Is credit solutions affiliated with debtxs?

We signed on with Bernie Melendez who said he was a lawyer and made a lot of false promises. The Bar Association said they had numerous complaints against Melendez for pretending to be a lawyer and were going to file suit against him with the AG's office, but said that the law firm was delivering as per their contract. Evidently they were taken in by Melendez claims to be an attorney too. We couldn't afford the payments anyway and had to file bankruptcy, but felt we were pursuaded wrongly by Melendez, who advised us to not file for bankruptcy. In our case it was necessary. We don't blame the law firm as they did what they said and we did have a couple debts settled, but we feel Bernie Melendez acting on his own behalf misguided us.

I have been really screwed by this company, they are not legitimate
get rid of this company before its too late I am out over $3000. Please do not make the same mistake I have.
Lisa

You can't fix stupid! The banks want you to run up your debts so they jack up the interest rastes and get the late fees and penalties. Abusing credit is an addiction. Better to just not use credit to begin with. It's your own fault your in debt dummy!

Credit Solutions promised to call once per month to update me...they never called once. They promised to get payoffs of credit card debts for 40-60% of balances, but, they pushed the fact that most are getting it done for 40% They didn't tell me that the balances rise exponentially at the same time CS is counseling me to wait longer before CS engages in negotiations.

At the same time they are collecting money monthly from my account. The longer they wait, the higher the cc balances, and the more money CS puts in their pocket....; great for CS and a rip off to me. After finally getting through to someone after 9 months, that someone (you never talk to anyone twice!) made me do a "hurry up" settlement with one creditor which was 60% of the original debt. This is when I stopped payment ($35 bank charge). The bank tells me that the only way I can take away the power of attorney that CS demanded is to close the account! CS obviously did not offer to apply any of the money they had collected from me towards this settlement.

I contacted an attorney at that point and he advised me to "pull the plug" on them. The contracted CS promise was that half the monthly money would go towards their service fees and half would go towards the debt payoffs.... Yeah,...right!.... I feel so stupid! Now their accounting department does not return my calls....Meanwhile, the 5 or so other credit card companies have turned my accounts over to collection agents who are getting judgements against me here in Florida.... Fortunately, I have no wages or assets they can attach, but I pity the poor folks who do, because these judgements will have teeth in them, while all the cash they have that might be available to the debt collectors is in the pockets of CS! The Scam is that CS can only prey on people who do not have any way out of the debt spiral; those who are unlikely to have funds interesting to accomplished attorneys (the ones who always win are expensive)

Well,... I can do it....So this is what I have in store for them: I am talking to a well known fraud attorney and personal friend in Austin, Texas in that State's Capitol, as well as my attorney here in Florida. The attorneys are talking to each other. A class action suit is being researched. The Attorney Generals of the US, the State of Texas, and the State of Florida are being informed via formal complaints next week. A formal complaint will be made on a personal level to a high level fiqure in the Federal Trade Commission.

And finally, CS can expect some unannounced "visitors" to their office who are experts in "debt consolidation" matters..... 'Ever seen the Texas government roadside signs that warn, "Don't Mess With Texas"? Well,....they might be changing them to: "Don't Mess With Marty"...... Stay tuned.

Also, I have managed to collect several names of employees who have contacted me from CS over the last year. A follow up message in this forum will include those names if permitted . All those who made unkept promises need to take responsibility for damages to me as well in my book.

Guest I am only gonna say this once.Personal attacks are not allowed here on our forum.

