Achieve Financial Security Am I being ripped off Ripoff Jacksonville Florida

Hi Jamie,

Yes, this sounds very common and expected. Have you ever wondered what happens when you completely stop paying your debt? If you were in debt to the extend of hiring this settlement company, litigation was inevitable regardless of what road you chose, other than paying your debts. Debts never go away, and in the event that the debt happens to be sold, it's still considered profit for somebody else. Works the same with mortgages or any other form of loan, the paper will always be worth money until it is completely paid off. As for the law office, which I have worked for several, are legitimate in their efforts to acquire a civil judgment, however, to some extent.

Keep in mind, that if you or I owned a law office, who specialized in debt collection, whose sole responsibility was to collect a debt on behalf of their client, who would you have calling the debtor? An attorney or their paralegals? I think not. These people don't spend a lifetime in school merely to call debtors all day, rather, they are processing the necessary paperwork to move forward with your case. Law firms hire debt collectors and there is nothing legal about these people, other than what they are not allowed to say.

So, what do creditors do best? Well, they make incredible money by manipulating and/or lying to people in order to get a penny from them. Let's face it, the more money you pay to the collector, the higher the commission, especially if he/she hits bonus by the end of the month. So, wouldn't you lie too?

Yes, in civil litigation several things can happen, of course depending on the state you live in; garnishment, liens on property and even bank accounts. Litigation, as I have experience, commonly occurs after many months of unsuccessful attempts to collect what is due each month. Many times litigation is brought on only because that specific creditor, (American General, Citicorp, ie, big wig credit card companies), have a procedure to send debts to litigation simply to spare themselves for what could lie ahead.

If they are able to garnish up to 25% of your net earnings, and that comes out to be quite a bit, shouldn't have you been putting that much into the their program to begin with? I find that many people typically take the "savings" recommendation of these companies rather than doing the math themselves. I find that the savings that the debtor is presented with was more of a tactic to entice consumers onto their program. The simple knowledge of only paying a fraction of what you were paying your creditors is exciting to anyone, isn't it? So that being the case, if I signed up to a settlement company, I'd take their proposal, but also contribute a hell of a lot of money on top of it.

In regards to the settlement letter received by your settlement company, and the response regarding that settlement received by the law firm; my only question is, why are you talking to the law firm if you have dedicated yourself to this settlement company. I don't understand? You pay hundreds of dollars each month for this settlement company to work for you, but rather than allowing the settlement company to take lead in the negotiations, you foul it up by contacting the law firm? So let me get this straight, while you pay this settlement company, you're also calling your creditors, for what? Are you negotiating too? Because as far as I know, collectors are not concerned about your personal or financial affairs, they just want to get paid, that's it. So if you call them, they expect the topic of money to be the headline of that conversation.

So if you cannot reach your settlement company to confirm the settlement, just wait longer. Besides, a settlement company sending you a letter for a quick, hurry-up settlement that must be paid within one day does not sound accurate. For something like that; a phone call would be more appropriate. Are you sure you received a letter illustrating a settlement that must be paid, or was it a notice of an offer that the law firm had given them? Maybe that's why the law firm was denying that any settlement had taken place, they may have only informed the settlement company of an offer that could be given, if said payment was made by a certain date. My advice, and seriously, either fire the settlement company and talk to the law office, or talk to the settlement company and let them deal with the law office; DON'T DO BOTH. You can't see that you're completely throwing away your own money? In many ways this explains your money problems. Your only causing more problems for the both of you.

And in response to your quote, "I'm not even sure what of the money taken from my checking account is going towards settlement and what is going to fees."

This comment appears to have been entered in order to persuade readers to talk you out of this program; as you have already made up your mind. Let me explain...

When it comes to the exchange of money for services, there are contracts involved. Laws in this country protect us, and in order to do so, the law requires that the exchange of money between parties, over a certain amount and/or services rendered, require a written contractual obligation. With that being said, I guarantee you received a contract illustrating, to the detail, the amount of money they require for you to pay, and save, each month in order to be enrolled. How do I know this? Another person filing a complaint against this very same company had stated that they remove funds from your bank account each month, and if that is the case, nobody can direct withdraw funds out of your account without getting authorization from you. Therefore, you should know, to the penny, and for how long they plan continue to withdraw your funds. Please, don't post nonsense on these websites without disclosing important facts such as that. When you leave out important information about contract provisions you agree to, you attempt to perverse the situation in order to rally people to your side.

One last note: interest will always continue to accrue, so please don't attempt to act surprised. If you're willing to borrow money from somebody, please have the common courtesy to read the fine print.