Global Client Solutions review: failure to respond 102

I know exactly what you mean. they are not my debt consolidation company, but they are the companywho are used for the money.
they do not respond to calls, and when you are lucky enough to get someone on the phone, they don't help much. My debt consolidation company, J Hass Group sucks so bad, that I have tried calling Global myself. what a joke! i am going to go on every available site and spread the news that these people are not doing their jobs!

Global Client Solutions is a processing Company and it is not them who should be complained about. If your whopper is bad do you complain to the trucking company who delivers the supplies to Burger King? This is a Debt settlement company problem and thus GCS should not be slammed for a situation between you and them. Also, the original post makes GCS out to be THE debt settlement company, they are not. GCS just processes the payments, the debt settlement company and you the consumer have a contract and that is what needs to be addressed. This complaint is not valid or credible.

My name is Jeannie Pasley.I to have an account with GCS and tried to get in touch with them by phone and by e-mail .They started taking money out in Oct. 250 a month thats 1250 thats enough to pay off one card. Please someone her me and e-mail me back Pasley4boys@aol.com Thank you .God Bless .Jeannie Pasley. They told me as soon as there was money in there they would pay one at a time.

PS. Mark Ruff from freedom dedt relief said this would be settled in about 13 months. I just want to know what is going on.

I too, have had an account with Global Client Solutions through a company called CY Debt. It seems odd that all these seedy Credit Relief companies all seem to use GCS and Rocky Mountain Bank.

A year ago I inherited some money and was relieved to finally have a chance to settle my debt. I was told that it would be fast now that I had some funds. They settled two accounts in the first 2 months and then settled no more. I did not hear from them, e-mails went unanswered.

I finally contacted Global Client Solutions only to discover that there was a considerable amount of money in my account (thousands) but no more settlements.

This was right after Christmas 2oo8, I had signed up with CY Debt that March...9 months had passed and no settlements! And the Money was there and they were taking their fee every month.

Finally, I decided to close my account with Global Client Solutions.
They were cooperative and efficient. I would try to contact Melissa Taber through e-mail, if I were you. And you must be vigilant and be prepared to write every day if need be.

I am, of course, entirely disgusted with the Debt Relief Industry, I believe they are by and large Hucksters making money off of people weighed down by debt and in great need of help. And why Global Client Solutions seems to be involved as a sort of holding place for these accounts for so many different companies...well, that bewilders me.
And I remain in Debt. Jean

Global Client Solutions isn't a debt settlement company. It's a payment processing company. You need to contact your debt settlement company. If you can't contact your debt settlement company, then you need to drop that company and find a legit debt settlement company. As in any industry, there are bad actors. You can buy a car from a shady car dealer. You can hire a shady contractor and have poor construction. Welcome to the world.

I too have been "taken" by GCS and their partners in crime, Angel credit solutions. We have paid them $1600 & not 0ne of my creditors were ever notified.They take pymnts.every month for "service fees" but no service..STAY AWAY!

Thank you to all that have posted here, I knew there was a scheister scheme going on. I too have been debited $638.00 every month for a year and Apex is the agent supposed to be paying my creditors. I have enough to pay off 2 creditors out of the 4 and none have been paid yet Apex out of California keeps taking $187.00every month out of my deposits to Rocky Mountain/ Global Client Solustions and they are getting $8.75 per month for themselves. I have called for a month now and told them to pay off 2 of my creditors and they say the creditors are not responding to them. What a crock! I bet if I called they would answer. They are stalling to get more money, mo' money! Multiply all these posts here by the fees, nice chunk of change. I received notice last week that one of my creditors is filing a judgement against me to garnish my wages, so I had to seek legal council and they advised me to cancel all banking with this Apex and Rocky Mountain bank immediately. The almost $200.00 they took from me for 12 months = almost $2400.00 that could have paid another bill. I say, class action lawsuit is in order here. File a complaint with your local state Attny's office and post everywhere to warn others. Like the previous posts, Rocky Mountain is the middle man, go after the scheister's that initiated this mess, then sue the accessory to the crime storing our money like chipmunks with acorns.

Get your money out of the bank first immediately then file charges against your debt company using the money they hoarded from us.

I have the same issue, has anyone filled a law suit against global client solutions? Please let me know ASAP!

Thank you, angelware87@yahoo.com

I agree with all these people I too was taken for 2, 020 by the contract Freedom Debt relief Stored -Value Deposit money with Rocky mt but Global Client Solutions . I have a letter from Freedom DR tell me acct. number write Global Client and Rocky will sendme my money. But the mail get returned.

write me 8rosehips@gmail.com

Global Client Solutions is only the payment processing center - don't give them the bad rap! If you are having problems, it's because of the debt settlement company you are using, and it may just be a misunderstanding about what they are doing and why. As far as holding funds you submit, this is necessary. Read your contract agreement carefully and see what is spelled out. Usually, funds are held for 3 months or more so that there is more leverage when negotiating with creditors.

look apryl! Dont try that now! its just a "misunderstanding" that all these people have the same problem, with the same company?... ok! you must work for somebody! and further more there must be a problem with this fredom debt relief company... i dont care. if its more than two people that have a problem like this, its not a "misunderstanding", people! There not working at mcdonald's and they got your order wrong, this is your life and well being people! so im sorry. fyi im only 20 years old. you can write me @ brice.williams@yahoo.com. And i thank you all for helping me here today! just got off the phone with tony from (freedom debt relief) and let him know what going on! said hell no...

