Legal Network of America New Vista Credit Solutions What A Big Ripoff! Hayward, California

I read about the services of these groups via the internet.  I contacted them and was told they could negotiate my credit card balance at 50% of the balance.   When asked how that would affect my credit scores, they said..."sure, it would take a small hit, but would bounce back in a few months."

So, I began making my payments to Legal Network of America.  In 5 months I paid a total of $4,356.91 to them, and made no payments to Chase.   In the sixth month, I got a call from a debt collector advising me that Chase would not negotiate with any debt collection company!  I am sure that New Vista and Legal Network knew this up front, but never advised me at all.  I called them and told them I wanted to cancel their services, and in the end after all their hidden costs, and penalties, I got a refund of $1500 back!  They took $2850+ of my money, and I got royally ripped off.  All they did was get money from my bank account every month on automatic withdrawl!  What did they do to earn the $2850+?   Nothing.

In the end, I negotiated with the debt collection agent and got 50% off anyway...thanks to my own negotiation skills.  And here's the final kicker....at the end of the year, Chase sent me a W-2 form for the amount they wrote off!  I ended up paying $10,000 taxes on the $25,000 they wrote off!  A lesson to be learned for any of us gullible persons out there.  Take heed!