Freedom Debt Relief’s earns a 2.6-star rating from 73 reviews, showing that the majority of clients are somewhat satisfied with debt resolution services.
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lied to me from day 1 about everything
Lied to me from day one. My contact never disclosed their fees. He told me multiple times I could not be sued by Credititors because I was protected under PA laws...we were sued three times... We left program and were told we would get the money left in our escrow account in 3-5 days only to find out they would not be returning it to us, it was for their...
Read full review of Freedom Debt Relief and 8 commentsrip off, scammed me &beware&
Had me believing they were negotiating my credit card debts. Drew 512.00 a month for year and didn't do nothing but got me sued, ruined my credit and now I am digging out of hole and owe more. Liars, cheats and low life people. How could anybody be so low. I got one debt of 500.00 paid and now I am dealing with credit card people myself. People don't get involved with this low life company. They steal your money and do nothing but lie and steal from you! Learned hard lesson! I one debt I end up owning more than I did and they took 1, 300.00 out of my account for doing nothing but destroying me!
debt not resolved
We were duped as well. We fell for the advertising and the seemingly supportive sales reps. Being under extreme pressure to settle debt they prey on our fears and financial distress. We were taken for 527 a month for a year. I kept pestering them to settle accounts, but it seemed that this would never end. They had no problem padding the pseudo bank account with our money as they milked it for fees...and oh yes, the settlement fees whenever an account was ultimately settled. I thought we would not get sued. That is when the subpoenas began to appear in the mail box. I spoke to a bankruptcy attorney and he advised me to file for Chapter 7. That resolved the problems and law suits. Also, the debt that was "settled" becomes taxable income that you must report on your taxes! Nice little detail that was not mentioned. Be aware of these quick fix companies. They are a scam that prey on the vulnerability of honest American tax payers. DO NOT FALL FOR THE ADS! Good Luck to All...and God Bless America!
Run like the wind when you see these people coming.. not only is the settled debt taxable income, they don't bother to forward the 1099 until April, claiming they "just got it" (this has happened to me more than once)... that's BS since 1099's have to be postmarked by 1/31. You're better off setting up a separate savings account and settling accounts yourself as you accumulate money... they didn't settle a thing for any less than I could have!
gross rip off
I joined this company to try to resolve my credit problems which arose from loss of my job and consequential health problems. When I talked to them they hid from me the exorbitant fees which they grab FIRST of my total debt, didn't contact my creditors, told me NOT to talk to them (For now, obvious reasons) and in 6 months took $1, 600.00 from me!
How ANY person or company could prey on people in financial straits is truly disgusting! IF I had been told they would have grabbed this $
from me, I would NEVER have signed up and no other person with a brain would. I hope they get a class action suit because I would join!34666
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
ripe-off!!! we joined them for help!
this was my email when I terminated agreement ------ Please cancel my agreement with Freedom Debt Relief. I am very upset the Freedom has not really done anything to "Relieve my Debt"; however your company has in fact made it worse. I have contacted my creditors and my fees have grown and to make matters worse they haven't ever been contacted. When I signed up for Freedom Debt Relief's helping, your representative SOLD me an idea that your company could help, yet I have made 14 payments of $389 every 15th of the month; equaling a total of $5, 446 and all I have to show is one settlement on 9/10/2010 for $634 and a balance in my trust account of about $1700. Where is the rest of the money, $3, 000 and change to be exact!
Then to add to the insult and ripe-off your company is doing to individuals like myself needing Debt Relief HELP; you tell me that if I cancel, I still need to pay for the remaining fees left on my agreement!?! And that the fees totaling $ 915.90 will be deducted from my trust account, and I will receive a check for the difference. Fees for what, your company has only settled one debt.
Freedom Debit Relief must be out of their minds... 1). all your company has done is settle ONE debt back in September 2010, what happened to 2011. 2). This isn't a legally binding contract; this was an agreement that Freedom would help me with my creditors on the program. and Finally 3). In Accordance with the Federal Trade Commission, debt relief companies are prohibited from collecting ADVANCE fees until a settlement has been reached, was in effect starting October 2010. Futhermore, the Federal Trade Commission also states that " the consumer can withdraw the funds at any time without penalty; "
I demand that Freedom Debt Relief, refund me all the Fee charged for October 2010 through August 2011 totaling $ 1, 831.80 plus all the funds in my trust account. If I don't receive a check, with a refund for all the fees collected in ADVANCED and all the funds in my trust account in a timely matter; I WILL be forced to contact the Federal Trade Commission.