Unlike the people here blaming someone else for the debts they themselves ran up, I've been a client for over year now and have seen a lot of positive results and changes in the company. I'm on my 3nd card being paid down and am very happy with Mezey's staff now. Not so happy at first, but am seeing results now and am thrilled I stuck with it. Like others, they told me they expanded so rapidly and were so successful handling over 10,000 clients their csr svc got overwhelmed. I too had problems early on, but they were my own fault. I ran up my credit cards and needed to take reponsibility for my own problems, instead of blaming everyone else. Now i'm getting control of my financial situation thanks to Mr. mezey.
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A few weeks ago I asked them to change my debit date to the 30th instead of the 3rd of each month (been paying them this way since Nov.'06) and A Mike E. told me by email the week before July 3rd, that they "changed my debit date to the 30th starting in July", but guess what, they took my money on the 3rd and overdrew my account, plus the other debits I have phone, electric, etc. were overdrawn because this guy told me they changed my date for July. Now I'm charged about $120 for overdraft fees. They did say they will give their payment back, but by personal check, not reverse it electronically. I'm wondering big time about all this too. The contract says "client will ALWAYS have online account information available" well, it's been 6 months since they "merged" and they took the "login" button off of their website's homepage, which to me sounds like a big breach of contract. They still haven't told me what bank my money being extracted from, last year, it was a Bank of America/Noteworld account, but that closed in January and they never told me about it, I had to find that out myself too. What is it again we're supposedly paying all that 15% legal fees for??!! This guy George Fasha (out in California) told me (before I signed their stupid contract) that my accounts would be "frozen" and I'd be paying my 15% legals fees as a percentage of my monthly payments and the rest each month would go towards paying my debts. I find out a few months later that I'm supposed to pay over $5K in legal fees up front before they even do any "negotiating" for me. I hope there will be a National Class Action against these crooks because I'm sure they conned thousands of people who thought they were going with a real lawfirm in order to not file for BK, and save "60 to 75% on their debts, and to have creditors stop calling etc. All of this is on their website, they even say in their FAQs page that "Yes, We are a Lawfirm", What A crock of BSers they are, preying on desparate people who have also been devoured financially by all the credit card companies. They are all legal Mafias in many ways....only in America, capitalism at it's worst!!! Even with all I've said here and all the crap they've done to people, I still love this country, because when these people are found guilty, we all will get at least most of our money back, they also should be sued for all the senseless aggravation and unneeded stress (pain & suffering) and punitive damages they've exuded on people. How's my spelling calif cal,(see page 12) take some lithium dude, you might feel better. PEACE!!!

CSA is claiming to help people get out of debt by settling amounts owed to creditors at a percentage of the amount at the time one enters into an agreement with them. In return, they collect a service fee 15% of the total debt. However, I now realized that they have taken my money and failed to fulfill the obligations of the contract. The BBB has 400 complaints against this company over the last 3 years, most in the last year and it would appear that due to high volume, these complaints are not being addressed before more and more people are getting scammed by this company.

CSA tells customers to stop paying the current bills, while they make an offer to settle the entire sum owed at a smaller amount. In my experience - Only one debt of the 7 initial accounts was settled, and for 60% of the initial amount, not 40% as advertised. This account was never requested by me to be settled, it appears that CSA has some benefit in settling this account with Providian.

The other debts I have requested to settle have not been settled, despite multiple requests. As a result, Discover took me to court and I have become delinquent on numerous accounts. As before my credit was just overextended, and I had been paying accounts on time, I now have multiple delinquencies and my credit is ruined.

When trying to reach CSA, 75% of calls are dropped or do not go thru. The ones that do, I am told that someone will get back to me, however no return calls are made. They have essentially taken 5000 dollars and stopped doing any of the services that they should under the contract.

When I finally established contact with a person, I asked that they put down in writing their promises and they ignored the request and have not refunded the fee. It is simply an issue of the company charging money and not fulfilling any obligations, instead ruining the person's credit for good. This is the biggest scam and BBB is too backlogged to stop this company from ruining more lives.

Credit Solutions talks a good line until they get your info, then everything goes the opposite way. They will not return clients calls, do not respond to emails, do not contact creditors. Their 1st rule: "Let Credit Solutions do the talking for you", is a laugh. Clients are told to fax creditor letters to them so that they can respond or help the client respond, that too is a joke.They claim to be members of the Dallas Better Business Bureau but as of June 1, 2006, they were not. There have been 126 complaints filed with the Bureau in less that the three years that Credit Solutions has been in business. Settling these complaints is like pulling teeth. And most often does not happen.

They claim to settle their clients accounts at 60% savings in 12-36 months. that the client is then debt free. It does not happen. Nor do they have monthly follow-ups or credit counseling as they state.

They give tricks and loopholes for clients so that the creditors cannot reach them. There are two printed in the handbook. I called and finally got one of their reps when a very pushy creditor continued to call me. I received a very blunt answer when I told the employee my problem: "We do not contact the creditors, they have to call us."

They claim to have "working relationships with the credit card companies. I received a letter from Advanta stating that is not true. Credit Solutions is not regulated by the FTC. This was after I called Credit Solutions and was told yes they do work with Advanta. They have to have a checking account number from the clients so that they can take their fee out monthly.

I cancelled the one at my bank and faxed a ternination letter to Credit Solutions on June 2, 2006. It did not take them long to call me because they could not get their money. I told the employee my problems with them and that I wanted the money returned because they had done absolutely nothing to earn it. I was told that he needed to talk with his boss and that he would get back to me. That was one month ago.

I urge anyone who has had dealings with this company to put it on this web site. They need to be stopped. Their false advertising needs to be stopped. They are not lawyers and are misrepresenting themselves.

As far as I know there is no connection between CS Debt and Mezey. All I can say is Thanks to Mr. Mezey I'm glad I'm not dealing with the creditors any more! That was an absolute nightmare! And the customer service has always been helpful to me. I don't need to call them a lot, so I don't know why others are having problems. They have always been courteous and answered my questions. But, then again I'm not much for drama either.

