SDS West Debt settlement

Let me preface this message by fulling disclosing the fact that I do in fact work for SDS West's Debt Education Center.

I would like to respond to a couple of things that have been stated on this boar so far. First of all it is stated that we have an F rating because we do not respond to complaints and our customer service is brought into question due to this. The fact is that we respond to any and all complaints that come in from the BBB as soon as we get them. Granted there was a time when we were slightly understaffed due to huge growth that some went without being responded to longer than they should have but that is the exception not the rule.

I have heard the argument that we have an F rating because the owner of the Southland BBB owns a CCC company as well. I honestly don't know if that's true as I have never researched it. However I can say that we, like most companies, do have some client's that are unhappy and therefore complain. We do our best to resolve these issues quickly but once the complaint is filed it automatically hurts your rating to a point. You cannot judge a company simply by it's BBB rating, far to many non member companies are given bad raps without proper cause, or at least that is my experience.

One person stated that they have paid over $17,000 in fees for $40,000 in debt. This is ludicrous. That would mean we are charging 42% fees. It is correctly stated that the average fee in the industry is 15-17%, we charge 15% of the total debt. Meaning that for $40,000 in debt we would charge $6000 in fees. Now you may consider that to high, no problem, it's not the option for you in that case.

My thought is that what this person has actually done is put a total SAVINGS AND FEES (Actually given that she has been in the program for 18 months I can guarantee that a large portion of that is savings) of around $17,000. How many accounts did she have? How much was her highest? What companies and what collection agencies? These factors are all going to effect how much needs to be saved before the accounts can be settled. The first thing we tell all of our client's is that in order to settle an account funds have to be available for settlement. They stated " have had to settle thousands of dollars of debt OUT OF MY OWN POCKET, yet they are still retaining all fees collected!!!!". Does this mean they had to come up with additional funds for a settlement? If that's the case why wouldn't we collect our fees for settling it? I should also make it clear that ALL settlements MUST be approved by the client before we accept them and we NEVER force an individual to add additional funds. If you can't that's okay we just will have to pass up the settlement and come back to it at another time.

Just one last thing I wanted to clear up. It is stated that any reputable company should be a member of TASC (The Association of Settlement Companies)...We Are.

I was a client of SDS West if that is what you call it. I was with the program for 1 year and 9 months. I had 5 different Credit Card accounts. In this amount of time they settled 2 accouts for like $7000 and they charged me $5000. One of the accounts that they settled had already taken me to court and I was being garnished. They settled at 70% of the outstanding balance. When I went into the program I owed $5200 on this account, due to late fees and interest at the time of garnishment it was $7200. SDS West Settled at $5500. They did not save me any money...I went into the program with $42,000 worth of total credit card debt and I am left with $44,000 being garnished was we speak. After settling two accounts.Plus they charged me $5000. I got scammed and I am left holding the bag and barely scraping by.
The kicker to it all is that once SDS West realized that I was being garnished they dropped me out of the program themselves. Needless to say I am left very angry and disgusted and worried if I will ever see the light of day

Its hard for me to sit and judge the posts on this thread that ascert that SDS West is all but robbing them. I have been with SDS West for just at three years. In this time three out of four of my debts have been settled. Two of those have been for less than 50% of what my creditors have said that I owe. I get the distinct impression that a great majority of people sign up for dept settlement expecting to have to do nothing except pay money every month.

The fact is, SDS was up front with me prior to my enrolling with their services. Yes, you will have to deal with some headaches. Yes, you are going to have to deal with phone calls from creditors and yes, you may even get sued. In point of fact, I have been sued and the creditor which sued me is my last account to settle. There is some work involved when you get sued and I will be the first to admit that it is rather dishearting. But, you have got to drive forward.