I expect a response for your company.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
freedom debt relief did not hold to their contract
Freedom Debt Relief has been taking my money for eight months to help me with my credit card debt, but on 5-4-2011 I was served a law suit for none payment of credit card.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I have never understood why anyone who can't pay their bills on time would consider using a service (such as credit consolidation services, etc) that charges you FEES to help you get out of debt! Why not take the money you would have used to pay those ridiculous fees and put it towards your debts. Just make minimum payments and use the debt snowball as outlined by Dave Ramsey. Otherwise consider Chapter 7 Bankruptcy to get a fresh start and don't make the same mistakes again.
debt relief scam
Thanks for your support!
Update
I offered to settle with FDR by making four more payments, for a total of 52 payments of a 33 payment contract, thus paying an amount equal to my original debt.
FDR countered by offering me a “Settlement Agreement, General Release and Acknowledgement of Confidentiality.” I will try to summarize.
Settlement Agreement - Our contract is terminated when I sign this agreement. FDR will send me $566.60. The money I have in FDR’s ‘bank’ was not mentioned and is more than $566.60. Did they plan to keep this money? This settlement would leave me owing half my original debt.
General Release - I may not participate in any claims against FDR.
Acknowledgement of Confidentiality - I may not communicate the terms of this agreement or any dissatisfaction with FDR to any persons or agencies in any manner. I must send a list to all persons or agencies to whom I have complained and I must let these persons or agencies know that FDR and I have parted ‘amicably.’
FDR advised me to consult an attorney before signing this agreement. Like I can afford one. When I do consult an attorney about FDR, it will not be over this agreement.
I believe FDR thinks I’m an idiot just because I signed with them. But I was duped!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
RGGG,
We were duped as well. We fell for the advertising and the seemingly supportive sales reps. Being under extreme pressure to settle debt they prey on our fears and financial distress. We were taken for 527 a month for a year. I kept pestering them to settle accounts, but it seemed that this would never end. They had no problem padding the pseudo bank account with our money as they milked it for fees...and oh yes, the settlement fees whenever an account was ultimately settled. I thought we would not get sued. That is when the subpoenas began to appear in the mail box. I spoke to a bankruptcy attorney and he advised me to file for Chapter 7. That resolved the problems and law suits. Also, the debt that was "settled" becomes taxable income that you must report on your taxes! Nice little detail that was not mentioned. Be aware of these quick fix companies. They are a scam that prey on the vulnerability of honest American tax payers. Good Luck to All...and God Bless America!
scam
SCAM ~ Alert ~ This Company does everything they can to make you feel like they are truly going to care for you and your credit cards and relieve your debt ASAP ~ ALL a SCAM ~ Nothing but lies ~ They take your $ and their fees every month and will not begin to settle any of your debt until you have a substanial amount built up which can take years because of their fees ~ I was told that Discover will not settle less than 80% and it went to a law firm which I live in Ca and was told that I could not be sued if the Credit Card Company was not in California ~ well the Credit Collection/Law Firms can and they do practice law in California ~ I was force to withdrawl my program only after 6 months of NOTHING ~ and am trying on getting my $ back ~ in the meantime have met with an attorney and am in the process of Bankruptcy ~ PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE COMPANIES ~ IT TRULY IS A SCAM ~ On another note ~ everytime I would call the gentleman whom set up my program had no access to my file and I would call their # and always got a different person ~ no customer service ~ all a big scam ~ I am not a disgruntled employee ~ or not that I did not understand their plan ~ I was told all of these things as I questioned the complaints to them and they gave me all these excuses to make me believe they were honored and true ~ NOT TRUE !
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
fraud
Freedom Debt relief is a scam. They told me not to worry on several occasions. I listened. I paid them 3170.00 and only 1000 worth of debt was settled. In addition to that I had to pay taxes on the amount that was forgiven. They take 98 dollars a month in fees that must be in the smallest of print. I felt as if I were talking to a bunch of well trained liars everytime we spoke. Credit Card companies will not wait for settlements. They will take you to court and will garnish your wages. This will happen. Freedom will tell you that they can do something about this. They cannot! I have spoken with a lawyer and this is not true! Please do not get sucked in like I did.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
my Husband says we don't have to join the law suit we are automatically added to this law suit if we belong to FDR is this true? or do we have to join.? if so where and how?
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
how do I get out of this mess? we been with FDR for 2 years and can't do this anymore they made a bad situation worse. we are getting buried. Help this old lady is crying.
don't pay debts
I entered this program in January 2009. They mislead you by telling you they have done settlements with all the credit card companys I had submitted to them. They were attentive and made calls back to me up until the 7, 500.00 in fees were paid and now no calls back. They took 870.00 a month for 2 years and only paid 3 credit cards. I am being sued with threats of checking account garnishments etc. Their legal department will not call me back regarding this. I quit the program on 1/19/2011 and still have not received the 5, 161.02 that Client Solutions is holding. My contract states it would be sent in 10 days. I have sent a second request for my money today, with no response as of yet.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I almost have gone with this same company. I received some thing in the mail and called them. Heard the same spiel 4-5 years. They kept referring to them selves as Relief Bank. Not their real name. It wasn't until I got a contract to sign that I could check on them and find out what they were trying to hide. Couldn't have been their real name anyway, as only their own site exists under that and one comment. I didn't realize that they would be charging high fees, as not exactly in the contract and they are sure not to mention it. Any idea of who's not a crook?
