I've done tons of personal research as to how I am going to reconcile $50,000 of unsecured CC debt (Citibank, Chase, and United Mileage Plus). I have been enrolled with Credit Solutions of America for the past 3 months and am sooo dissatisfied with their help that I want to get all my money back from them. I have contacted Mezey & Associates which is a Law firm that negotiates debt settlement. Has anyone heard of them? Unlike, Credit Solutions, they seem to have better leverage in negotiating debt with the large creditors and will set up a Trust Fund account towards my debt settlement. Plus, they're certified lawyers who are professional negotiators and not some trained negotiator who knows a little law. I guess, I'm inclined to trust their opinion a lot more. But since the fiasco with Credit Solutions, I want to know what retaining an actual private lawyer will be able to do for me in relation to my debt. Basically, what can hiring a private lawyer for a flat fee do for me in comparison to a debt settlement law firm?

The key factor is the negotiation with your credit companies. If you want to try the debt settlement company as well as a private attorney, get their fair quotes before you finally make your decisions. The creditors will like to get their money back before you refuse to pay them anything in legal terms. When you go for a debt settlement program, the total amount of debt can be reduced by 40% to 60%. You need to compare if your attorney will be able to get the favorable deals.

definitely drop credit solutions like a bad habit... sadly, the form you signed did specifically say that whatever you've paid them to this point is theirs, so you're kinda screwed in that respect.

i dropped CS recently myself, to go with a lawyer, and as soon as they were "fired" they took their next payment out of my bank account, despite my written DEauthorization.

I am a current client of Mezey & Associates. Although their customer service leaves alot to be desired, by hiring them you sign off the Power of Attorney to them for the accounts you want negotiated. Now even though the Creditors will try to contact you, Mezey & Associates will protect you from being sued or having a judgement filed against you. They are trained lawyers and not some college kid in a call center pretending to be helping you. Also, they are straight forward and tell you they ARE NOT a non-profit organization. You are going to pay them for their help, but you are protected.

Sincerely,
Zen

I agree with Zen. I too am a client of Mezey & Associates. Their customer service (NDS, LLC) is horrible. I can't say for sure about their abilities though. I've been a client since June, and I just recieved a summons from one of my creditor sueing me for the balance. They supplied me with the necessary paperwork to "reply" to the summons. I sent my paperwork today via certified mail with return receipt. I expect to hear from someone in the next week or two. Believe me when I say, if they can't negotiate something for me on this one, I'll be posting here again. I of course am hoping for the best. I'll be watching this post for anyone else that may be dealing with Mezey.

Jeff

I have just contacted Mezey and accociates about their service, and it does sound much better than credit soultions. I will post again after I retain them.

I was thinking of signing up with Mezey. I live in California and when I called the California bar association that regulates lawyers, they never heard of them. Just because they are in New York that should only mean that they can help people in NY.

and about to be shutdown by regulators.

What's the latest on Mezey. I am very concerned about the previous 2 posts. I am just entering their program and live in Maryland

In response to your inquiry regarding Mezy & Associates, this company is horrible!! I have been utilizing their services for the past 6 months and they have done nothing for me. I am now in the 7th month and have just pulled my account from their company as I am now receiving Law Firms contacting me on behalf of my creditors threatening to garnish my wages! It should have never escalated to that degree when going though a debt program such as the above mentioned. I am now forced to file for bankruptcy and at this time I have no idea what I am entitled to as far as a refund. I do plan on possibly suing the company and I am currently in the works of submitting compliant letters to every company affiliated with the Better Business Beauro!

They are HORRIBLE!!!! Please take my advice and don't utilize this companies services!!

Anyone else have any experience with Mezey? I started with them in October of last year. I thought things were going bad until they explained to me that once my service fee was paid in full then things would move along quicker. The creditors have become very quiet lately, which gives me some hope that something is going on. So has anyone actually gone beyond paying there fees? I'm frustrated and after reading the last post...loosing faith very quickly.

I signed with NDS, a sub company of Mezey as it was explained to me, almost a year now. The customer service is a bit slow, usually about 20-30 minutes on hold before you talk to someone. I received a summons, they helped me reply. A judgement was sent to me, not them, so I called. The lady I talked to that time then told me that that account would "probably not be able to be negotiated." Because if the card co. was seeking a judgemnt, they probably have a plan in mind of how to obtain the money from you through legal means in my state. ie paycheck garnishment, or maybe lean on my home. My thought was then "I have given you close to $6000 and what the hell have you done for me." I asked if they had contacted the card companies. They replied they sent them info that they had POA but until there was sufficiant funds in my account they didn't start talks with them. I would be looking at another year of payment before I would be in a situation to MAYBE make a settlement offer.

Im thinking of bankruptcy now.

A possible class action against Mezey might be something to look into as well.

I signed up with Mezey last June - what a huge mistake. I've paid them more than $6,000, and I've been served with papers from the lawyers of 2 of my creditors. I really don't think they're a reputable organization. I have since closed my bank account to prevent any additional withdrawls (based on this happening to someone else that posted - this happened to them. As soon as they told their settlement company to stop, they initiated another payment). I don't know if that would have happened with Mezey, but I wasn't going to wait and find out.

Well, I'm in the process of filing Chapter 13. The thing that promted me to take such drastic measures was the impending lawsuit from a creditor. They would no doubt get the judgement because the debt is valid. If I'm going to have to pay them, let them take less through the court system. That's what it's there for - our protection.

If I can give anyone some clear advice it's this. Stay clear from Mezey and Associates - they're crooked as a question mark. They encourage you to sign up as much debt as you can because they base their fee on that amount, and don't do a thing for you until they get all their money. I showed the Cease and Desist letters they sent me to send to my creditors to the lawyer I went to see, and he said they weren't real documents. Don't trust them, and find a way out if you're already a client.

If anyone has actually had a good experience with them, I sure would like to know.

Jeff

This past Friday I went to talk to a lawyer about filing Ch 7 and what possible course of action could be taken to recoup some of my money from Mezey. I told him of there advice and guidence they offered concerning my summons. He laughed. Really. The papers they told me to submit and letters they outlined for me to write and send in as well were in his words "really f...... wrong." As for stopping any future payments to them, my bank said they will stop any payments, for a fee. I believe it is about $25.

FYI
I would very much like to hear from any/everyone concerning the loss of money to Mezey. I am very interested in looking into a group or possibly a class action against them. I have a tentative meeting with a lawyer later this week to discuss the matter.

Mcdarga, I'm all for joining forces with you on this. I'd love to hear what your lawyer says. I live in Michigan, and am in the process of filing chapter 13. I have almost all of my paperwork in to my lawyer. When I take the remainder of my paperwork in this week, I'll see what he says about a class action suit. I wish there was a way to alert the media about this group. They're so crooked.

Be careful about attempting to stop the payment. I read in this very thread some time back I believe that someone called to have the settlement company stop taking payments, and they initiated a payment immediately to get "one more payment" from the person. Fortunately for me, I needed to close this particular account for different reasons, so when they try to take their next withdrawl, the account won't be there. Of course with your bank stopping the withdrawl, this may not be an issue. I'm just sad that if there's no way to get my money back, that I threw away over $6k. No sense throwing good money after bad though. If nothing can be done, I'll just pick up the pieces of my shattered credit rating and move foward.

Take care. I'll be watching this post for your reply.

Jeff

I'll gladly join a class action suit. I'm in for 8K and learned that nothing has or will be done. Arbitration claims, offers of sttlement and summons have been ignored. Now I face a summons and don't know what to do?