bay view law group

I'm confused as well....trying to figure out the whole debtconsolidationcare.com/oakview law group/Bayview law group affiliations.. They must be legal because I read everything i could find on Douglas Crowder and he knows just about everything when it comes to debt settlement and the law.
Here's what I can come up with. Douglas Crowder is setting up a huge network of debt settlement companies/partners/law firms to tackle this enormous demand for debt settlement.

add Johnson Law Group to the list above and they have 22 complaints in BBB since Jan 07.........all of these companies operate primarily from Nevada......
I smell something extremely fishy


[samebox:9be83e81d1="OVLG"]We have two locations one in Citrus heights, California and the other in Sparks, NV. The reason we have two locations is that the cost of human resource in Sparks, Nevada is lower compared to California because of the lower cost of living. A lot of the customer service and client intake happens from Sparks. You can see all our addresses along with phone numbers listed at:
http://www.ovlg.com/contact-us/ As of August 2008 OVLG has 0 BBB complaints.[/samebox:9be83e81d1]

That has me concerned as Oakview is one of 3 companies I'm considering. I have noticed everytime someone calls me from OVLG, the #'s always come in from Nevada. Also, OVLG is still a new company as far as the BBB is concerned, so I would be very interested in any other companies Mr. Crowder owns or is involved in.

[samebox:00db2690dc="OVLG"]
Please read the previous SameBox response from us made inside the 3rd post to understand why the caller id is from Sparks, Nevada.
[/samebox:00db2690dc]

Another concern I have for Oakview is the fact they are not members of TASC or USOBA. I don't know why they wouldn't be members?

[samebox:03d80a5542="OVLG"]
OVLG has the lowest fees in the industry please see the OVLG fees posted at http://www.ovlg.com/services/fees.html Membership fees for both TASC and USOBA are in 1000's of dollars each year. We have not taken membership to keep our fees low. We feel that BBB membership serves the function of giving confidence to our clients. Though after this feedback we are seriously reconsidering our stance and may take the TASC and USOBA memberships.
[/samebox:03d80a5542]

You can do a google search on debt-settlement-inc and that will give you the site for Johnson Law Group and you can do a google search on bay view law group debt settlement and that will lead you to their site.

I do see Bay View Law Group shows Douglas Crowder on the bottom of their site, but I haven't found his name on Johnson Law Group other than his articles.

Is there any legitimate reasons why someone would need multiple competing companies instead of having just one?

okay, did some more checking. I had heard of Douglas Crowder's name from these forums. A posting from the end of July included the BBB report on Oak View Law. It listed Douglas Crowder as the principal and owner. I just pulled up the BBB listing again and someone new is listed as the principal and owner. So maybe Crowder left and opened up Bay View?

That is weird about the calls coming from NV though. Oak View is based in CA.

I don't see anything about Crowder listed on the Johnson Law group. I also don't know anything about this group except for what I've read here.

The reason Douglas a Crowder has so many "competing" websites ala Bayview et al is because he is running a dmp scam debt settlement scam which is a high volume turnover business because of the extremely high failure/dropout rate.

If he is running a scam program, then why did he just speak about debt settlement at the USOBA Summer Conference? I just googled his name and found that. Seems to me the USOBA would not bring a scammer in as a guest speaker.

USOBA is run by a woman who is married to an ex scammer who was running a fraud debt repair operation........he was charged by the FTC and agreed never to show his face in the credit repair/ debt settlement world again!

Trade Associations don't = credibility..........look into it its pretty easy to find.

Bave View Law Group=Johnson Law Group=Jackson, Crowder and Associates!!!!

BayView Law Group is pretty shady because they utilize many alaises to confuse the average consumer who cannot do the detective work!

BayView Law Group is headed up by "Douglas Crowder" who either runs or has direct interests in many dmp companies. Why would someone feel the need to have many aliases.....probably because of the VERY high failure rate of DMP/negotiation business model ie most people can't or won't finish the DMP program because they get sued or they lose a job and then they will voice their anger online and destroy the Bayviews of the world!

Oak View Law Group hired Douglas A Crowder as an attorney for a short period of time. There are many attorneys hired by different law firms for settling the client's debts with their creditors.