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
Hi, I'm so glad I read this too. We, my husband and I, just got off the phone with FDR from San Mateo. He told us that he too can get us out of debt in 48-52 months. We supposed to put our money in an account. $410.00 a month and then build it up until we have enough in the account before they start paying the creditors. By reading all of these post I just realized we were ALMOST taken. Thank you so much for the warning. We were approved by an underwriter before we agreed on anything. It does sound so sincere and too good too be true. Again THANKS all of you out there. I have to call him back tomorrow and give him my answer. I will :):)
Hi, I am so glad I read this. Me and my husband have came so close with going with FDR company that I heard on the radio one day. I was a little skepitcal at first until I spoke with the lady that was so nice on the phone. She told me that my payments would be any where from 200 to 275 a month. I was so excited. She said she could get me approved with in 2hrs and we could be out of debt in 24 to 48 months. Sounds Great! She has called me several times but something told me it was too good to be true. I am so glad that I did some investigation. Thanks to everyone for there comments. Its sad to know how many dishonest people that there is in the world trying to ripe us honest people off. Good luck to everyone
lies and rip off
I signed up with this company a year agoand they withdrawed $4240.00 from my checking account from Feb. 2010 till June 2010. At thins time I got a letter from the Court that I was being sued for none payment of a credit card. After checking with the credit card companys' not a dime had been paid to any of them. I was going to be in court with all of them, and you won't believe the phone calls from debt collectors. My credit is completely ruined but I am making small payments every month,
This company should be put completely out of business. Oh yes They turned my account over to another company in another stat and I called the better business bureau in both states and filed a complaint, I got about $3000.00 of my money back but not all. I have my bank statement where the withdraws were made and somewhere the documents of emails that were sent but there is to many to email you.
Mary Donna Davis
43470 State Route 124
Racine, Ohio 45771
[protected]
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
they set me up with a payment plan and when the draft came it was 40 dollars more then what it was suppose to be. paid for 1 yr and out of that yr they paid one bill of 1, 500. when month after month they took about 800. after they hook line and sinker you in, you might as well be talking to a wall. called 6 times when being served court papers for a acct they said they would take care of. and got 6 different stories / lies. now facing bankruptcy which would of been a better option to begin with. do the math 9000+ and only 1 acct paid! I would never let anyone i know use this company! RIP OFF! RIP OFF! RIP OFF!
strongly agree.
very disappointed, very misleading.big mistake. i wish i did not join this
freedom debt relief. they levy my money in the bank . garnish my wages. i'm in the hole right now. don't know what to do. and no sympathy from them. after they took my money every month in the bank.
ripoff artists
This company told us we would be debt free in 1.5 years. We kept paying and paying and all of our money appeared to be going to fees, instead of a certain percentage.
My largest debt was in the neighborhood of 32k and I ended up having to take that debt out of the program because I settled with the creditor independently.
Toward the end we checked our escrow balance and it reported in the negative, even though, by our estimation it should have been several thousand dollars.
We called them on it and had to push and push for weeks to point out their clerical mistake and finally discovered they did indeed have several thousand of our money in escrow.
At that time we told them we wanted to cancel out of the program... Just cut our losses, and asked for our escrow money back and they forced us to sign a non-disclosure agreement saying they could sue us if we ever spoke negatively about them.
Since then vie consulted a lawyer who indicated that the NDA was not a legal agreement and wouldn't hold up in court.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
This company is just like all other s that promise to really help you. The compassionate "hook" to get you in is unreal. What lies!
All of our accounts have gone so far up because of late fees and additional interest. We are being sued by five now and they say they can't help us with any of those anymore. So what is their point except for the fact that they are getting rich from all the monies they collected from us and we got nothing.
I want to start a class action suit against them but need help finding out
how to go about it. My thoughts to everyone scammed by them
Fed up in San Mateo
amount of $ collected for services, fees, etc...
