ripoff West Palm Beach Florida

I have had a great experience with Kimberly Credit out of West Palm Beach for 5 years now since two of my credit cards went out of business and left me with nothing but debt and calls from the collection agency. Additionally, the lovely Citicorp had just bought another credit card and decided after reviewing my account that my APR should jump from 6.9% to 26.99%. When I had 3 consecutive weekends of 9 AM calls from southeast asia, attempting to collect my debt, because my minimum monthly payment had jumped to a figure that was not yet in my budget, I had to do something.

I went online, did some research and decided to contact Kimberly Credit. Since then I have completely paid off two of the credit cards and received letters confirming the payoff and closed account from the creditors. The 3rd is in it's final stages, only because they weren't as willing to negotiate my rate down but the end is in sight.

Over the 5 years that I've dealt with them, Kimberly Credit has been responsive and done exactly what they said they would. By requiring a money order or automatic withdrawal from my account, it's kept me on track. I'm no saint when it comes to the responsible use of credit but Kimberly Credit has been a trustworthy ally as I attempt to change my ways.

Most importantly, this company has been serving me for 5 years, hasn't tried anything I found sketchy and I'd trust them should I need their services again. You can't say that about a lot of their competitors and this industry just attracts people who pray on the credit challenged like me. I'm glad they are in business and would hate to see their reputation tarnished by an irate internet rant.

Stuart, nice try. Funny how your records on the law in NC differ from what the NC Dept of Justice determined. Most educated consumers know how the BBB reporting works-but again, nice try. See, when my husband and I contacted the NCDOJ, the result was them(NCDOJ) notifying KCC that they were in violation of the law. Debt mgmt companies are not allowed to charge fees in NC. If they were, why did KCC refund my husband & I over $1,000 charged in fees? If they are allowed to charge $40/month, why did your company charge us more than that each month?? So you knowingly did that?

Two years later, we're finally paying this off. Both of our contracts state we are to receive one monthly payment amt once completion of this "debt management" program. My husband paid his off 4 months ago. Has he received his one mo. payment back? No. Problem is that KCC must have proof of payment (?). If they were paid the final payment & we have bank records to prove-WHY would we need to prove we paid them?? Why wouldn't that be acceptable? Oh, unless they are trying to get you to jump thru hoops. Aaah, I get it.

This past week I have attempted to make my final payment via the KCC payment line. First of all, hope if you call it they don't put you on hold. The music is so loud, you can hear it with the phone 2 feet from your head. That's pleasant and customer friendly. I left a msg asking for final payout amt-no call back. I called the next day-was told they would have to get back to me. Funny, they didn't ask for my phone #, so I offerred it to them. Someone was to call me back-they didn't. I called back 3 days later. I'm told that they still have not gotten this information, Monday was a holiday, & that there are many customer's ahead of me. I asked why it is taking so long and why do they have a payment line, but cannot assist CUSTOMERS in making payments? Jennifer did not like this statement and informed me it would take 5 bus. days. I told her I would contact my credit companies automated line & get my 2 balances FOR THEM. 30 seconds later, I called KCC back with this information. KCC cannot put ACH payments thru with "change" so they must round every amt to the nearest $. Wow, I bet they make a pretty penny on that (at our expense). How convenient.

I then ask to be sent to the refund dept so that I can arrange for the return of my one mo. 's payment(per my written contract). I'm told to email Claudia letting her know I made my final payment. This will then have to be verified, then I will be contacted (yeah right) & provided with a release form which I must complete and return. After the release form has been received, it may be 30-45 days before my check is sent.

Moral of this story . . .Never get into debt. If you do and need help, take out a loan, sell your stuff, or do anything EXCEPT do not contact a "credit counseling" company. If you sign up for automatic bill pay, you would receive more services than they can provide. This has hurt my credit more than improving it. Plus, the lack of customer service & problems caused by using a "credit counseling co.". My husband nor I ever received any sort of acct summary, counseling or any information regarding our dept in the 5+yrs we were with KCC. The NCDOJ requested this be sent-to no avail. Anytime we asked for help, the rep's were unable to provide that. Hope KCC employees read this . . .we are in the process of filing 2 more complaints with Roy Cooper (NC AG) in regards to you not complying with a written contract & refunding our 1st mo's payment upon successfull completion of our "debt mgmt program". My advice to anyone in similar situations-contact your state Attorney General's office in writing. It will save you a lot of time & cut down on the BS. After all, a contract is a contract.

Stuart, the person (maybe the only person) that any consumer can chat with live. Stuart can never answere any questions but he sure is doing a hell of a job on rip-off reports. I am not a member of KCC but I have indeed inquired about it. I have sent in all of my information but I haven't sent any money yet. I keep pushing back the start date. I have been doing a lot of reseach on this company and this information is very disturing to me. Finding out all of these things about KCC has changed my mind about joining this organization. I even had referred friends and family to this company and now I have to inform them of my new found information. I will also pass the word to everyone that I know. Thanks Rip-Off Reports & thanks KCC.

You stated that KCC has never had any unanswered complaints but that is not what BBB says.

Just in case you have forgotten, this is what it says.

Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record with the Bureau. The company has been responsive to any matters brought to its attention by the Bureau.

To have a Satisfactory Record with the Bureau, a company must be in business for at least 12 months, properly and promptly address matters referred to it by the Bureau, and be free from an unusual volume or pattern of complaints and law enforcement action involving its marketplace conduct. In addition, the Bureau must have a clear understanding of the company's business and no concerns about its industry.

When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.

Closed Complaints
Number of complaints processed by the BBB in last 36 Months: 88
Number of complaints processed by the BBB in last 12 months: 17

Complaints Concerned
Advertising Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Resolved: 1

Sales Issues: 8
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 8

Delivery Issues: 4
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 3; Company made good faith effort to Resolve:
1

Repair or Service Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Resolved: 1

Guarantee or Warranty Issues: 2
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 2

Product Quality Issues: 4
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 4

Refund or Exchange Issues: 8
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 6; Company made good faith effort to Resolve:
2

Contract Issues: 19
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 18; Company made good faith effort to
Resolve: 1

Customer Service Issues: 22
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 19; Company made good faith effort to
Resolve: 3

Credit or Billing Issues: 19
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 16; Unresolved: 1; Company made good faith
effort to Resolve: 2

We have been in business since 1991 and we are Gold members of the BBB with NO unanswered complaints.

In regards to the NC fees this information is totally erroneous. NC has fee previsions including but not limited to a $40 service fee.