It just amazes me that people will sign on the dotted line without reading the contract and paperwork to find out exactly what in the hell they are getting into. I guess it makes sense though, about 1/2 of the people in this type of trouble got there from being irresponsible. They believe that Debt Settlement is this fabulous magic pill and that once they hire a company their efforts stop. I bet they also believe in the tooth fairy.
Debt Settlement is like church. You are going to get out of it what you put into it. These companies are here to work for you. However they are not mind readers YOU have to participate in order for you to be successful. Iit is very naive to believe what your creditors are telling you. Credit Card companies are the guys that have changed the rules of the game on you. Did you agree when you got that credit card to pay 25% interest? They will do anything to get you to send them money. They have a call center full of people making minimum wage trying to make their quota for the day.
FYI: the negotiation process is done is a separate location than the collection department. When you talk to the customer service department of your credit card company they have no idea what communication is going on behind the scenes because the settlement company is negotiating bulk settlements with the settlement department. Come on guys use a little common sense here.
If you are having trouble with your settlement company then call them and go up the food chain. Get someone in upper management to give you an update. Reputable settlement companies will post all of your account information on the internet. All you have to do is go online. The best ones will contact you at least once a month to give you information. This is a huge waste of time if you as the customer ignore the phone calls and never send in your statements or letter that you have received to keep the company YOU hired in the know. These type of programs do work for those who participate. It took you a while to get in this debt and it is going to take a while to get out of it. We as American have this I want it now mentality which does not work in this situation. Also you don't have to use companies that put your funds in trust. There are settlement companies out there that allow YOU to save and keep up with your own funds. The main problem there is that most of us would rather go shopping than save so when the offers come in the funds that we are supposed to have saved we blew at the mall! Guys we have to make a change here! Good luck!

My husband and I signed up with Freedom debt relief back in October 2008, it really sucks needless to say we got swindled out of exactly $9, 130 . We still receive phone calls every day from our creditors and they say they have never got a phone call or mail or anything from this company. After all of these months we started checking out stuff on our own and found out from a Lawyer that this is all a big scam .So know what do we do, They tell us to contact the Federal trade commition and the Better Bussiness Burea and file a complaint, So we have, now we want all of money back now. We went on global Client Solutions website and got on our account and started looking at it and was copying everything we could and then all of a sudden the website starting blocking us us .It was saying the company was blocking us from our account information. So what does that tell us ? We did get at least part of the info we needed . Also earlier today we got a email from freedom debt relief saying they understand we wanted to close our account and they would send us a check within 21 days of the balance. It almost makes you want to cry . It says we have $444.84 left in our account, What happen to the other $8, 000 and something ? Please what ever you do dont go with any debt company we have learned a very valuble lesson you can do exactly what they do and its a heck alot cheaper . All you do is contact your own credit card companys and explain your situation and 90% of the time they will work with you. Save yourself alot of heartache do it yourself...K&C Hetrick

HELLO, YOU GUYS WERE NOT MISGUIDED MAN I HAD A GOOD AGENT THAT EXPLAINED IT IN GREAT DETAIL TO ME... OH I FEEL SO SAD YOU THINK THEY WERE SCAMS IF I CAN EXPLAIN IN DETAIL FOR YOU...

HOW IT WORKS IS YOU PAY A MONTHLY PAYMENT WHICH GOES IN TO THE SECURED ACCOUNT THEY DONT CONTACT YOUR CREDITORS BECAUSE WHAT IF THEY WANT TO SETTLE FOR HALF RIGHT THEM AND THERE YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO PAY THEM OFF... SO WANTS YOUR SECURED BANK ACCOUNT ACCUMLATES FUNDS YOUR CREDITOR WILL BE CONTACTED THEN THE MONEY WILL BE TAKEN OUT OF YOU SECURED ACCOUNT. YOU SHOULD SEE AN ACCOUNT STATRT TO SETTLE ANY WHERE FROM THE 6-9 MONTH OF BEING IN THE PROGRAM...

I HOPED THAT HELPED! SO RRY YOU GUYS WERE MISS GUIDED.. I WORK FOR A DEBT CO. THAT IS HOW COME I KNOW. GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING :)

Bubblegum is right, the original complaint is all wrong. I am in debt settlement, and very happy with it.My first CC was settled after 9 months, although it was a smaller one, they settled for the amount that was available in my account. Global client solutions is only the bank that holds your money you are saving for fees and settlements. You are shooting the messenger if you are complaining about them! I signed up with Consumer Debt Counselor Group, [protected], speak to Karen, she will tell you all the pros and cons. I still call her when I have a question) who enrolled me in to the program that is handled by the J Hass Group. they are very informative, gave me all the negatives up front, aand told me it would be a rocky road in the beginning. J Hass sends me newsletters, calls me and I generally have no problems with them. I researched them before I signed up, and most of the complaints are people who do not understand the process. Sometimes I can't talk to someone right away, but they have 30, 000 customers! They settle your debt when you have enough money in your account, and of course they take fees, who works for free? But you still end up saving 50% off of what you originally owed, not to mention all that interest that would be piling up every month! They are helping a lot of people, I referred 3 people already and they are happy also. By the way, the credit card companies lie, telling you they do not deal with DS co's, and saying they never heard from them! that is their job, to get 50 bucks out of you on the phone if they can! PS I am in a 4 yr program, and the first year took a huge load off my mindcutting my original payments from about 1200.00 a month down to about 430.00 . The J Hass Group is great!

