Anyone dealt with Sifxpert?

If you do a search n the above box, you will find a lot of info on this company.

Some people have had experiences with that company. Like Kash said do a search using the box above. I remember some people saying he was hard to reach on the phone, but responds well to emails.

The BBB in southern california issues an automatic F for all debt settlement companies. Sifxpert has never had a complaint filed against his company but rumor has it that the owner of the BBB southland also owns CCCS therefore, all settlement companies get an F. Do a search of all debt settlement companies in the southland and all will have an F. Sifxpert or james lombardo ran financial solutions since 1996 and they have 1 or 2 complaints the entire time but still have an F. A bit of a conflict of interest if you ask me.

I was having the same confusion but I had things clarified and enrolled with sifxpert about 4 months ago and so far, he has produced some incredible results for me.

This was posted in community success stories in the debt settlement forum


Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:21 am


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(Admins, if this is in the wrong spot, I apologize! I wasn't sure if this is an OK place for success using companies, or only personal efforts.)

This board was where I started my research into debt options (I made a few guest posts as Cruithne), so I thought that now that I am debt-free I would come back and return the favor of sharing my experiences. If this is as much a review as a story, that is because I remember how starved for information I was when I was trying to research the different settlement companies. If you have any questions that my rather verbose post doesn't cover, I'll be happy to answer here or in PM.

Short Version:


Cards settled: BofA (20%), the dreaded Citibank (50%), and State Farm Bank aka Chase (55%), all of which were current before I started
Time it took: ~6 months (all pre-chargeoff)

Total debt at start of program: ~35.3k
Total debt right before charge off (because of yucky fees): ~38.5k
Total settlement amounts: ~12.2k (about 30%)
Total amount saved including fees paid: ~20-23k (depending on whether you count the interest and fees)

Company I used: debtxpert.com aka "sifxpert"
Fee structure: 20% of what you are saved for each settlement, with a $500 retainer fee at the start
My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Based on my experiences, I can recommend without reservations the settlement company I used. If I had to do it all over again and if he were no longer in business, I wouldn't even try settlement. Tooo many things that can go wrong. The fee structure of other companies is scary in comparison, and no one has impressed me with their skill and character as much as James Lombardo of debtxpert.com has.


Long Version

A year ago (fall 2006), I was a day late paying my BofA bill because of...well, I don't remember. Probably just busy or trying to juggle the in and out-flow of money down to the day like we often have to. Or maybe I was just too close to my limit. They've given me a hard time about that too. In any case, they took my apr up to the ungodly 30%+, making it impossible for me to pay my minimum balances. And nothing I could do would talk them down.

So I found myself here, and I learned about settlement. I had never been more than a day late in any payment, so as I learned more of the "dark side" of settlement (that I would have to stop paying bills, or no one would settle), I was pretty worried. I was originally talking to the company that was popular here at the time (I don't know if they still are), but their payment plan really worried me. Because of the up-front fees and because of my low income, it would take years to settle my debts through their setup.

At first I thought that was the only option, so I was this close to signing up, but then through my various googlings to find other opinions about them, I learned about the company now known as debtxpert.com (aka sifxpert aka James).

I was intrigued by the idea of working with someone who participated in the community he served (a different one, not this one), so after talking with James on the phone and sending countless emails (I'd gotten pretty jaded and suspicious of the whole debt correction industry by this time), my husband and I decided to enter his program. I was won over by how smart the guy was, and how very not-pushy he was. I knew that settlement was possible, but only if the person doing the negotiation was very clever and knowledgeable. I felt he was.

We stopped paying our bills in...March 2007 I think it was? And by September we were debt-free.

I can't say it was the easiest thing I've done. While he did what he could to stop phone calls, it wasn't foolproof. It helped that I had a cell phone as my main phone that could be set to only accept #s in my address book. And of course nothing can help the guilt if you are someone who has always paid your bills.

But it worked. All three of our cards were settled before charge-off. And I can now gladly give my wholehearted recommendation that James and his team at debtxpert.com can do the job.