Let me say this about creditors who sue you: they are trying to scare you, they are trying to force you into bankruptcy. Their mission is to intimidate you to the point of taking the easy way out. You would be very surprised at how quickly a law office will work with you or your dept settlement company when an actual trial date gets close. The fact is, they do not want to waste their clients money. My experience has proven that if you get as aggressive as they do, then they will slow their roll and actually try to reach a settlement.

Obviously I cannot say this about every single creditor and every single person who enrolls in a dept settlement program. But, I will say that SDS has thus far proven to hold up to their end of the agreement. I have no complaints. And, I think most of the nay sayers are guilty of the same thing that got them into credit card debt in the first place, wanting something for nothing.

There is nothing purer than an ex-whore. I got myself into this credit card nightmare and I cannot and am not going to blame SDS. As I said before, they have thus far fullfilled their obligation. I agreed to their fees and they have not charged me a penny more.

Say goodbye to your money they took mine and yes if you do not pay attention they will rip you off. I was with them for 8 months. They are friendly at the beginning but if you dont pay attention they will not pass the information on to you that you need to know. $3000+ fees before they even start. I reported them to the BBB and the State Attorney General, another 8 months later my BK 7 is over and asked for my refund and GUESS what THEY said no refund it was the law tha they did not have to pay back the last couple of month payments. SO SDS WEST stole my money using the law. Hopefully a class action will be started.

Aliso Viejo, CA’s SDS West Corporation and Addison, TX’s Debt Relief USA, Inc. are under fire for using deceptive marketing practices, charging clients outrageous fees, and essentially doing nothing to help consumers financial situations or debt problems. SDS West has advertised their services to included assist with debt negotiations. However, another company, Nationwide Support Services are actually the ones handling the negotiations but clients have no knowledge of this fact. The company advertises that their services are much better than credit counseling agencies and promise to contact every debt to a substantially reduced sum. Enrolling in the program with SDS West, consumer are told to stop making payments to the credit card companies and instead make payments to the Nationwide Support Services account to use for negotiations. Consumers do not know that a large portion of this money will be paid toward the high fees, usually 15% of the total credit card debt. There is an additional monthly maintenance fee of $50 to use the service. This means for consumers that their monthly payments will take months before any of it will actually go towards the credit card debt. The major issue lies in the fact that consumers did not know these things.

Debt Relief USA is alleged to have promised that consumer credit card debt would be reduced by 40 to 60 percent, allowing consumers to be debt-free in less than 3 years. However, Debt Relief USA essentially did not live up to that promise on most customer accounts, causing consumers to leave the program before debts were negotiated and after high fees were paid for the service. Much like the issues with SDS West, Debt Relief USA also charged even more fees upon successful negotiation

WELL LETS SEE WHERE THIS LAW GOES

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan this week announced two lawsuits filed against debt settlement firms alleging that these companies engage in deceptive marketing practices, charge excessive fees and do little or nothing to improve consumers’ financial standing.
Madigan sued the following defendants: SDS West Corp.; Bruce Hood, SDS West chief operating officer; Raymond Dorso, SDS West CEO; Nationwide Support Services Inc.; Joanne Garneau, president of Nationwide Support Services; Debt Relief USA Inc.; and Kelly E. Reilly, Debt Relief USA president.
SDS West, an Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based debt settlement agency, and its business partner Nationwide Support Services, an Irvine, Calif.-based debt settlement servicer, inform consumers that their debt mediation services will help to reduce consumers debt by nearly 50% and that consumers will be free of debt in 12 to 36 months, according to Madigan’s complaint.
SDS West primarily markets the business partnership’s debt settlement services, while Nationwide Support Services allegedly conducts the settlement negotiations with creditors. Madigan’s complaint alleges that most consumers are unaware that Nationwide, not SDS West, performs the actual negotiations on their behalf.
When consumers enroll in the program, they allegedly are instructed to stop making payments to the credit card companies and, instead, make monthly payments to the defendants’ program in order to build up a lump sum for use by Nationwide Support Services in negotiating a settlement with the credit card companies, according to a news release from the attorney general.
However, the first payments go toward a substantial fee of approximately 15% of the consumers total credit card debt. Consumers also are charged a monthly $50 maintenance fee. Madigan’s complaint alleges that consumers did not understand that their monthly payments would be used to pay fees before any performance of services on their behalf, and that it takes several months to accumulate a lump sum payment to begin negotiating a payoff with the credit card companies