I just completed the program with Freedom Debt Relief. It took me 2 1/2 years. Global CLient Solutions and Freedom Debt Relief have always answered my calls without any problems. There were times that they were not as helpful as they could be...Freedom Debt Relief that is...but Global CLient Solutions never caused any problems, they were always helpful the 2 or 3 times I called them about pending transactions. I have a feeling that the problems here on this board lie with the companies that people selected to settle their debts. Freedom Debt Relief is one of maybe 3 that is legit and rated by the BBB. I did research before I selected them, and even then I got lucky to pick the most reputable on. They are not perfect, but they are definately not a scam, as they did everything they told me they were going to do.

Hello everyone. I'm very sorry to hear all of your complants towards a company that has nothing to do with your issues. The settlement company OR yourselves are the ones to be blamed. Either the agent at the company didn't fully explain how thje program and process are going to go in detail or you didn't read your own paperwork...which I wouldn't understand at all. If you have any questions or concerns with your current company and need someone to properly explain and truely hHELP you with what ever your situation is then please call me. Mike @ First Rate Debt Solutions. Another thing if this bank is such a bad company and so forth then my company wouldn't have a A- with the BBB...just FYI

HYYJYUY

NOW LETS GET THIS RIGHT... NOW YOUR TELLING ME THAT ALL THESE PEOPLE THAT ARE MAKEING THESE COMPLAINTS ARE LIEING?
BECAUSE YOU OR THEM WRIGHT SOMETHING DOWN ON A PACE OF PAPER?

AND FURTHER MORE THE B.B.B. GUESS WHAT? THATS A COMPANY TOO. YOU DONT THINK THEY CAN GET PAYED OFF TOO? JUST LIKE THAT [redacted] COMPANY... THESE COMPANYS GET LAW SUITS ALL THE TIME. JUST REGULAR PEOPLE DONT GET TO HEAR ABOUT IT!

ALL THAT HAPPENS IS THEY HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY IT OFF. AND IF IT GETS TO BAD FOR THE COMPANY THEY GET TO CHANGE THERE NAME AND YOU AND I WILL NEVER KNOW THE DIFFERANTS>> THATS SOMETHING HUH JUST THAT EZ. BUT CANT BLAME ANYBODY RIGHT? ITS A BUSSNESS DECISION

DONT COMPLAIN THOUGH! MAKE YOUR OWN BUSSNESS DECISION AND JUST DONT PAY YOUR CREDIT CARDS AND SEE HOW SCARED THEY GET... TRUST ME THERE MORE SCARED OF YOU MORE THEN YOU ARE OF THEM! ITS FUNNY. THERE IS IN EVERY STATE AN STATUE OF LIMITATION! WHICH MEAN YOUR PROTECTED. 10 YEARS IS THE MOST AND THATS IN ROAD ISLAND. AND THE LEAST IS 3 YEARS. SO CHECK YOURS OUT? AND DONT STRESS BECAUSE BELEVE IT OR NOT THERE NOT!

I recently completed a program with PDL, and it does take considerable time. What has been posted is true: you have to accumulate enough funds in your account before they will start negotiating with your creditors. They want to wait long enough so that your original creditor will sell your debt to a collection agency, then they have bargaining power and can settle your debt for less money. It's up to YOU to ask alot of questions, which I had to do in order to understand the process because they are not that forthcoming with voluntary information about how they administer their programs. I made many calls and asked many questions so that I would have a thorough understanding. They were always helpful when I asked the right questions. As far as GCS, they are only the bank that holds your funds. It's true they take their fees for processing your money each month as well as the credit consolidation company, but what bank doesn't. I had money left over in my account with GCS and asked them to close my account and refund the remaining balance. The only bad thing is it takes them 10 days to process and they are supposed to be mailing me a check. I hope this is true.

I have been enrolled w/J. Hass since October 2008. I was inferred to not make any more payments so that the cc would start negotiating. In the meantime, I have been sued 3 times out of my five accounts. It hasn't even been a year yet. I kept up with all my papers and summons and faxed them to J. Hass. The final summons wants to settle at 80%. This is not 80% of the intial balance I hired this company to negotiate, it's of the new bal w/ fees and interest. So, it is still costing me hundreds more. Not to mention the reg. fees for being a client. However, they have always been good about returning my calls. I can also always get someone to speak with whenever I call. So, I am still undecided. I just know I'm not happy paying for something I was promised and still paying...

I too have been in the program since Oct. 2008. Happy w J. Hass. Not happy w/negotiations. 3 out of 5 accounts have already sued me and it hasn't even been a year yet!