PLEASE BE VERY AWARE! Freedom Debt Relief collects a pre determined amount of $$$ from you each month. After you submit all your credit card bills, medical bills etc... However, they will take more from your monthly amount each month and apply that to the fees portion that is collected. The remaining amount will go into the account that they will be "paying" your creditor's from. You will see two accounts with funds available. Which none of your creditor's will be contacted UNTIL they have collected a few thousand dollars from you. Things definitely become more complicated for you if you have an eager creditor, for example Target, that will come at you HARD. With an attorney and take you to court for judgement. Freedom Debt claims to have a "Legal" department, you can contact them, provide the info. send the faxes and truly, nothing is done for you. If you allow this to go to far and think FDR is helping you, you will quickly find a Judgement has been made against you and could possibly have your bank account drafted or even your payroll check. Things will become messy very QUICKLY! If you find ALL of this stressful, just please try to realize, if you are working with FDR, your credit is probably already suffering. The forms they give you to tell your creditor's to begin sending your monthly statements to instead of you, will show up on your credit report as a "NEW" address for you. So think about this, no one is contacted to be "settled" with until they have collected funds from you around 6-9 months later, possibly longer. Each person is different, your debt amount, your monthly income, and your monthly bills all calculate into this. All info. you must provide, in order to be approved for the program. After months of working with FDR, not one creditor was contacted. I had paid just over $2, 000 to them. A little more than half was for their fees, which they will NOT return to you if you exit the program once you start. I finally made the ultimate decision that I never wanted to face in the first place. I had to file bankruptcy. I only received about $950 back from them, and that was after they applied a $10 check fee. $10 to print a check on a piece of paper, and a maintence fee! UGH! The frustration. Please be aware again, I can not emphasize enough, that you will pay for months, monies will be collected. The accounts will be "SETTLED" instead of "PAID IN FULL" which will still affect your credit score. The money returned to me was used solely to file bankruptcy. Which in our state of OHIO can cost you anywhere from $900 and up these days! Depends on your lawyer and depends on how much of the foot work you do for your lawyer, which will help keep cost down to. Just beware! To this day I still hope that these people will be sued for this and I will receive the remainder of my $$. Just wishful thinking I suppose. Just another company out there getting wealthy off good, honest everyday folks!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I appreciate all the warnings. I almost considered this! My credit is still very good, but I wanted to consolidate my payments and lower some of my interest rates on my credit cards. I almost made a fatal mistake. My advice...go to the Federal Trade Commission website and view all the information. Although it may seem easier to allow someone else to manage your debt and deal with your credit card companies, you can do it yourself! I have done this...and I won't lie, it was a nightmare. Credit card companies REALLY do not want to deal with you, ESPECIALLY when you are a consumer in GOOD STANDING. They want your money...and they want you to continue to pay their ridiculous interest rates. They know you will because you have been! Credit is incredibily important. Don't trust your's to a stranger. It may be time consuming and frustrating, but in the end, dealing with your creditors ON YOUR OWN, is worth it.
How does one speak directly to one who posts Negative comments about FDR. I am considering using them. I have excellent payment history on 80, 000 Credit card Debt. I service the debt on a 3 yr payment basis-Never A minimum payment, but have been slammed in the Stock Market! Have Mid 6 Figure Income and have been seriously Disabled for 15 yrs. On fixed income and w/ Stock Market collapse for me. I look to FDR, but want to speak to as many Valid "Complaints" as possible. Any takers. My email parkieguard-gotcha@yahoo.com
Sincerely,
Jay, NYC same address for 40 yrs.
parkieguard-gotcha@yahoo.com
fdr is a scam
I was a member of the program for 6 months and paid in exess of $6000 total while in the program. They settled one account after about 3 months for $2600. The balance in my account was $600 when I cancelled the program. Freedom Debt Relief FDR charged me $400 + as a service fee for the cancellation. Global Client Solutions (GCS) claimed that remaining $200 was sent to me. I never received the check.
FDR, GCS, and Rocky Mountain Bank & Trust are big time SCAMMERS. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I would say they are scammers. I've been in the program since April 2010. They haven't settled a single thing for us but we've been sent to collections because they told us to quit paying our bills, after I had told them we'd never missed a payment and Aurthor Otega told me we were perfect clients. We've now been sent to collections on 3 out of 4 credit card companies. We contacted my lawyer of whom originally looked over the contract, he states that they have set us up to fail. So he contacts them telling them we are terminating our contract with them due to the fact that they were never going to help us get out of our debt. Today 5 days later I receive an email from FDR stating they are terminating the contract because WE HAVE FAILED TO MAKE PAYMENTS! We have never missed a payment to them. So they have trashed my credit, lied to me, and now they are saying I failed to make payments to them so they can keep all my fees. I'm just so glad we have a good lawyer holding our hands through this.
money paid out
I had been working with Freedom Debt relief since April of 2008.
