Superior Debt Relief Thanks, we'l keep the change! Fort Collins Colorado

Here is my experience with Superior Debt Relief thus far. I have been in their program for 2 1/2 years now. I started with 3 accounts totaling nearly 35K in debt. 2 were credit cards and one was an unsecured signature loan. All three had already been charged off and had been purchased by debt buyers. The debt buyers were LVNV, Midland Credit, and the 3rd is now on it's 3rd buyer and is Riverwalk Holdings. For the first 18 months, fees were taken out of my monthly payments and went to Superior Debt. The total in fees came to just over 5K. LVNV sent a settlement offer of about 65% off the amount owed, after 18 months in the program. Superior Debt accepted that offer and cleared the first account. Keep in mind that Superior Debt only accepted the offer, and did not actually do any work to settle this account. Once that account was settled, I received a letter from a local law office stating they were handling my signature loan account and were representing Midland Credit. I forwarded all information on to Superior Debt. A couple of weeks later I received a "right to cure" letter from the law office. I knew that I was about to be sued and asked Superior Debt what needed to be done. They told me to "hang in there".  That was their solution to the problem.  Sure enough about 6 weeks later I was served with papers. At that time Superior Debt contacted the law office but the lawyer was not willing to negotiate a settlement. It was pay in full and the monthly payments they were requesting were beyond my means. I had to go down to the courthouse and file my answer which Superior Debt helped me fill out. They utilize a low cost lawyer help line that will assist you in filling out an answer. Superior Debt did pay the lawyer fee but I was on my own after that. Superior Debt will not provide any legal advice or assistance.

Superior Debt stated that they would be able to reach a settlement on this account. I stated that I should probably tap into my fund account to retain a lawyer. Superior Debt called and discouraged me from doing that. The week before the court date I contacted Superior Debt to get an update. They stated that they would check and see. Friday rolls around (Monday is Court), and I email them to see what they had come up with. No response. I tried to call them after 4 that afternoon and they were closed for the day. I had to go to court on the following Monday, no lawyer, no help, no idea what to do. I met with the plaintiff's lawyer and had to negotiate my own settlement, and I settled directly with him for 66% for 2 lump sum payments. In fact the lawyer told me that they refused to work with debt settlement companies. I can only imagine that Superior Debt knew this all along and did not tell me. Thus far I have paid Superior Debt over 5K in fees and they have not really done anything that I could not have done myself. In fact they have not done anything to earn their fees as far as I can tell. Now I am dealing with Mitchell Kay's law office out of New York. They are not local nor licensed to practice in my state so I am not sure what their options are for filing a lawsuit. I will say that they have instantly added about 8K to what I actually owe and have sent me a settlement letter. The letter states they will settle for about 50% of the new amount. In other words it's close to the 100% of the original amount.

So now I will offer some advice, solely based on my experience with Superior Debt Relief. If I had to start over and do this again I would retain a consumer attorney to represent me. The first reason being is an attorney would cost about the same as Superior Debt Relief. Second, once you retain an attorney, the debt collectors must contact that attorney and not you. The calls and letters slowed but did not stop after I hired Superior Debt. Third, an attorney can negotiate with your creditors just like Superior Debt, and will be able to work with your creditors more effectively. And finally, if you do get sued, you will have an attorney to represent you in court, not to mention they can provide you with legal advice through the whole process. Superior Dept does not provide any legal assistance when you are in fact dealing with a legal matter.  I was unable to make my 2nd lump sum payment from the court settlement due to a wage cut.  I sent the local attorney a letter 30 days before the due date explaining my situation and I offered a very reasonable payment plan.  I did not receive a response.  I then hired a consumer/bankruptcy attorney a couple of weeks ago.  It looks like I may be filing bankruptcy since Supeior Debt has been unable to settle my account that went into legal proceedings.  So, for those of you who think you want to hire Superior Debt, please be advised that they will take your money, and will not be of help on any legal matters. BEWARE! 

The title of my responce says it all. Last year my wife and I were about to file for bankruptcy. There organization has saved us from disaster. We started with almost 25 accounts which were handed over to Superior. So far almost 50 % of the accounts have been settled. No threats of lawsuits. It has been quick, effective, and well worth the time and energy. This organization earns every penny that they recieve.

We are a company of high integrity and address any and all complaints. We take pride in the fact that we are a debt settlement company and therefore we will always negotiate a debt to the best of our ability, and if that means not keeping fees for an individual settlement, then that is what we will do as it is in the best interest of the client. Our only goal is to get our clients out of debt.

At the time this client cancelled, we had settled several of her accounts for well below 50%. We had a settlement offer on the table with for final account; however, she would not allow us to accept that offer as it was for more than 50%, which would have still made her average settlement well below 50%. When the consumer filed a BBB complaint against us, we showed our commitment to the client by refunding all of her fees (even though we had saved her thousands of dollars). Debt settlement is what we do, and we do it very well. If you have any doubts, check out our BBB ranking at http://www.bbbonline.org/cks.asp?id=10307186194033870, and you will see that we are a leader in our industry, and that we pride ourselves in providing unequaled customer service and satisfaction.