Praise The Lord 8-)

I was scammed once by a debt settlement company however I was able to retrieve most of my money. With GCS I read the contract and I was sent a breakdown of my payments however I was told that their fee was taken out from the back end only to realize that the fees are being taken out in the beginning. I'm going to ride this storm out because I was scammed once and I truly believe the "you'll reap what you sow" and if you sow a bad seed, you will reap a bad seed! So GCS I'm staying in the program and if you're sowing bad seeds, you'll reap it in the long run. Again we all are using this company for the same reason, of over extending our credit whether it was for our wants or needs! "FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL"
Have A Blessed Day. 8-)

Ciao,
Luigi

Scarey - Could you tell me how much in fees GCS took out for their bank fees, not the fees with the debt settlement company? I've been thinking about debt settlement and the company I was looking at uses GCS. I saw Ingrid say GCS took $8.75 a month. But my company has a $9.50 fee for Global and I saw a lawsuit in New Jersey where it said that GCS took $15 a month. I want to understand all the fees as good as possible before I make my decision and I'm worried there are hidden fees that their not tellin gme about.

I've been with J Hass since May and I have had good customer service not a thing to complain about. This morning I decided to check them out again on the BBB website. To my surprise their rating has gone down quickly to an F. BBB form says 2 serious complaints. I am waiting until 9am Arizona time to contact the Arizona BBB @ [protected] to get answers. Then I am contacting J Hass. This is very unsettling to me because I have paid them quite a chunk but not enough to do a settlement yet. I can't just walk away and I am sure they will not refund my money without a fight.

I agree with everyone I was blinded in my own problems. Then someone called to give me a magic pill that will make it all go away. My problems did not go away it only get worse. Rocky Mountain Bank & Trust hold my money and Clear Your Dept stole my money. They didn't clear any dept with my creditor but took they fee which was all my money. People they are the agents of the devil they are no good in there motive. Your problems won't go away until you take the responsibility and solve them your self. The client solutions, clear your dept agency there all evil they cannot help. The only help you will receive is to dig your own grave to bury you. The problems only become bigger because you ignored it all. Think people, you save more money with the money you give to these agencies for help, you can do the job for your self. If you can't communicate well find someone you can discuss your problem on your behave and settle with your creditors for yourself. These banks, credit solution agencies are all out to make money. The service fees can pay off a credit card company. DON'T USE THEM. THEY DON'T HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND
CLEAR YOUR DEBT IS THE WORST THEY ARE CROOKS, THEY WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY AND DESTROY YOUR VERY LIFE. STAY CLEAR AWAY FROM THEM.

I tried to cancel the automatic checking withdraws because it is causing me more grief than the credit card companies. Guess what this cost just as much money and is more stressful than enrolling in the plan. How do you stop them from taking the money out.

I have owned debt settlement companies in the past and have consulted with many of the companies in the industry over the last several years. Unlike most out there, I've been doing this for over 15 years. The biggest problem facing the industry is that many subprime loan brokers decided that this would be the "next big wave" of opportunity and believed that it's a quick way to make some money. Consumers are struggling more than ever to regain control over their finances. We have had negative savings in the Country for the past 5 years (meaning that once all disposable income has been spent, we spent even more; charging it). When the real-estate market crashed - many consumers saw the evaporation of the equity in their homes. At that time, credit card companies began lowering available lines of credit, bringing the consumer to really a "maxed out" status. What has further made this difficult situation even worse is that the credit card companies are not lowering interest rates they are increasing them. They are not asking for minimum payments they are now asking for more. In normal times I would commend this move. Minimum payments are only good for the banks, not the consumer. But to do it in a time such as these, only shows their greed. Get as much money as you can. Earn as much money as you can. Forget about them borrowing at just about 0%. They should be passing that break from the American Tax Payer back on to their customers (the American Tax Payer). If they really cared, they would be stopping or reducing all interest and creating a reasonable work out with consumers who are in financial trouble. Some have, but that is not the norm.

When you are faced with a situation that when you take all the money you earn each month and it goes out the door to servicing your debts, leaving you no emergency fund or any type of savings for your future or even reducing your debts overall (about 96% of your minimum payments go toward interest not principal) and you now have no equity in your home; that's a serious problem.

To determine a strategy to get out of the financial situation you are in requires your or (someone) to look at your overall situation. You need to determine your goals and address your concerns. You need to fully understand all of your options so you can make an informed decision.

Navigating this is difficult - most companies you speak with are interested in making money, true. That's why they are in business. However, any company that "cookie cuts" a solution isn't doing you a service, they are trying to make a sale. When you speak with a credit counseling company, they will "bash" the other types of solutions. They want to make a sale. When you talk to a debt settlement company they will "bash" the other types of solutions because they want to make a sale.

When faced with debt, you have 5 basic strategies - but before you can even determine which is best for you, you must first set up a budget. Not a 5 minute conversation over the phone with someone, you must set up a real budget. There are plenty of free sites and software out there that can help you do this. Once you know where all your money is going each month (and what you can adjust to reduce unnecessary spending) vs. what you have coming in, then you can figure out what is best for you.