I had paid them over 3500.00 dollars to settle a debt with a credit
card company. With just 3-4 months of having this card paid off
I was laid off and unable to make needed payments. When I asked
how it would work once I started working again they said that I
would have to start over again. They said that it was too bad and
never contacted me back about the refund.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I have a total loan of $28, 240 I already have put in $20, 000 into Freedomdebt relief account I have a total of 4 credit cards. I want to cancel this program what should I did get 2 1099c from 2of the credit card that was settle by me thru taxes around a total of$22, 000 added to my income so I loss a whole bunch of refund due to this and I payed the price, because they kept telling me it was settle but was not. How and will I get some type of refund? I can settle this on my own, they make you believe that they are taking care of you, but miss the first draft they are all over you! Should I seek a lawyer to recoup some of my losses or talk with FDR and ask to cancel and get back some money since they got paid not doing anything ? Please advise.
freedom debt relief is not a good company I went to them with a $16.ooo 00 that was a judgement and at the end of the program I was in a $22.000.oo only about $8.000.00
was paid and i was told i have to pay another 200.00 amonth which i cannot pay so after 2 months of paying Iwas send a notice that i now owed 13.000 what can i do now to solve the problem
negligence to handle a debt collection accounts
We had this company (Freedom Debt Relief) as a representative company to settle our credit cards, loans etc into a monthly payment
They been collecting $215.00/month for quite some time already, Until
now few work had been done.Today when i called their legal department
to find out what happened with our wells fargo account and citi financial
they could not give me a straight answer at all.called this 2 debt collector
agencies represented now by a law firm, settle with them a decent payment .In other words, did what they could not done throughout this
years. Freedom debt relief don't have a good representation, they are the
worse negotiators and to be in a worse situation, customer like us end up
with a negative in the credit.
I know steve that you need your job and you are not speaking with your heart, you are getting paid to speak that way. We were able to negotiate with one of the accounts ourselves.Your incompetence make you the worst in business around the state. Don't lie
to the public specially now that this recession is killing every body .If you have family and
job, good for you;because we are hurting, struggling to pay our bills, survive this recession and what we find around is incompetence.
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
Storm 1605.
If that was to a rebuttal to stressed out girl, it was outrageous. It was defensive, childish and extemely egocentric. It certainly violates what you say about your company, i.e. to point fingers at the very people you depend on for your "service".
For the people enrolled in the program, did you ever have to come up with additional funds to settle an account on top of what you already pay them? What I mean by that is, after the account is settle and FDR pays it for you for 3 months, you had to pay the remaining out of your "own pocket" on top of what you pay to them to satisfy the settlement you made. That's what was expected of me.
Storm 1605
Speaking from someone that has been enrolled in the program for 2 years I find that the people who complain do not read the terms and agreements of there contract or only hear what you want to hear..Considering what you were paying into the program monthly was that what you were paying each other credit card seperatley? what do you think 215.00 was going to do?
Did you consider adding more funds to speed up your negotiations or making sure that your negaotiator was kept updated on your accounts. Considering the creditors you had enrolled in the program how delinquent were they before they were enrolled?
I had those two creditors and Chase who eneded up in legal and beacuse I worked closley with my negotiator we were able to settle the accounts in a timely manner so before you begin to point fingers and ruin the reputation of any company.
WHO PUT YOU IN DEBT IN THE FIRST PLACE? YOU... What I have found is that we as consumers are looking for the quick fix and thats how we got ourselves into this mess anyway..So instaed of pointing fingers get off your butt and fix the mess you created and don't blame someone else for your credit card abuse.
“Dear Storm1605,
My name is Steve and I work for Freedom Debt Relief at their corporate offices in San Mateo. I am sorry you feel the way you do about our company. We’ve been in this business since 2002 and have served over 60, 000 clients so far to date. We’re very proud of our organization and strive to provide the best service possible at all times. Please understand that there are two main factors which must occur before we can help our customers out of debt; 1.) Since the program is client-funded, we must wait to have the available funds saved in the special FDIC insured 3rd party bank account that we help the client establish at point of enrollment. 2.) we must ensure that the timing is right for negotiations to begin. Our average settlement rate as of the 1st quarter of 2009 was 42.5%, in other words we settle for roughly $0.42 cents on the dollar. Besides having the most professional employees in the business we also do bulk settlements with many of the creditors out there. Please give me a call, I would love to make your situation much better.
Steve K.
[protected] ext 16269
lawsuit
From: The Daily Journal
Debt company sued for misleading customers
By Michelle Durand
Many customers of Freedom Debt Relief actually incurred greater debt through late fees and collection lawsuits because the San Mateo-based financial services company purposely misled consumers to get their business, according to San Mateo County prosecutors.
The Consumer and Environmental Unit of the District Attorney’s Office joined with the California Department of Corporation to sue Freedom Debt Relief, LLC, Freedom Financial network, LLC and company owners Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh. The lawsuit filed Oct. 30 in San Mateo County Superior Court claims the defendants engaged in unlawful business practices, including making false or misleading statements to consumers via the Internet and telephone to induce them to buy debt reduction services. The suit also claims the company violated the state financial code by operating without a business license from the Department of Corporation.