The Good:

1) The fee structure ($500 retainer, then 20% of what he saves you from each settlement) is *sane*. It's what everyone should be doing. It meant we actually had the money to settle, since we hadn't paid most of our savings into fees to the settlement company.

2) He believes in settling before charge-off. Avoiding charge-off was very important to us, so we needed to know that the negotiator would fight for that.

3) He is not only smart and good at what he does, but he respects and cares about his clients. Yes, it is a business (and possibly a very lucrative one, given how many of these companies are out there), but I honestly think the guy gets a high from helping people.

The Bad:

Some things could have been improved on. In a perfect world the calls would have stopped completely. I don't know if it is possible or not these days.

And as others have mentioned, he can be hard to get ahold of. It is better than it was earlier this year and in the last 2-3 months he's always replied to emails within 24 hours. Still, when you are doing something like settlement you really want to be able to reach your negotiator quickly. With so many fraudulent and irresponsible companies out there, not being able to reach them by phone relatively quickly can make you start to imagine all sorts of terriying things.

Fortunately this doesn't appear to have hurt anyone yet besides generating some worry. I've read folks being frustrated that it took them a little too long to reach him, but I've never read anyone complain about settlement results. If he'd messed up or screwed someone over with a bad negotiation, we'd hear about it here or on one of the other debt settlement online communities.

So despite the above negatives, if I had to do it all over again, I'd still sign on with him.

P.S. Being debt-free and paying everthing with cash...is awesome. OMG. I randomly break out into a sh*t-eating grin at the oddest moments.

he has no complaints though. Find another co with no complaints. look at his reviews on the bbb site also.

Oh my, someone quoted my post.

Err, yes, I used him kman5574, and as you can see from my story in the other part of these boards, I came away very happy. If you have any other questions about specifics of using his service, I'll be happy to answer. As my review says, I've never heard anything bad about him except for a period when a bunch of us would be frequently posting on his boards "anyone heard from him lately...?" It has gotten better since then, though, and he knows it is a problem he needs to address.

thanks for the responses everyone. I spoke with James earlier and it sounds like my best option.

I love to hear these success stories, there is so much hope here and I am so glad that I am here.

I have been debating on debt settlmetn. I have read very good things about sixpert. i am planning on enrolling in his services. I did try and call him and sent him an email today. I am waiting to hear back from him. I cant wait to see what he says though. I did have a question. does he help with credit repair after your done?

NO, NO,NO!!! There are many posts about this guy...just do a search on him. As I have said many times, the guy may geventually get results but you may go months without hearing from him. We tried to use him several months ago and had the agreement ready to go but I had a question before I committed and, to this day, still hasn't responded. I left messages, e-mailed many times, and even left a message on his website. If you want a phantom ds company, go ahead and use him. Their are cases on this forum where people were begging him to contact them. The guy seems to disappear from time to time. Customer service is non-existent. I think he is a huge egotist who likes to play games with his clients. Anyhow, we ended up going with a company that is spoken of on this forum quite a bit and actually has a staff to answer phones, e-mails, etc. and they offer the same settlement guarantee as Mr. Lombardo.

Would it be inappropriate to ask the name of the company you are using? I have been dealing with Sifxpert and having a VERY hard time getting a hold of him.

Sometimes it is not what the person or the actual company is doing, it is always good to investigate backgrounds, I read in a different response to another person this gentleman James Lombardo had some problems running a company based out of Florida, worth looking into it!!!

Have you ever heard that old saying about drinking Moonshine that goes, "better swirl the glass before you drink, if the bubbles don't disappear you better not drink it because it has too much antifreeze in it"?

The same is true about Lombardo. He sounds like a good deal, he says the words that you want to hear. But when he disappears it is because he is on another drug binge. He has been known to miss a week or more indulging what is left of his brain.

From what I know he was Fired from the Florida company that he so frequently bashes. They are still fixing his problems he left behind. I don't think he is worth the risk. I left his program. Now I am happy.