1. Continue to make minimum payments - IF this is all you can afford do it smarter. In general, for every $1, 000 borrowed (at 18% interest) it takes about 6 years to pay off by making minimum payments. The best thing you can do for yourself is if the minimum payment was $25, keep paying that fixed minimum payment each month - not the requested "new minimum payment" each month. Stick to the fixed one you are making now and you will knock off at least a year in payments.

2. Debt Roll-Up - You have two options when applying this strategy. This plan is very effective, if you have additional money above the minimum payment requirements that the banks want you to pay.  Review your budget and see if there is anything you can cut out to add towards your debt payments. Once you have identified how much you can put towards your debt, you can either:

Option A - Apply the additional funds to the credit card with the highest interest rate first, and then move on down the line. or

Option B - Apply the additional funds to the credit card with the lowest balance first. Once paid off, you take that money and apply it towards the next credit card. Creating a "snowball" effect.

3. Consolidate your debt - This is where you take all of your monthly payments and consolidate them into 1 monthly payment. This usually requires you to put up some type of collateral - normally your house. You refinance - the debts are paid off and you have 1 payment to make to a lender. This is never a good idea - you are exchanging debt for debt (you are not paying it off). You are also now taking unsecured debt and making it secured (putting your home on the line). If you miss those payments, the lender can take your house. In addition, most studies will show that 80% of people that refinance to pay off credit card debt, go back out and recharge on the credit cards, putting them further in the hole.

3. Credit Counseling - Credit Counseling or DMP’s (debt management plans) as it is often called, is one way to get out of debt. Normally, a credit counseling company will negotiate a reduced interest rate on your credit cards.  On average, you can expect to pay back your entire balance at a reduced interest rate, usually between  6-12%.

Credit Counseling was actually created in 1951 by lenders (yes, the credit card companies). They founded the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) - board members were the same people in charge of the lending institutions.

At that time, they were really a lobbying arm for it’s members (banks and credit card companies) and also concentrated on consumer awareness towards financial literacy to help them avoid bankruptcy. There are now over 1, 000 active credit counseling organizations, both “for profit” and “non-profit”.

Credit Counseling was created to give a consumer a “safe haven” or a place to get some breathing space when they were over extended. A counselor will review the consumers budget and will extend offers of repayment back to their creditors (DMP’s) that fit within a reasonable fixed amount of time and interest, that both the creditor would accept and that the consumer could afford. Most creditors will reduce or forgive interest, reducing the consumers monthly payments to around 10-20% of what their original payments were. You may hear companies advertise about cutting your payments by 50% - if they are offering credit counseling, it won’t be the norm. It’s usually 10-20%.

In exchange for offering these services, credit counseling companies receive a “fair share” of the revenues collected from the consumer. Usually 4 - 15% of the debt collected. They also normally charge a consumer a set up fee - which they may call a “contribution” and a monthly fee.

THIS PROGRAM WILL HAVE AN EFFECT ON YOUR CREDIT PROFILE but it will allow you to become debt free in about 2 to 7 years, depending on your debt and your budget. 

While you are in the plan, some creditors require that you include every credit card that you owe. You will also be required not to incur any new debt while you are participating in the program.

You will save thousands of dollars in interest and will eliminate your debt much quicker than if you continued to make the minimum monthly payments directly to your creditors.  Once enrolled in the program, they will also try to have late payments and over-the-limit fees forgiven. This usually takes place once you've established a six month track record of good payments.

In order for credit counseling to work, you must have sufficient income to pay your basic bills and be able to support a payment plan.  Be sure that you do not miss a payment to the credit counseling company. You should make sure that your payment arrives in time for your funds to be disbursed to your creditors. Otherwise, you may be charged additional late fees and other charges, which could also adversely affect your credit profile.

HERE ARE THE DRAWBACKS OF CREDIT COUNSELING: you pay 100% owed, with interest and your credit report is still effected. You may have to put every credit card company into the plan. If you cancel or are dropped from the program because you did not maintain your payments, your creditors will have a right to go back and retroactively charge all the back interest (and any other fees and penalties) they were entitled to. This basically means that if they were charging you 18% interest and they reduced that interest rate down to 6%, if you quit the program 12 months later, they can go back and charge you the missed 12% in interest payments you owed them.

If the credit counseling company receives a % of the revenue that they collect as a "contribution" from the bank, how can you be sure they are getting you the best reduced interest rate possible? Why push a reduced interest rate to 3% instead of 6%? But again, knowing this will help you make an informed decision. It's still not a bad solution. You are getting a reduced interest rate and you are getting out of debt in a much shorter time but don't believe that these companies are really advocates for you, the consumer. Ask the credit counseling company how much they are making from each creditor to "service" your debt. See if you can negotiate better terms with them.

4. Debt Settlement - This strategy works best if you can not manage the FIXED payment strategy or the Roll-up. When deciding if it is better than Credit Counseling or Bankruptcy, only you can be the judge. However, there are some general “rules of engagement” that you should understand before you take on this endeavor.

Debt Settlement, in simple terms - is when you and your creditor agree to settle your debts that are owed to them, at a reduced balance. For example: You have $15, 000 in credit card debt and they agree to take a payment of $6, 000 to settle your obligation to them in full. Upon payment of the $6, 000, nothing else would be owed to them.