The business, located at 1875 S. Grant St. in San Mateo, advertised having approximately $1 billion in debt under management throughout the United States. The company advertised being able to negotiate a 40 percent to 60 percent reduction in debt to unsecured creditors but, according to prosecutors, instead made some customers’ situations worse.
“Instead of their debts being settled or reduced, many of the defendants’ customers suffered increased debt because of late fees imposed by creditors, referral to collection agencies or collection lawsuits. Some customers ended up in bankruptcy, ” according to the suit.
Prosecutors want an injunction ordering the company to follow the law, pay restitution and pay civil penalties between $2, 500 and $10, 000 for each violation.
The company’s goal, according to its Web site, is to eliminate rather than simply lower debt. The plan for those who qualify, the site explains, is a “debt reduction program” which involves “affordable monthly savings obligations” to get consumers out of debt “in as little as 2 to 3 years.”
The founders have been profiled by numerous news organizations and were finalists for the 2006 Ernst & Young Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Consumers who believe they have been victimized should file a complaint with the District Attorney’s Consumer and Environmental Unit at [protected].
Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: [protected]@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: [protected] ext. 102.
I wasn't having trouble keeping up on my bills - I just wasn't able to pay more than the minimum payment monthly. When I spoke to a guy named Jason, be said I had to let the 3 cards fall delinquent so FDR had "leverage" or the credit card companies wouldn't work on a settlement. I was worried about my credit score because I wanted to buy a house. He assured me my score may go down a few points, but it won't affect me getting a mortgage. I worked in collections - I should have known better. Well, my credit score took a dive, and they only paid off 1 card - because they only work on one debt at a time.
I was able to set up a repay plan with Discover for pennies on the dollar - and after 6 months of current payments, they show me current on my credit report every month. The other card my mom paid a settlement for me because I wouldn't be able to get a home until my credit was fixed. Took me 2 years, but my score is high - and my report is showing serious delinquency and a charge off because this company is a joke. They also took an extra month of payments out of my checking account, that I had to fight with my bank on. Stay away from these things. Call a local counseling company - because when I did, they said I shouldn't pay to get ahead of my bills and they would have been happy to help me FOR FREE.
I was lured to use FDR to settle my debts to my creditors in December 20016. They put up a dedicated account that debits my bank for almost $2400.00 a month. Up to this date April, 2016, they have put $6, 000. 00 to their own wallet as settlement fees for just one account that they have negotiated. And guess what, they just paid my creditor $2, 000.00 ! They prioritized their own interest instead of serving the purpose! If only I knew that their original concern was fake, I would never use this company...I am backing out and I need all the help I can get... I need my $6, 000.00 back to pay my other creditors..with that amount, I could have settled one account. Please, if anyone can help me...reach me @ craymon27@sbcglobal.net.
I also was duped I had 50k in debt they told me they would save me money. In a year I paid them off 49k in fees. I could of just paid off my creditors with no effect in my credit. Now I have to claim the settlements on my taxes so I'm going to lose money. They knew I was going to be selling my house but still told me that their services were right for me. Worse decision ever going with them. Is there anything we can do?
This company is a complete scam. I wish I would of know and I sure would of saved myself a lot of headaches. They pray on innocent people that put their trust to get out of financial debt. They should refund all the money charged all this people for their crap of what they call service. I hope they get what they deserve.
The Fishman Company . They are nothing but a money grab that prays on people in debt. Bankruptcy is not a bad thing, it is the only way to help you out and give you your life back.I lost over 5, 000.00 to the fishman company. I will never see that money again. Another important point of interest. Any money that you settle for with this company, the forgiveness amount, you will get a 1099 form from the IRS
we have been with FDR for almost 2 years they have taken close to $12, 000 from us. and has paid off one dept of $1, 800. we are now being sued by a company so we called FDR and they said they can't help us with this company. even tho we listed them 2 years ago with them. now that they are suing us we are on our own. can we get any money back that we have paid FDR if we Quit them? this is a mess and I'm so sick about this. Shirley
I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and want to make sure I am included in the lawsuit. My life is ruined. As a retiree, I cannot pay the extra money they want.
In May, 2007 I began paying FDR a contracted $316 a month for 33 months via direct deduction from my banking account. I am now entering my 47th month and, according to my calculations, I will pay through month 60, paying more than I originally owed. Except for the first creditor, action was taken after I was served a ‘writ of summons’ to court by 3 of my 6 creditors.
I have paid $316 every month, although sometimes I was instructed to send part of it to the lawyers representing the credit card company and the rest to FDR.
