Credit Solutions - Is it a scam company?

I signed up yesterday. The salesperson and video DO NOT say what is in the packet of information that comes with the 'welcome' email. I read all the fine print today. I have excellent credit (FICO of 745) .. but about $30K in credit card debt that I am current on and paying to the best of my ability. I accrued this debt over 5 years when I got cancer and couldn't work. My husband and I used credit cards to supplement our single income until I could go back to work. Credit Solutions really played on my 'hardship' issue and distracted me, I believe, from really understanding what this program does. If you have good credit, don't do this!
I do not like what I am reading, nor do I like the fine print information that I will have to accrue 60% of the debt in an account before settlement can occur. I am calling my credit union tomorrow and stopping the auto withdrawal that begins on January 10th. I have not sent the 'power of attorney' to my 2 credit card companies .. and will not. Nor will I send in the hardship letter to Credit Solutions.
What I will do is continue to pay off the highest interest rate card (6%) at double payments and the lower card (4.5%) at single payment until the highest rate card is paid off (about 2 years). Then I'll tackle the other card (2 more years). That's been my plan all along and I've been doing fine. Credit Solutions knocked it down to 1/2, yet added their 5,000 fee and set up a payment plan of 4 years of a few hundred a month less than what I'm doing now. But I will ultimately end up with poor credit and I don't want that at all. Poor credit limits one's opportunities in so many ways.
I don't know why I fell for this scam. I feel so stupid. Thank you everyone who has posted .. positive and negative .. it's been very helpful to me.

Why on earth you went with CSA is beyond me. Someone with a FICO score such as yours shouldn't even be willing to consider debt settlement. ALL settlements negatively affect your credit. As far as CSA: where they get'cha is they tell you it is a "debt settlement program" that could last for up to three years. In the mean time they tell you to stop paying on your accounts (harming your credit for each month of delinquency as well as adding accumulating late fees, over the limit fees, and interest). As far as I know telling people not to pay their monthly statement is a felony...but I suppose that's why there is a pending investigation by the Texas AG's office.

Even worse - after 180 days past due your account charges off reflecting as an R9 on your CBR - a black mark that could mean the differnce of 400-600 points depending on your creditor and which credit experts you ask. In layman's terms this reflects almost as bad as a Chapter 7 on your CBR and stays on for 7-10 years. Settleing before the point of charge off doesn't hurt your credit as much as when you do it afterward, but the theory behind waiting past the point of charge off is to get the best settlement possible.

A little long winded but I hope this helps.

I agree with you completely, Huus. It might be legal (for now) but it is certainly most unethical. And it can't be blamed on one company, nearly the entire industry operates under the same bottom-feeder model.

Is 'First credit solutions' same as 'credit solutions'? I am dealing with 'First credit solutions' who promised to clear all my debt in about 6months & charged me £300. It's been over a year now but nothing at all has happened. All i get told when i call them is that they are still waiting for some trial cases to go through for which they still have not been given a date so they have no idea how long it can take & its out of their control to do anything. I just dont know what to do. They also said if the claim is not succesful i loose the fee i paid them even though they work on no win no fee bases. I was not made aware of this when i applied for the claim. Does anyone have any advise for me?

I just started working for a company called prodebtco, everything seems fine the ppl that trained me dont seem like bad guys and the program as a whole does not in any way seem like a scam.
However, the reason Im writing this, is to see if anyone had any complaints beacause I refuse to work for a company that is cashing in on peoples misfortunes. So If anyone has had a bad expierence or so much as heard any bad things, feel free to respond.

did you try searching that company in the search box above?

I just want to thank those of you that have reviewed them. I just got off the phone with a representative and he made it all sound easy and too good to be true. I told him I needed some time to think about it.

Really what I wanted was to find online communities like this one and see what people are saying.

Thanks again!

I won't be screwed.

great attitude! and with that and proper research you wont be! good luck in your searches!

These jerks a couple months ago kept calling me day after day after day and repeated emails trying to get me to sign up for their service after a couple of threats to get them for harrassment they stopped. Well now it's been two months and they are now calling me everyday AGAIN and started the Emails again! I am on the national do not call list but don't know how to report them for this!

Credit Solutions is a total scam, I was dealing with a fellow name Trevor. sound like a really nice guy who lived in Hawaii with his wife while in the service. Anyways, repeatedly told Trevor that my husband is on a business trip I'm just gathering information and upon his return we will be a decision as a couple. Oh no problem, no problem. I proceeded to answer all the question, at the agreement that "a final" decision will not be made until my husband returns. My husband and I discussed and chose not to participate in the program, instead wanted to look around for other options. Emailed/called Trevor, with no answer. Next thing you know, $255 is deducted from my checking account. Needless to say, our kids didn't have a great Christmas thanks to Trevor and their scam. We took the loss of $255 and changed all our account information, now hopefully they will stop calling. DO NOT BELIEVE THEM!! THEY ARE A SCAM! WE NEED HELP, AND JERKS LIKE THIS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU IN DESPERATE TIMES!