The bottom line is my debts just kept accumulating and I considered BK too, but decided to not go that route and I'm finally getting some of these cards paid down. It's a huge relief to me.

That's funny. There are a lot of drama queens and kings out there! I agree with you that this was the best move I ever made. My friend recommended Mezey & Associates, since I'd get stuck with a chapter 13 repayment plan if I did a bankruptcy. And, so far it's working well for me. I had a lot of stress and am feeling a big relief now. I cut up all my credit cards and had a party to celebrate. Better to be debt free then be up to your eyeballs in debt! It's like dieting though. Not easy and sure you can gripe about it, but the truth is I was the one who ran up the debts.

I'm not sure what CS debt settlement is, but Credit Solutions is a Texas Debt Settlement company, not a Law Firm. They may retain lawyers but are not lawyers themselves. There's a big difference. Most debt settlement companies charge a few fees totalling 30% or better, which is comparable to standard legal fees. However, most creditors today will not deal with debt settlement companies.

Further most debt settlement companies are not licensed, bonded and insured, nor regulated by the Bar Association. They can promise all sorts of things, but may not legally be able to fulfill their agreement. So, I'd suggest seeking legal advice before retaining any company and explore your options.

I have read what others here have writen about Credit Solutions and sadly I too think it is true. Sadly for me I did not get out early like others. I wish I would have found this page a long long time ago

I have been with them for over a year and have payed them thousands of dollars. I have settled only one of my five accounts at a decent amount. It was settled at about 50%. I settled another but it was nearly 90% and it was only because I pushed them to settle the account for me. I am now starting to pay off another account which they say I am settling for around 60% but it is really about 80% of what I owed when I started at credit solutions.

I still have two outstanding accounts and one is large and growing all the time. I had the chance to settle it at 50%, but they wanted it all in one payment and within like a week so I could not do it. Now that account is at 80% in two payments which I cant pay either. The settlement person told me that she knew this would happen and that she said I should have payed it at 50%.

I think they think I have tons of cash hiden in the mattress or something because they call with these "great deals" and think I should be happy to put out 4 months income in one day.

Another issue I have that has been reported here is that you talk to someone different every time and they are all calling you even though you wanted to settle one account and hold off on the one they want to settle. Its not possible to settle them all at once, but they dont understand that. I will probably only settle one account for 50% or less, the rest will be around 80% or higher. They promised at first 40 to 60% but they sure are not coming through. They also said it could be payed off over 4 years, but a little over a year now and Im getting threats to go to court already. I feel lied to and have no ideal how to get out of this.

Someone stated that some states dont allow this kind of operation? Which ones, I hope I live in one so I can sue them. I would love to get my money back that they have not earned.

Also someone here is a former employee of them. Is it true that the major credit cards do not let you settle over longer periods of time, but want it all in a few payments? That is what I get told all the time.

I feel ripped off and would love suggestions from anyone here on how to deal with this (in a legal manor of course). Will the creditors still deal with me after going so long without paying them? Thanks.

Thanks. I'm glad I went with Mezey & Associates too instead of some bogus debt settlement company. They tried to sell me some BS story, but my debts are now in the hands of an attorney, not some boiler room operation. And, I'm not sure how it works, but my understanding from my attorney here was a law firms fees are non-refundable. He recommended Mezey instead of my doing a Chapter 13, as it would have cost me more and taken longer, but if I did do the bankruptcy even his fees were due upfront.

Also, my creditors were pretty slick in offering me deals but only after I hired Mezey. They each wanted to get paid first. So, I stopped talking to them. I thought about quiting the program and doing it myself, now that they were going to give me deals, but I'm still a bit gun shy and would rather have a pro handle it. I wouldn't do my own appendectomy either!

So forget the debt settlement companies and see a lawyer.

Amen! I agree with you that this was the best move I ever made. Thanks to God my friend recommended Mezey & Associates too. I'd get stuck with a chapter 13 repayment plan if I did a bankruptcy, which would have cost me more and be on my records forever. They don't tell you but BK's show up on background checks even after you die!

It's working well for me. I had a lot of stress and am feeling a big relief now. I can sleep now. Like I said before though, it's like dieting. Not easy to be disciplined and sure you can gripe about it, but the truth is we were the ones who ran up our debts, no one else.

I signed up with Mezey & Associates a month ago. After several emails bounced back to me undeliverable I checked their website and noticed it was down. In a panic I did a google search to make sure I had the right address and discovered this site. I have subsequently discontinued my participation in their program and gone with Harold Shepley & Associates since I live in Pennsylvania. They are an actual law firm that can represent me in court if I get sued. I lost one month's payment and time but I feel fortunate to have gotten out before things got any worse.