Debt Settlement or Debt Negotiations as it is often called can be right for you if you have a financial hardship, can't or don't want to file for bankruptcy or can't see how you will pay off all of your bills and still save for your future retirement, your kids education or if something catastrophic happens.

Maybe your situation doesn’t allow you to participate in a credit counseling program or that you just can’t see your self making payment, after payment, for the next 5 to 8 years without any real benefit to you or your future.

Debt Settlement is a very effective way to get rid of your debts, but it is also one of the most aggressive.

Before we look at applying the Debt Settlement Strategy, it’s important to understand how the credit and collection system works. At least in general. There really isn’t any creditor out there that will normally settle an obligation for less money, if there was no hardship or if all of your payments are current. It just doesn’t make sense to them. They also have rules and “big math solutions” that show them historical data when a client stops performing on their obligations (basically, what the odds of recovering their money are, as time goes by). But no one in their right mind would allow someone that was continually making all their minimum payments (which we all know the banks love) to just one day ask for a 50% discount to pay the obligation off in full. Can you imagine if the banks allowed this? Everyone would just call them up and dump their debt.

You also must understand that if a creditor is going to accept a settlement offer, you are going to have to have that money available as a lump sum. If you offered to make monthly payments on the settlement, then the creditor will say - “NO - why not just make those smaller monthly payments for now and continue to pay me each month, until you can afford to make the normal payments with us again”. There is no incentive for them to take monthly payments on a settlement.

Without getting into too much depth, in order to settle your debts, you have to have the funds available at the time the settlement offer is made or negotiated. The problem with most debt settlement companies is that they charge 10-15% of the debt under management as their "fees". These fees are usually what we call "front loaded" - meaning that the first several months in payments are going to them, not into savings. Therefor, when you get creditor calls (the original creditor does not have to stop contacting you - regardless of what anyone tells you) for several months because you are behind and you look at your savings account 8 months later - you can get discouraged and rightfully so. Now when a debt is in "collections" and no longer with the original creditor, then the FDCPA (fair debt collections practices act) can kick in to afford you some protections for creditor harassment. If you are going to do debt settlement, ask for a complete breakdown of their fees and how the truly get paid. How much money will you actually have saved up over the first 12 months if you decide to use their program.

You should fully understand how the process works once you fall behind on your payments to your creditors. You should understand about "charge off" requirements that you original lender has. How collection companies work. How debt buyers work (yes, there are companies out there that buy these bad debts from the banks for pennies on the dollar; they may purchase your account that you owed $10, 000 on for under $1, 000. You still owe the $10, 000 but once you know that they purchased the debt for $1, 000 - you have leverage and can get a better settlement. Knowledge is power.

Here is what you must know about choosing debt settlement as an option: Debt Settlement is an aggressive approach to debt reduction and is appropriate for debtors with a serious amount of debt or who are considering bankruptcy.
After the debt is settled, the creditor will send a letter stating the debt obligation was fulfilled, and will report to the credit bureaus that the debt has been “settled for less than full amount”, “paid” or “Settled”.
The IRS can consider the forgiven debt as taxable income, however, they do have form #982 available for special hardships.
That your credit-rating will be harmed while you are in the process of settling your debts; creditors will not settle on an account that remains current. Since you are not making your payments, your credit reports will get "trashed in the process". You will have lates, chargeoffs and collections being reported until the debts are settled.
You will continue to receive active phone calls from your creditors during their delinquency.
Since you are delinquent in your payments, the creditor still has a right to remedy, including suing you for the monies that are outstanding.

NOW LETS DEAL WITH THESE "SPECIAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS" - When debt settlement first started, a consumer would send a monthly payment (the amount they have to start setting aside so they can settle their debts) to a debt settlement company. They would put that money in their Trust Account. What happened was that some of these companies mixed those funds with their operating funds. Currently, their are laws that prohibit this practice. If you are going to use a debt settlement company (that is not a law firm), you can either "self save", which usually never works; or you will be set up with at Third Party Processor (hence GLOBAL CLIENT SOLUTIONS). This is actually set up for your protection. I'm no fan of Global - I think they charge excessive fees and are not very responsive when dealing with clients as the postings above indicate. But really they are in place to prevent a debt settlement company from having access to the accounts without your authorization. However, when you sign an agreement with a Debt Settlement Company that gives them permission to withdraw fees per month, out of the account, you have authorized those payments and Global really can't do anything about that. If you are having issues with stopping the ACH - you can simply open up a new bank account and don't put any more money into the one that they are attempting to ACH. You should also send out a notice of cancellation to your debt settlement company. Please be sure to read their agreements as to cancellation and refund policies, what fees are being charged and how they are being paid, before you hire any company.

Quite frankly, you do not have to use Global or any other 3 party processing to do debt settlement. The only requirement is that if a company is going to assist you in settling your debts, THEY are not allowed to handle any funds. However, by using a system with Global, it gives the debt settlement company access to view the accounts, in one convenient place. Negotiators can review all files and see which accounts can be settled under 1 general roof. It's pretty unrealistic to think that if each person set up their own savings accounts with their own banks that any outside company could network all that data together to see which client accounts actually have funds available and which ones don't, etc.