I was told to have an available amount each month to go towards my credit cards. Now they say that i'm responsible for that and they have nothing to do with the payoff. I thought thats what they do. thats why there was a number that was given to me to pay these off in three years. Whats going on!

The positive side of this in my opinion is that Credit Solutions is a good program if they follow up with what they promise. The problem is that the agents are not completing the task they were hired to do.

I lost my job in March 2009 and joined Credit Solutions in June 2009 after trouble paying all my credit card bills. To only have to pay/ save $400 a month instead over $1,000 I was currently paying on credit card debt sounded like the right decision to make (the only decision in my mind at the time). The first six months of the program was the hardest. I was receiving creditor calls, letters, etc. (someone even showed up at my door) and didn’t have enough money saved to make any settlement offers. Plus, I wasn’t sure what Credit Solutions was supposed to be doing on my behalf since I stopped paying my monthly credit card bills. I couldn’t understand why people kept calling. This was so disheartening.
Then, after 6 months an offer came in from a credit card I owed over $5K on. It was a great offer and I was able to settle my first account for less than half of what I actually owed. I finally had faith in this program I had been buying into for 6 months. A few months later I paid off two more accounts (thanks to Christmas money from family). Recently I was receiving calls from one of my creditors, but it was just sold off to a third party, and Credit Solutions knew about it before I did and updated it for me on my online account. Since this account was sent to a collection agency, I have stopped receiving the annoying phone calls. So, I know that Credit Solutions has been in contact with them and they know I am on this program. I will continue to save and hopefully I will be done in another year (which seems like forever in my mind). If all goes as planned and I continue to save, I will have paid off all my credit card debt in 2 years. I was on a 4 year plan originally with Credit Solution, which at the time was better than the 35 years it was going to take if I continued to pay minimum payments.
The only reason I write this, is because I was one of the confused Credit Solution customers reading all these horrible reviews and wondering if I had made a huge mistake. Well, I am halfway through my debt, so I personally think it has been worth it. Having someone on my side to help me when I had questions while making the negotiations on my behalf has been worth their service fee. Plus I have already saved twice as much as their total service fee and I still have more to save when I settle the remaining accounts. It is not easy, and yes your credit score will be destroyed (I am afraid to look at mine), but in my situation, it seemed like the only way to get out of debt. Paying the rent and buying food for the kids seemed more important than my credit score at the time.

I enrolled in CS a few years back and it was the single biggest mistake I've ever made financially. The customer service folks were an absolute joke. There were two of them that I knew were quite good, so I always asked for them, but nothing is ever recorded, service reps tell you different things, it is an absolute travesty. The biggest joke of all is that you have to declare the amount your debt was reduced by as INCOME in the next tax year. I settled two accounts, and the total debt reduction on them was $7000. Well guess what? I had to declare that $7000 as income last year and ended up owing $3500 in federal taxes because of it. I made my mistake and am slowly repairing my credit record, and I urge any one reading this to not choose the Credit Solutions route. See a true financial counselor (they are out there) to help you manage your debt.

The whole program is a complete "LIE". You can do more for yourself than they can for much less money and less damage to your credit history. CSA is so eager to take your money that they are not honest with you when you sign up. Not everybody that contacts them is a good candidate for the program that they run. I know that now after contacting a lawyer. CSA knows it too! They tell you they will contact your creditors and assure you that they have a great relationship with creditors that will enhance your settlement process. Nothing could be farther from the truth! They tell you to send the paper work telling the creditors not to contact you anymore. They also tell you not to contact them too. As I found out from experience they don't contact them either. Which puts you in a bad position with your creditors. CSA preys on people that are desperate financially. The reason CSA does this is because most folks don't have the financial means to fight them with a lawyer. I encourage anybody who is having trouble to with CSA to contact a consumer affairs lawyer, if you have a solid case they might take the case pro bono. If not contact your states attorney general. Right now Missouri, New York, and Texas attorney generals have CSA in the cross hairs! I'm sure more are to follow. I'm also sure that the FTC is looking into them as well. I can't go into the details of my litigation against them but, until the government does something to them,CSA will continue take money from people. This company is making lots of money at the expense of people already in a bad situation financially. My advice to anyone thinking about using CSA is DON'T. Talk to your Creditor yourself or contact a attorney to represent you. Try and repair your credit as best as possible. Don't let CSA wreck it for good!

i'm a client of theres and i have tryed over and over to get my stuff payed through them and its not happed at and and now the creiters are tacking money out of my paychecks and i don't know what to so they suck and should pay for what they have done to pleople like us that try so hard to fix what we did and are being used

thank you m.d