sds WEST SEE WHERE the law lands SDS RIPPED ME OFF

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan this week announced two lawsuits filed against debt settlement firms alleging that these companies engage in deceptive marketing practices, charge excessive fees and do little or nothing to improve consumers’ financial standing.
Madigan sued the following defendants: SDS West Corp.; Bruce Hood, SDS West chief operating officer; Raymond Dorso, SDS West CEO; Nationwide Support Services Inc.; Joanne Garneau, president of Nationwide Support Services; Debt Relief USA Inc.; and Kelly E. Reilly, Debt Relief USA president.
SDS West, an Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based debt settlement agency, and its business partner Nationwide Support Services, an Irvine, Calif.-based debt settlement servicer, inform consumers that their debt mediation services will help to reduce consumers debt by nearly 50% and that consumers will be free of debt in 12 to 36 months, according to Madigan’s complaint.
SDS West primarily markets the business partnership’s debt settlement services, while Nationwide Support Services allegedly conducts the settlement negotiations with creditors. Madigan’s complaint alleges that most consumers are unaware that Nationwide, not SDS West, performs the actual negotiations on their behalf.
When consumers enroll in the program, they allegedly are instructed to stop making payments to the credit card companies and, instead, make monthly payments to the defendants’ program in order to build up a lump sum for use by Nationwide Support Services in negotiating a settlement with the credit card companies, according to a news release from the attorney general.
However, the first payments go toward a substantial fee of approximately 15% of the consumers total credit card debt. Consumers also are charged a monthly $50 maintenance fee. Madigan’s complaint alleges that consumers did not understand that their monthly payments would be used to pay fees before any performance of services on their behalf, and that it takes several months to accumulate a lump sum payment to begin negotiating a payoff with the credit card companies

I am a creditor, this place is terrible. I've held on the line trying to help someone who is in the sitution and they haven't even answered the phone one time. I personally have held on the line for 5 hours trying to even get to someone to talk to them about a debt and they don't even care to answer the phone or allow you to leave a message. It says, press 7 to leave a message and everytime it hangs up. This place is a huge hassle and waste of time.

sdswest has settled 5 accounts for me and saved me thousands of dollars.It takes time.

i cant say one way or another about this company scince i did not use them. but keep in mind most settlement companies do not represent you in court unless you are going through a attorneys office. and if you take out a long term plan your are more likely to get sued in court than a short term.

[QUOTE=aryn64;277720]Hi all, I just stumbled on this site as I was cruising the web looking for some help. I started with SDS West debt settlement company a year ago and they have actually settled with one account, however, Target account has sued me and I have to appear in court tomorrow. SDS West does not represent me in court and my knees are knocking. I am very discouraged with this program since only one out of the three creditors has indicated they will settle after one year. I don't want three more lawsuits on my back! If judgement is rendered against me, and I'm sure it will, can Target grab a hold of my bank account? If I pull out of the debt settlement program, can I get the money I've saved with them relatively quickly?
Ive been with sdswwest for 3years and theyve settled 4accounts.It gets rough but they do settle.Alabama

ive used them and was well satisfied.

SDSWest staff were good at the start of the program. I guess, because they are collecting fees upfront. After they collected all their fees, their services became progressively worse. Promises everything to keep you off the phone about your inquiry... but that's all they are... promises. I will never recommend SDSWest to anyone. I am disenrolling from their program.

That is a lie. IBM gets an A+ rating from BBB.
http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/bus...armonk-ny-228/