The last option someone should look at to resolving their debts is Bankruptcy. If none of the above solutions fit your situation, speak to a bankruptcy attorney.

Contrary to what you all might feel, there are people out there that provide a legitimate service and really do take your best interests to heart. You are not just a number or a way that someone can make money off of. Most of these solutions you can do yourself. Although some of you may be better off hiring a company to do it for you. You just need to understand how the process works so you can make an informed decision.

I'm not plugging my services but I am more than happy to assist anyone that are having these types of issues. Feel free to shoot me a message with questions, etc.

If anybody needs more info or regarding Credit Cards or if you're in a debt settlement program and you need help call me I will be happy to go over the program to make sure you know what you're getting into. Here is my info.

[protected]

go to this site for detailed info, i wish i had b/fore my family was swindled for over $10k ... many lawsuits have been WON against these 'credit repair' companies... http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre13.shtm
(following excerpt from the federal trade commission site link above)
If you see a credit repair offer, here’s how to tell if the company behind it is up to no good:

The company wants you to pay for credit repair services before they provide any services. Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair companies cannot require you to pay until they have completed the services they have promised.
The company doesn’t tell you your rights and what you can do for yourself for free.
The company recommends that you do not contact any of the three major national credit reporting companies directly.
The company tells you they can get rid of most or all the negative credit information in your credit report, even if that information is accurate and current.
The company suggests that you try to invent a “new” credit identity — and then, a new credit report — by applying for an Employer Identification Number to use instead of your Social Security number.
The company advises you to dispute all the information in your credit report, regardless of its accuracy or timeliness.
If you follow illegal advice and commit fraud, you may find yourself in legal hot water, too: It’s a federal crime to lie on a loan or credit application, to misrepresent your Social Security number, and to obtain an Employer Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service under false pretenses. You could be charged and prosecuted for mail or wire fraud if you use the mail, telephone, or Internet to apply for credit and provide false information.

The original complaint should not be against GCS, but against the debt settlement company. I am also in debt settlement and I paid heavy fees with not much settlement for the first year. However, that is the contract that I signed. Clear Your Debt (AKA CY Debt, Orion Processing) is working my creditors and just today settled a $39, 000 for $9100. I am in a 4-year program but will be ending it early because we decided to use savings (401K) money to finally get completely out of debt. Whatever you do, I reccomend going to daveramsey.com first. If I had known about Dave Ramsey a couple of years ago, I would not have signed up with a debt settlement company. I would have settled my own debts. It may have taken more time, but it would have been better for the overall financial picture. We will totally debt free within 3 months!

I used Global Client Solutions for my deposits to the debt relief fpeople. They took all my money for fees and I never got one card payed off. I owed 40, 000.00 in credit card debt. I called the credit card people and negotiated directly with them. They have a person that will give you over 1/2 off your bill when you tell them you are going bankrupt. I only paid 12, 000.00 of the 40, 000.00 and now I am debt free. The debt relief people took my money and global client solutions kept it and gave my money to people that it did not belong to, the debt relief people. They piled up fees after fees till all the money they took from me was gone. Never once paying on my credit cards. I say do what I did, the credit card companies will negotiate directly with you and give you 40 cents to the dollar. that is less than half what I owed. You can get them lower if you try. I just say global client solutions was a learning time in my life where I gave someone money for nothing. and i mean nothing. My name is Teresa Workman and you can reach me at mtalready2004@yahoo.com

omfg! I'm another sucker. One day GCS told me that I was able to stop 1 monthly payment to them and that was it. 2 months later I told them I was in a bad situation where I lost my job and can't send any money at this time, they said that's ok Brian, take all the time you need, we're here for you. After reading the [redacted] I went to my account activity statements and said to myself hmmm, setup fee, bank maintance fee, account maintance fee, administrator fee, which one goes to paying off my creditors? the balance jumps to the next month and gets pulled by the next fee. Let me tell you something, if I didn't believe in God or knew there wasn't a God, I would be on a killing spree. I would also go after bubblegum and reddog57 and whoever else comes here not complaining, this is the complaint department, not tell us what we did wrong. I know who you are, you are part of GCS, YOUR JUST HERE TO TRY AND EASE PEOPLE, MAY YOU ROT IN HELL FOR ETERNAL LIFE!

I signed up with Freedom Debt Relief about 7 months ago and already got sued by one of the creditors. My husband and I both faced a pay cut and reduction in hours and of course suffered financially. Up to that point, we had perfect credit, never a late payment...NOTHING. When we contacted our creditors about our situation, they turned their noses up at us and said there was nothing they could do. Because of this we turned to Freedom Debt Relief. Bad Choice! Within 4 months, we got sued. We were able to negotiate with the Debt Collection "Law Firm" but guess who did the negotiating because no "third parties" could be involved...ME. I had to do all the talking and convince the law firm not to take us to court. We made a deal and then come to find out, Freedom Debt Relief can only make up to 3 payments for you...meaning that the deal I just made with the debt collector will be coming out of my own pocket on top of what I'm paying to FDR. That just made me sick to my stomach. How were we supposed to come up with additional funds to pay this creditor and give them their money. When I took a good look at all of the setup fees and initial blah blah blah fees, it added up to over $4000 (money in their pocket that we could have used). Their monthly fee was over $600. With all of that in mind, I could have talked to the creditors myself and settled some of the accounts. Now we're in an even bigger hole so after consulting with Money Management International, we were advised and are now on our way to filing for BK. That's the last thing we wanted to do. As for GCS, I can honestly say I've never had a problem talking to them and they advised me on how to deal with the account so that the debt settlement company can no longer access funds. Now the closure is pending and we'll be waiting for the refund check.

