Consumer Law Associates I paid them $4,000 to help with debt settlement program Frisco Texas

    Debt settlement is a process and it is a timely process. I USED to work for this company and even though I left on not so great terms I still believe in what they do. Brenda, "Brown Suga" Gray: if you paid a little over 4k in the first 8 months we can average that if you signed a 36 month contract and you were charged their average of about 10% of the entire debt you enrolled into the program, then this fee of the 10% is spread out over time for YOUR conveinence. I am sure you do not call your car insurance company after 6 months of service and demand your money back because you were not in a wreck. Also, if they charged you 10% of your total debt and you paid that in the first 8 months then we can assume that you have about 40k in total unsecured debt. I would guarantee you did not acquire that amount of debt in 8 months so how or why would you think it would go away in that time frame. Also, yes, the more you have a large home, nice car, nice income and any other thing that you may not have told your consultant about are nice things that the creditors are going to come after. Yes some creditors are going to sue but not all are aggressive and once they are aggressive the services that CLA provides does not charge additional, a CLA licensed attorney in your state would provide verbal consultation and all the legal documentation that you need to file in court. CLA still will try and settle the debt to the best interest of you IF you have been saving according to the schedule they set up for you. The chances of you not having much of a savings at this point is somewhat likely (this is something that I had been working with the company to work on) BUT this needs to be on the shoulders of the consumer who is seeking assistance. If someone fully understands how debt settlement works they would not sign a contract breaking down payments with LITTLE or NO funds  being saved in the beginning, this is just not smart. But, lets be realistic if you are going into a courtroom with an attorney by your side and you are trying to convenience a judge that your circumstances are to harsh and you to broke to pay your creditors but you can afford an attorney to come stand by your side in court HELLO the judge is not an idiot and those attorney's time cost $$$, so there fore if you can get a verbal consultation telling you and advising you along the path and what to be prepared for then you come in looking  like a pre-paired, educated, and some-who-knows-what-they are talking about to a judge he/she would be more likely to listen to you. The thing is these creditors all try to scare consumers on daily basis with "we are going to take you to court" then what... let me tell you - You came to this company CLA stating I owe this debt right? The the creditor is going to take it to a judge, after A LONG TIME (people HAVE to realize the amount of time spent trying to get into court over something like this, and hello time is on your side if you are able to save, I am not an attorney nor do I claim to be but I do know that creditors settle and are willing to settle outside of court, pre court), the judge will eventually find a judgement in favor of the plantiff the creditor, that is because you entered into this contract with this ORIGINAL CREDITOR, so there will then be a court document stating you owe the money. Nothing changed you said you owe the money, now a judge agrees with you, this or that particular account would just need to be moved to the top of your priority list. THEY ARE USING SCARE TACTICS. The more assets you have the more likely the creditor thinks they will get paid by legally attacking you. Doesn't it make sense? If you have 2 friends that owe you money they make the same amount but one just got a mortage on a house, a lexus, and has 2 kids, while the other is a debt free bachelor in his mom's paid for house which one do you think you are more likely to get money from if you pursue?

 - To the person stating you do not have to pay until services rendered to credit repair co.... NEWSFLASH CLA is not and has not been a 'CREDIT REPAIR" company and never promises to be. Repairing your credit can be done on your own and so can debt settlment but lets be honest 90% of America not only does NOT have that kind of time OR resources to invest in learning more about the processes of debt settlement or credit repair and therefore companies like this exist for the consumers benefit to educate them and do the hard haggle work for them. Not to mention in the settlement industry there is a MASS OFFER bonus that comes with the company but not on your own(aka one tends to get better settlement offers w/ companies). 

 - As far as the phone calls.... deal with it. In the long run you are paying yourself for taking some harrassing calls. Yes the more creditors you have the harder this will be to keep up with and monitor if it develops into harrassment. But, you do have defenses as an average consumer. And yes anyone has access to these resources but as a customer service rep when I would have to speak w/ a trucker who is driving his life away looking up these resources is not easy, I was able to advise him what the creditors are allowed and not allowed to do and then provide crucial phone numbers for him to call and make complaints verbally so he was still able to perform his job. The company canNOT make the complaints for you nor can they stop the calls and anyone who promises you they can is lying or cheating you. This is not a promise made by CLA nor any client company that is affiliated with as that would not be correct. The phone calls are the creditors way of getting to you. If you want money from someone they are bounded by the law in many ways so if phone calls are what will do you in for 30k worth of debt or more for literally the rest of your life so be it.(But can you imagine if you owed money in Vegas or something, I mean really, try and compare it to that). But check out a study done by CnnMoney back in 06 or 07 this study found that if you have only 10k worth of debt but are paying 19% interest then you will ultimately pay over 24k and it will take you 40something years to pay off, making minimum payments, and THAT WAS FROM CNN! Good luck with that, with debt settlement yes your credit will suffer but if your debt to income ratio is offer kilter then it is already suffering and you don't even know it. Go back to the last example, the guy who just bought the house, car, has kids and already has about 30k in debt wants to borrow some money and he has a 750 credit score but friend B doesn't have any unsecured debt and his car is paid for but his credit score is only 500 and you see it is from 3 or 4 years ago; now they both make the same amount of money but which one are you more likely to loan money to? The one that is stretched to max making several payments on several debts on a limited income in a failing economy or to someone who struggled got over the hump and now has the expendable income to set a fair repayment to you?     Think about it, the economy and so much more put together right now.... credit scores in the near future are going to be viewed Very differently. Do NOT let this be the ONE thing holding you back from settlement especially if you already have your home & car, there is not much more anyone Needs credit for these days and if you do you are living outside of your means and you need to reevaluate your lifestyle.

 If you or anyone has ANY more questions on this topic I would happy to address them and give you an honest unbiased opinion as I do not work for one company but have spent my time educating myself on this topic to the fullest and only want to honestly share this with the public.