Amazingly, FDR views my current payment of $225 to the lawyers representing my creditor and $ 91 to FDR as a lowered payment of $91 (thus not honoring my original contract) and $225 as their successful debt reduction.
I have called and complained to FDR at least four times.
I think I was duped into choosing FDR.
I have been in the program with FDR since 2008. The first year I paid nothing but fees. FDR negotiated one credit card. The next one was not taken care of because the negotiator didn't have a clue what was going on and I had to settle in court and make phone calls with the creditor myself. The next two were turned over to a law firm and by that time they would not deal with FDR so I also took those over and am settling with them myself by paying 100%. They have settled on two other credit cards but only at 80% and 84% or something like that. Being in the program has been a joke. When I was having problems with the legal department and nobody negotiating for me I finally contacted somebody in administration and it was then followed up on. I have by far done more leg work on these accounts then FDR has. Like one of the other complaints, the only time I heard anything from FDR was in the beginning when I was making my payments and they were getting their fees. I paid over $6, 000 to them for fees and whatever else they called it. FDR is a scam and when it is all said and done I hope the lawsuit against them is successful.
I contracted over ayear ago for FDR to settle my closed credit accounts over a year ago. On this date March 03 20011 no debt has been settled. I have paid FDR over $5, 000.00 and recieved nothing in return. On March 3 2011, I recieved a phone call from a debt collector informing me that FDR had sent Bank of America a check with my name on it for $2, 000.00 which had bounce. FDR did, at no time inform me that they had negotiated with Bank of America on this deal. They had no right to do this without informing first and asking me if I approved or worst put my name on that check that I had not authorized. I closed the account and recieved a check for $380.00. for my trouble. At no time had a representative of FDR called me or emailed me on what the status was on my acount. As a point of interest...My dear wife and I enjoyed a triple "A" credit rating
for over 50 years. Not any more...
whiplash1849@att.net
Frank C. Lombardo
3355 SW 159th Avenue
Ocala, Florida [protected]
[protected]
Anything that seems too good to be true, probably is!
My husband wants to use a program like this, in fact we just saw it on TV so I told him, "Wait, let me see what they say about FDR on the internet first" and here I am reading all these comments to him. Needless to say, we have decided not to go with FDR. I just realized I live about 10 minutes from their headquarters...I think I'll take a drive down and see what it looks like in person. They are always hiring for telemarketer jobs around here...maybe it's for FDR lol
For those who think that this is propaganda from competitors IT'S NOT! I am an average person who was starting to struggle to pay my bills and put food on the table for my family. I reached out to see if there was anything that could be done for my family. Aurthur Ortega from FDR called me with a quote. Telling me that for $244 a month my husband and I will be debt free in 3 years. I told him we were still making payments and had excellent credit. "Oh good, you are an excellent client for us then. Once the credit score goes down we can't do anything for them." 3 months later I call because they have pulled funds but nothing was happening. They then asked if I was still making payments to the credit card companies. I said yes of course. "Oh well if you are making payments we can't help you. You can terminate but we will keep your fees. After talking with my husband we decided to follow their advice and we quit making our payments. It has been a year. They have taken $1780 from us but only $629.00 is in our account to settle with. There is no way we would become debt free in 3 years. They have set us up to fail. They used what ever it took to get us in the program. Our credit went from the 700's to the 500's! I was told by Aurthur our credit would only go down a couple points. So here I am pregnant again with collecters calling me for money. FDR is a Scam and I would like any information on how to get involved in this law suit and if we qualify for it.
beware!
Oh my god! They made me believe that they were going to help me and at the end they ripped me off 12, 000 dollars, i am following the law suit a class action is mountin agaist them, even the goverment. They made my debt problem worst sank me in a hole . Justice is needed!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I enrolled in the program to help resolved my dept. The result was this company stealing $4300 from me, including $680 I had in my account when I terminated my program. This is 100% a scam and they have no interest in helping those in need. Instead it seems they make deals with debt collectors and holders.
This is Donna Williams and I have called numerous times and text many times in order to speak to someone about enrolling in a program. I have left many messages to no avail so I thought I would try this. My number is [protected]. I would love to talk to someone soon. Thank you very much.
Freedom Debt Relief is a one sided scam never gives you clear picture of the consequences once signing up like your credit score will crash and other credit cards will be cancelled! Better off negotiating with creditors yourself and beware of companies like this that does not espouse fair balance. Utilizes 3rd party sales teams to sign you up and then they are not available to talk when credit card companies get wind of you joining this program and they systematically begin cancelling your credit cards. My advice is to communicate directly with creditors and avoid this SCAM company ! On a positive note, I fired them last April and my credit score is now good!
Big RIP OFF, SCAM.