Oak View Law Group has now retained a new attorney, Christopher Donald Hewitt, listed on the Better Business Bureau and his licensing information is available on the state bar council of California. Please feel free to call at my extension number if you have any queries or want to get more information about the program offered to clients.

Observer, what is the name of the woman you are referring to or the name of her husband? I couldn't find anything like that.

Congratuations, Statler1917, you did the math.

TASC and USOBA are fictions, invented to fool you. Lawyers need to be licensed as do settlement companies and lawyer referral services in California. Before hiring a lawyer, look at the website for the bar association of the state in which the lawyer practices, and ask for references. And never work with a lawyer referred to you by non-licensed lawyer referral service.

BTW, these areas are all heavily regulated because of the long history of abuse.

As always, caveat emptor (buyer beware).

I found that a Douglas Crowder in the California Bar Asso. is not eligible to practice law . Is this another sign that this may be a scam?

Iowan....that's the wrong Doug Crowder....the one that you are so concerned with is the one that is "Active" with the CA Bar since 1989.

OK - I've been reading all of this.. We recently signed up with Bay View Law Group for debt settlement services. I feel sick to my stomach after reading all of this. Can anyone tell me - Is Bay View legitimate?

That's a good question. I want to know also. I'm confused from reading this thread. Is Oak View and Bay View the same company? What affiliation do they have to this website?

Help someone.

This kind of settlement or consolitation is the worst kind of deal for anyone in debt. You are better off working with your creditors, and trying to work out some payment program with them. These kind of agencies typically have you sign power of attorney over to them....(there is a hint that something is not right). They take your money and keep it in escrow until you have reached 50% or so of your debt amount. They have by that time ruined your credit by ignoring your creditors. They offer to settle with your creditors at roughly 30% of your original debt amount. Many banks and creditors do not work with these companies at all. The 20% of your money left in escrow is their profit. In the meantime you will likely be recieving a tax bill for the 50% of your debt that you did not pay but recieved the benefit from that money. You may also be arbitrated against. Many of these operations have been shut down by the government and are usually a bad deal. BE VERY WARY.

There are very reputable companies out there that can help you settle or manage your debt. To put an end to the person that posted that you will receive a tax bill for 50% of their debt that is very wrong because of the following information:

The IRS does permit a client to write off any ???????income??????? from cancelled debts up to the amount by which they were ???????insolvent??????? at that time. So unless the client has positive net worth the incremental tax obligation will be zero. If the client does not qualify as insolvent, non principle amounts such as interest, finance charges and fees accumulated on the account may be deducted from the amount reported. A good point of reference is irs.gov Publication 908. Basically, "insolvent" means that you have a negative net worth -- that is, you "owe" more than you "own." As a consequence, most debtors do not have a tax liability on the canceled debts, simply because most debtors are insolvent! Don't let the misguided criticisms of financial writers (who haven't done their homework) discourage you from looking into one of the most popular and flexible options for achieving debt-freedom.

Is this company apart of what i'm reading? I just signed up with them, i received the paperwork but didn't sign anything and didn't fax it back yet. It does show that i will have $ taken out on certain days of the next few months. Can they take out any money without me signing the paperwork even though i said that on these such and such days you can take this amount out of my bank account. They took down my routing and account number for those specific days. I did call back and talked with the cancelation dept and they said they went ahead and canceled my application and i have a confirmation #. anyone please help me thanks!

Lets compare the department of corporation listing of Oakviewlaw and Bayviewlaw:

Here is the california department of corporation listing of bayviewlaw

Here is the california department of corporation listing of oakviewlaw

Also lets compare their BBB listings:
Bayviewlaw: http://www.la.bbb.org/BusinessReport.aspx?CompanyID=100074918

Oakviewlaw: http://sanjose.bbb.org/BusinessReport.aspx?CompanyID=239402

From all this I can conclude that Bay view law group and Oak view law group are not affiliated.
Both the law firms have their own fee structures, internal management and attorneys.

It is possible for the same attorney to work at two different law firms. Seems like for a brief period of time Mr. Douglas A Crowder was an attorney both at Oak View Law Group and at Bay View Law Group and that currently he is no longer associated with Oak View Law Group.