KC FINANCIAL MGMT SERVICES Rep Payee steels from vulnerable adult Minneapolis, Minnesota

I am writing on behalf of Holly Olson, as she is in need of assistance.  I write this with her permission.

Holly was assigned a Rep Payee through KC Financial Management in 2007 after her Psychiatrist Dr. Charlotte Guest felt Holly was not able to handle her own finances.  The Rep Payee assigned to her is Cheryl Wetternach. Holly only has one phone number for this person and is unable to find out who this persons supervisor is OR how to find the home office address or phone number. There is no web page available about this business.

Holly sat down with Cheryl and went over medical bills and bills from Qwest, Xcel, car insurance and phone.  At that time Cheryl told Holly she would be able to send her $125 a week for food and personal expenses. Holly has never gotten that much from her rep payee.  Holly also asked Cheryl to send her statements saying who she paid and how much was paid to each of the creditors Holly owed.  Cheryl to date has sent 3 such statements and none of them say who was paid what.  They generically state that a medical bill was paid for $25, medical $30 or personal expenses $65, never the direct name of whom the bill was sent.

One particular bill is from the Mayo Clinic.  Holly owed over $3000 and set up a payment plan with them for $50 per month.  Holly has received letters from mayo thanking her for her payments, none for the $50 agreed upon, but for $3 or $1.80.  Last week (January, 2010) Holly got a letter from an attorney stating that she was being sued as the bill had not been paid on since April of 2009.  Interestingly Holly had called Cheryl to ask her to send her extra cash for her move to a new apartment and Cheryl made a quick reference to the fact that this particular bill needed to be paid, although she seems to have no intent to pay this.

Holly also owed Qwest $200+ for a past bill and had given this to Cheryl at their first meeting asking her to pay it off.  When Holly moved into her own place in January 2010 she called Qwest to set up services and was told she still had the entire $200+ to pay.  At this point, because Holly does not have money of her own a friend had to step in and pay the $200+ for her and an additional $200 as a security deposit because of Hollys credit history.  When Holly called Cheryl to tell her what happened and to have her send the $200 for the bill she was to have paid on Cheryl ignored her calls and did not send the friend the money.

Another bill is to Allina home oxygen.  This is from several years ago when Holly was on oxygen for her pulmonary hypertension.  The bill was a bit over $35/month.  Last week Holly received a bill from Allina for over $350 that still needed to be paid on this bill. Like this bill most all of her bills are now in collections, ruining her credit with no means of her own to fix.

Holly did grow suspicious of her rep payee a couple years ago and went to her Case Manager through Guild Incorporated in St Paul asking to have her rep payee switched to the county and the Team refused to help her, stating that they liked working with KC Financial Management.  Holly had nowhere else to turn and gave up trying to switch.  When your case manager is against an action it is hard for someone deemed mentally ill to have a voice in their own behalf.

Finally Holly got her Psychiatrist to listen to her plea and agreed that Holly could find a different rep payee and switch.  There was no case manager to protest as Guild was out of the picture by now due to their lack of help in Hollys life.  A friend stepped forward and agreed to be her rep payee and on November 13, 2009 the two of them went down to the Social Security Office in Minneapolis.  The paperwork was completed and they were told the switch would be affective in December 2009.  It was not done.  Both Holly and her new rep payee starting calling the representative at Social Security and were and continue to be told that the paperwork needs to be manually processed and due to the Holidays it is taking time.  However this appears to not be the truth as no one a Social Security know of any paperwork accept for the individual they applied with.

Meanwhile, Hollys credit rating is plummeting, her medical insurance is not being paid, meaning she is not able to see her Psychiatrist or pay for her medication; medication for her mental illness, Bi-Polar, and her pulmonary hypertension.   Her cell phone will be cut off due to nonpayment soon and she has no money to buy food or pay copays for her meds or doctor visits.  She is borrowing money from friends to get by.  Meaning she has to worry about repaying them too.

Holly has been upset about this for some time now not only because her bills arent getting paid but she is humiliated with having to borrow money from her friends and her son to make ends meet; ends that should be being addressed by her Rep Payee.  Fortunately, Holly has kept documentation as to these bills, but because she is Bi-polar many people will not listen to her and write her off as shes mentally ill and probably has no clue what is going on.  This is not true and she is being financially exploited by the system that is meant to serve her.

Holly has called First Call For Help and all the leads they gave her, the Attorney General of MN and the office of Disability Law Center.  She has been told none of those are the right place for her needs.  She also tried a couple independent law firms but no one will help her.  Of course Holly does not have money to pay an attorney BUT she does deserve her financial issues to be handled by professionals that will not exploit her.

We are asking for your help to uncover the wrongs that have been done to Holly and the possible others this agency has exploited as well.  Holly deserves to be reimbursed the moneys stolen from her and her bills paid and credit cleared.  Not to forget .the emotional abuse and mental distress she has bore throughout these times.

Several of Hollys friends are trying to help her and would be glad to speak with anyone about her situation.  We all want this abuse to end. Holly J O  (((Redacted)))

Grace Gravelle..(((Redacted)))(((Redacted)))

Rebecca B...(((Redacted))).....(((Redacted)))

Lynn A..(((Redacted))).(((Redacted)))

Stephen M. H (Psychologist) (((Redacted)))