ACHIEVE FINANCIAL SECURITY RIPOFF BEWARE DEBT CONSOLIDATION IS NOT CONSUMER CREDIT COUNSELING JACKSONVILLE Florida

Okay first off, I continue to hear how people get so frustrated when they find out that debt settlement companies fail to contact their creditors. People of planet earth (or maybe just debtors), there is no magical gift that debt settlement companies possess to halt creditors from their duty to collect. What do you expect them to do? Call the creditor and ask them to stop collecting for 6 months, until there is enough money saved to settle? That's insane. Credit Card Companies, much like most companies on this planet exist to make a profit. They need to collect each and every month. Creditors don't look at settlement companies and get excited, they get frustrated, however, after several months of non payment from you, they are ready to strike deals. You may think you can settle your debt on your own, sure, but who do you plan to contact for that special rate? Settlement companies know, that's why you pay them. If you settle thousands of dollars worth of debt with Chase every month, don't you think you'd know who would be the best person to contact to get that deal?

Besides, so what, they call you every day, what do you expect, you're not paying your bills! If this settlement company is able to settle your debt for a percentage lower than the actual amount within three to five months, than deal with the calls. Don't act like these people are required to be your personal servants when they are merely money managers.

The only reason it's going to take 2 -3 years as you have reported, is because you're not contributing more than what you could. How much debt did you have, how much were you saving each month? If by reading their contract you managed to do the math and realize the length of their program would extend greatly into the 24th century, why sign up? Or, why not save more? Of course your credit is going to be ruined, why wouldn't it? Debt settlement is a program for people who don't have the ability to pay their bills....anymore! So with or without 'em, you're still going to have bad credit. Again, you are not paying your bills. I'm sure you're not trying to scam your creditors.

You also mentioned that they kept every dime after three months of enrollment. Did you sign a contract which specified this provision? If not, I would consider speaking to somebody immediately for legal aid. Otherwise, don't post nonsense on these websites without disclosing important facts such as that. When you leave out important information about contract provisions you agreed to, you attempt to perverse the situation in order to rally unknowing people to your side. Like a crying sibling running to their parent spouting one-sided allegations about another sibling. What is the whole story?

Secondly, to the individual above who stated,

"It was not disclosed to me, infact they told me specifically that there would be a ONE time fee and so noted it..........."

We all understand puffery, and I can imagine that you may have received some phony baloney line from a sales rep to convince you to join their program, but 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? Because the initial filer of this complaint states 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, it was disclosed to you and you agreed by signing their contract. You knew, to the penny, and for how long they would continue to withdraw your funds. Again, and as stated above, don't post nonsense on these websites without disclosing important facts such as that. When you leave out important information about contract provisions you agreed to, you attempt to perverse the situation in order to rally people to your side.

I read this report above, and feel I want to make a comment. I have been working with Achieve Financial Security for the past year to resolve some bills that were incurred as a result of an auto accident, and ones that I could no longer pay as a result of the situation due to the lack of income.

Once my case settled, the attorney representing me left me with what might look like a high settlement to justify his fees of 1/3 plus costs.... but in truth I was getting about 1/2 of my attorney fees, and the rest went to the doctors, surgi centers, therapy, etc.
My bills had to be negotiated on the liens, but I still had the out of pocket expenses which were high because my accident happened some 500 miles from home.

AFS did work with me, and while we are having a lot of difficulty with one account, the other two bills have been resolved. We are working through it and it is coming out ok.

What I did not like was the $60. monthly handling fee on top of their initial fee on the matter of 10% of the debt. It was not disclosed to me, infact they told me specifically that there would be a ONE time fee and so noted it...........

I can understand the company charging a fee if they are administering your account over the course of 2-3 years, but I think that fee is way to high...

I dont think they negotiate the bills as hard as they should.... a 20% reduction in a bill is something you probably can get on your own if you call the company...... but they are hired to be more effective. It was suppose to take 2-3 months to resolve all of this, and it is still going on.

In all fairness to AFS, they are a decent company, and people should ask alot of questions. Check out several companies in addition. Creditors are clearly playing hard ball, and I have cut up all of my major credit cards and now pay only Cash or by Debit card..... I am not going to give credit card companies my hard earned cash anymore...... I can be investing that money and earning interest on the money I would be paying the credit card companies.