Rise Above Debt Relief/Consumer Law Associates (CLA)

Check out their shady business practices. kansas.com/news/story/889455.html

Hmmmm... thanks for the heads up, I shall keep an eye on this one. This person is trying to claim that RADR is a CSO, and the state of Kansas tightly regulates CSOs, and also states that they can charge no more than $290 according to the complaint. They are also charging them with the unauthorized practice of law although not specifically, it seems.

Then there's this: My assessment is that this case is frivolous and will be dismissed. Of all the companies out there that REALLY resort to deceptive business practices by shoehorning all their callers into debt settlement without getting a detailed budget together and reviewing with the prospective customer/client what their options are they had to go all nitpicky. So many of these places SHOULD be sued to the ground, but this particular suit seems to be frivolous and a waste of court time and taxpayer money.

All IMO, of course.

I actually know a lot about this case, as I used to work for Rise Above Debt Relief. I loved working there, but I just started going back to school to get my masters degree which will take up all my time, but otherwise it was a great experience helping people avoid bankruptcy.

We got a detailed budget from every client, and then if they actually were right for debt settlement, they would be required to talk with an in-house underwriter who verified the budget and program, pros and cons. So that is why Rise Above Debt Relief has a very high success rate. Anyway on to the facts about the suit...

I know for a fact that the Yunkers actually were placed by Rise Above Debt Relief with a lawyer in 2008 who was overseeing their account in Kansas to make sure all laws were followed. I've seen the agreement. They were on the program for 1 year, and had 3 accounts settled the first year with no complaints. They had a loss in income, so decided to file BK, and their lawyer decided to try and squeeze money out of all parties helping them with the debt negotiations by threats of filing a lawsuit.

I know he got money from the lawyer handling the account and the company handling the negotiations just to avoid court, but Rise Above wouldn't give in because they did everything correctly, so the Yunkers sued the bank that held their funds, the debt settlement software company, and Rise Above for $33,000,000. Now how ridiculous is that!!

3 accounts settled in one year and you sue for $33,000,000 because you claim they didn't have the proper licensing??? Rise Above worked very hard on the settlements and gave great service. The overall fee was only 13% of the total debt, and with average settlements around 40-45 cents on the dollar, they would be out of debt for about 50-60 cents on what they owed, including fees.

Sounds like someone is trying to get rich off of a frivolous lawsuit, isn't our legal system wonderful??!!??!!

Anyway, I hear it is about to be dismissed.

I don't know anything about Rise Above Debt Relief but I can tell you that working with Consumer Law Associates was the biggest mistake of my life. Now I'll admit that I got myself into the credit card debt in the first place. I'm not proud of that. What can I say? These are tough economic times and I got in over my head. That being said, prior to working with a debt settlement company, I was making my payments and still had good credit but it was getting difficult so I signed on with CLA through Debt America (I'm still unclear on the correlation). Long story short, I paid them a bunch of money only to make my situation WAY worse. I'm now in the process of getting out so the outcome is still pending but in my opinion it's a BAD idea to get in bed with CLA or ANY of their affiliates.

They will take their money first-that wastes a year. They may settle a small one, then the others will sue. After 1 year you will still owe the $ plus late fees and interest and their monthly fee. If you are considering this start by Adding 30% or more for each year you are in "relief". If they settle for 50% in the second year, it is really what you owed in the first place. I owed 10,000. Then after a year I owed $13,600. The second year I owed $16, 500 and none of the companies "went to collection" Chase, Citi, Discover will sue and garnish wages. Had to declare bankruptcy, anyway. It cost me the extra $6,500 in fees and interest; the $1200 to the debt co. and $580 to the lawyer for bankrupcy. Should have just done that first!