They are crooks, liars, and DOES NOT HELP YOU AS A CONSUMER trying to get ahold of your debts/situation! They do not start negotiating with creditors until you are severely delinquent - which I was not delinquent at all, but they put my credit in the toilet. After 2 months of collecting money from me they had not disbursed one penny and when I called them about it they said they don't do that for a period of AT LEAST 6 months usually LONGER! WTH? You are supposed to help me not make my life worse along with make my credit look like crap. I cancelled the program last week, and they were supposed to pay me my entire amount and took over 10% for I don't know what because the ONLY thing they did for me was worsen my credit. DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY THEY ARE LIARS, they should be investigated, and put of business for fraud.
I had to call Crossroads at [protected], ext. 0 to get some of the money back as they are the escrow company that holds the money you pay to FDR, and then was told for the remaining balance to call Litigation Law Group at [protected] which does not think they should refund the money - waiting to talk to a supervisor about this.
I am currently with FDR and have been for 3-1/2 years. We were $25, 000 in debt when my husband was laid off and we did not want to file BK so we chose this route. I have all but two credit cards resolved, one which was for $1, 700.00 was settled for approximately $800.00 a few months ago and FDR is currently making payments to the creditor. The other one is $500.00 and hasn't been settled yet. My only complaint is that I noticed they took months to resolve the last two accounts and by doing that, my 3-year plan is turning into a 5-year plan. Now, they are showing that I won't be done with the plan until December 2018 and that's not even including the $500.00 account. I have more than enough money in my FDR escrow account to pay off both of these debts, but when I called them, they said that have to do the payment plans with the creditors because that's what they require. So now they are paying the $800.00 account $40.00/month and taking $100.00 month from me, when, as I said before, I have $2, 200.00 in the account already. We are supposed to receive a refund of any monies still in the account, but I'm not sure I trust waiting until 2018 to find out. I'm looking into cancelling, but I want to find out what the repercussions are.
BUYER BEWARE! Have you taken the time to really calculate what they are charging you to "save" money on your debt? It is a SCAM! First they pay themselves 25 % of the total debt you send them, THEN there are phone payment fees, check payment fees, ACH payment fees, settlement fees, etc. etc. etc and if you let them spread the payments out over 30 months all those fees end up multiplying so in essence what they REALLY are doing is negotiating your debt down between 40%-50% off of the original but when you add up their fees you are actually paying MORE than you were initially in debt for. Once I demanded they stop trying to negotiate on our debt and we called the creditors directly we were surprised to find they were willing to negotiate with us directly. We had several debts cut down by 40% with just a simple phone call and did not have to pay a dime extra to get it done. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM !
I'm in the program right now and am opting for the credit loan which fronts the cash to pay off all the negotiated debt sooner at which point i'd pay the load off. The amount i pay is reasonable but the downside is the loan is 4.5 years with the stipulation that it could be less or more depending on the negotiated settlement of each creditors debt.
This is worst, crap, and ripe off of the highest other. I paid $900 Monthly for FDR, thinking that they will help me out. After about 2yrs, I noticed they make profit of about $7000 from me . They won't tell you the various hiding fees before you start. They will just have you sign. They charged 21% on each of the credit card you enrolled. Monthly fees, payment fees, and others. Government should ban this organization. Its a big scam, BEWARE...DON'T COME NEAR FDR. Talk with the bank and negotiate your self. I realized today 10/3/16 that i was duped by this crazy organization.
I would go with another company if I was you. I am not sure what kind of an outfit this is. Told me I was done paying, actually stop withdraws for 3 months, out of the blue started collecting again, saying I still owe money? what kind of a place does this. All they can say is "sorry" they must be the most apologetic company around. Do your self a favor and go with another company. I will have succeeded if you go with someone else.
I am sure you can always call your bank and stop payments by way of letting your bank know that you no longer authorize the payments beyond the contracted time allotted for payment.
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Freedom Debt Relief emailssupport@freedomdebtrelief.com100%Confidence score: 100%Supportdmoreno@freedomdebtrelief.com94%Confidence score: 94%Attorney Generalinfo@freedomdebtrelief.com90%Confidence score: 90%Supportkjain@freedomdebtrelief.com84%Confidence score: 84%Supportpr@freedomdebtrelief.com79%Confidence score: 79%communicationpartners@freedomdebtrelief.com76%Confidence score: 76%Communication
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Freedom Debt Relief address1875 S Grant St., Suite 400, San Mateo, California, 94402-2676, United States
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I am in the same boat as you are ! I sent formal complaints to the BBB, consumer affairs and am hoping to somehow get some of their "fees and services" refunded! Utterly disgusting! I left program 3 weeks ago and was waiting for the refund - my refund from my escrow that was coming in 3-5 days, they kept it - I fought it - but they kept it ! They are low life !