I would advise anyone thinking about debt settlement to first do your research and check out all of your options first. Definitely check out credit counseling or money management. If you can afford it, do it. There are a lot of companies that do this for nonprofit and no fees. All the money you put into it will definitely go to your creditors. As in my case, we did try the credit counseling but the budgeting was upside down so we had to take another route. Don't make the same mistake I did.

I love how the God fearing Obamahater with built up internal rage and killing intent is speaking out.

I work for a debt settlement company (one not mentioned here) that also uses GCS. BEFORE you just pass me off as a settlement company lover or whatever bias, i really highly insist you read what I have to say.

GCS is not a giant scamming machine. Its register and insured by the FDIC, people...GCS is a seperate entity so that the debt settlement company doesn't really have access to your money (for your money's safety and peace of mind) other than the fees that are automatically deducted as per your contract that YOU signed on contract. the debt settlement company should have explained to you their program thoroughly for your understanding. All the important things have that "this call is being recorded for quality assurance" or whatever. Unless you did sign up with a scam or a ### settlement company, nothing is to blame.

The jist of the program is that the creditors have two outcomes with the people in debt that aren't paying because of "hardship".
1, sue their ### (what they call litigation) and either they could 'win' and get wage garnishment or other form of payment.
2, try to settle the account for less so that the people can pay at least some of it.

now why would the creditors do option 2 you might ask? for one, its cheaper and easier than doing all these legalities and etc. But its mostly because the people in debt have the option of -BANKRUPTCY-. If and when they choose bankruptcy, well guess what? the creditors get jack squat. so why not get something instead of nothing. that is the primary basis of the negotiations LEGIT settlement companies use.

the reason why the settlement companies dont settle at the beginning is cuz they dont have the funds yet or the fact that its too early for settlements. the longer u wait, the more pressure is basically put on the creditors: "why aren't they paying anymore? they must not be able to (hence HARDSHIP)." its LEVERAGE against the creditors cuz if ur making recent payments that means ur not in HARDSHIP.

when ur savings accrue to about half of a creditor's balance, they'll start settling with that account. reasons why they would not is because some creditors are notorious for sueing so they try to get those out of the way first.

anyways, hope this helps clear at least SOME doubt. do your research. read carefully. stop falling into the crowd of unhappy sheep. this isn't to say those unhappy sheep don't have reason to be unhappy. they just didn't know.

I have had no problems with global client solutions they have settled 2 of my accounts for way less than half of what I owed and when I call I always get a hold of my account manager. I'm sorry that the rest of you are having problems. But it does not fall on the settlement company. If your creditors are still calling after a cease communication form has been sent to them then they are in violation of the law and you can sue them and get a maximum of $1000. They will tell you that they don't work with settlement companies but that is a lie I was told that by 2 of my creditors but they ended up working out a settlement agreement when they realized that we knew our rights. Also even though you are with a settlement company you can still get sued and that is the creditors decision to do that. It just depends on how fast they want to get their money lots of them are impatient.

First of all i don't know why people are complaining about GCS, they only process your payments, that's all. There are a lot of Scam debt settlement companies out there you just need to trust someone. You will know if they are skirting our then truth or not. Cease and desist letters will NOT work unless the account is already in with a 3rd party colection company. then they will work. There is a company call Strategic Enterprises that i know of that is very up fron and plays no games with you. this process is not easy and it takes time and patience, but it does work. There is also an organization called UCAN they use that will also help protect your rights during collections. they fight for you. you can also find your right from collectors on FTC.ORG. call Strategic at [protected]. i have had no issues, and i trust them. You have options when it come to your debt, and Debt settlement may not be for everyone.

All of these complaints are invalid, if you have any questions I am more than willing to explain in full detail.. call me at my office line... [protected]. My name is Sean.

I signed up 04-01-09 with Freedom. The contract called for 600 a month with half going to there fee, which was 3200.00.
After 11 months all my 600 would go to my account with Globel.
Everything was going fine then the phone calls started and never stopped.
I called Freedom and due to the fact half my money went to their fees, it was going to take time before my balance at Globel had the money to start to settle accounts.
They (Freedom) can not settle accounts without any funds to pay the creditors.
It's the old saying " Money takes and BS walks"
I paid a extra 3000.00 and once I did that, there fee was paid and all my money started added up.
So far, 5 accounts have been paid.
With the 3, 200.00 fee and the 4, 000.00 to pay off 5 credit cards, I'm still a +1800.00 over the original balance of the 5 credit cars settled.
I use Freedom Fidelity Management and very pleased but there was times I to thought I was getting scammed.