Watch out!

wow. I know you are probably tired of dealing with companies but if you register on this site you can take advantage of the free consult on this site. They may be albe to help you and it is free.

I don't know about you but i would not deal with anyother settlement company. If you look around here, there is some really good advice on dealing with things on your own. I wish you the best and let us know how you are doing.

I am a registered user on this site - just for this post I chose to be anonymous. I have tried twice in the last few days to contact my counselor on this site and he is not returning my calls. Not sure what to think of that one.
I would love to settle these accounts on my own - I just don't know if I have enough time or money left before they come after me.

Is there a reason why you chose settlement over consolidation?

Usually a settlement takes time to build up enough money in an account before they can try and make any offer on the account. So depending on the amount you owe and the payments you are making to the company it can sometimes take you 9 months or even longer to get enough in your fund to try and settle. I know that with my dad it would have taken him almost a year and a half to get enough to settle on just one of his accounts.

Anyone can settle their own debt, just research and follow other peoples experiences. I also thought of using a debt settlement company, but ... I wanted to keep my money and use it all for my settlement to get it over with. You still can settle, if you continue to negotiate you may be able to work out a payment plan with the creditor or a lump sum settlement if you can come up with the cash. Usually you have more success with a lump sum offer.

One more note, if you have nothing a creditor can get, you simply should start saving until you have about $3000 to $4000 and see if they will settle for less. Even if they file a judgement against you they still may be willing to settle for less with a lump sum offer, never hurts to try! These people just want money, many times they will take what they can get and they really prefer to deal with their consumers, not third parties.

Good advice from lostindebt....thats what I am doing, saving up $$ to settle on my own. I have gotten many settlement offers.

Also, there have been a few stories here of creditors continuing to pursue action while the consumer was in a debt settlement "program", which the creditor has every right to do. Its much different from a debt consolidation program in which your creditors are getting reduced, yet regular payments.

I would choose cocolidation over settlement every time! Settlemnt hurts your credit more and leaves you wide open for litigation. Some creditors will refuse settlement offers and sue with right to do so as Volley says. Also if you have a problem with a company contacted through this site go to the ranking section and post your negative comment about them. They deserve to be rated by there performance good or bad!

Are you kidding me? You fell for a hoax i have warned you about for the past 5 months. Do not speak to your creditors. Ever!

You want to blame me for your demise? You failed to mention this in your post...

I am sorry that i am probably one of your most challenging cases to work with due to the events prior to you taking on my account but hopefully your experience and expertise will be a great winner for both of us! I am holding you to that promise that things will be different for us in two weeks! Lol

You know why i stopped communication? Because right after steve bruce renegged his deal on monday he mentioned the conversation you two had just prior to closing the settlement for you.

You even said it yourself "the events prior to me taking over your accounts." just a quick highlight: you were sued by 2 other banks with judgments on both long before my involvement for the last 5 months and not to mention free!!! I may be wrong but according to my records, you were not charged a retainer and i rfecall mentioning i would not request a retainer since you were burnt by 2 other companies. How dare you claim me responsible for this when i had no hand in racking up over 50k in debt. You wanted to hide this from your husband and freaked every time a call was placed to him or your home...i am sorry but i have given you far too much of my time free!!!! And even if i did charge a retainer, it is peanuts considering the time i spent on bailing you out of a huge mess.

I settled your judgment for 50% but you were lied to not by me the collector so now that you unsettled the account, you could use your 4k to file b/k that i had returned by precept like i said i would because the 4k you have saved like i planned to use to settle monday will not cover the balance in full required now that you had to pick up the phone.

I had a loss in my family and i do have other clients to tend to. You are not my only client and i am not in the business of helping anyone deceive their spouse from knowing what kind of financial trouble they are involved in.

No other company would have given so generously like i have not in a million years nor would they have worked on getting you a refund from a previous company like i have nor would they do it for free. Anyone who could have accepted what i have done for you over the past 5 months and read a post, actually, 3 or more at least like i have just read from you would be irate to say the very least.

You attempts to defame me are clearly malicious and undeserved. Blaming your financial crisis on me is spineless and dishonest to yourself and to anyone else who you look to convince. You are the only one who made this happen...i took an inevitbale failure case and had it turned around after a lot of hard work. Not only will i not be paid for the work but i took valuable time from myself, friends and family as i have a personal crisis of my own at the moment which you were aware of. Simply put...shame on you.
[size=6][/size]

:shock: I don't know what to say.

First, I am sorry to hear of your loss.

Second, I can see how the original poster could have done this (not out of spite)only because they have been burned twice. But knowing that you were doing this for free and got me a refund from someone, I think I would have listened to you (would have been hard for me to do that) I know that you had a loss, but when someone is in panic mode they do, do stupid things. I think the original poster was scared when they didn't hear from you. So a quick e-mail could have probably stopped this from happening ( I know you said they knew)

I am not siding with one more than the other. The original poster was in a panic and wanted to see what was going on. and the sifxpert person was dealing with personal issues. Both of you have reasons that you did what you did. But to come here slamming each other was not good for either of you.

Really Mad, if it is true what guest has said, I think it is time to tell your husband the truth. Because when he does find out (not from you) it will cause even more problems than what you have right now.

Guest/sifxpert, I think it was very nice of you to do what you did for Really Mad because she got burnt.and like I said before, I am sorry to hear of your loss.

I think sharing a clients personal information with a whole forum is very unprofessional, this is not the forum for this kind of conduct. What ever happened to the privacy of a client? Proper communication and staying in touch with a client would maybe have eliminated this problem. I have read numerous complaints about Sixfpert not being available; settling debt is a very stressful thing for most clients and communication is important.

Nobody knows if the attorney lied or if Sixfpert lied, but is this a good place to deal with this?

First, I am so sorry that sifxpert posted the "dirty laundry" here for all to see. That kind of response was certainly not my intention when I posted my comments. I was only trying to help someone else to not have to endure what I am currently going through.

Thanks "Guest" for stating the obvious of how unprofessional it was of him to divulge my personal information to the whole world!

Please allow me to briefly state the truth of my encounter with this person/company. First, we barely worked on my accounts for 4 months - not 5. Second, he assured me that his office returns all calls and emails no later than 48 hours after contact. That very rarely happened. He ceased communication when I wrote him inquiring as to why he told me that I did not need to appear at the hearing which automatically got a judgement against me! When I emailed him to inquire why this happened after he told me he had not had a client sued in 2 years - I never got a response.

And if he would consult his files - I did indeed give him a retainer fee. He even talked about it at one point as to the settlement fees would be taken from the same account he got his retainer from. A refund from Precept? Never happened! Sure wish it would have as I could sure use it for this lawsuit I am trying to settle on my own!

I did not try to hide this from my husband. I explained to sifxpert from the start that my husband is in very bad health and can not handle any undue stress. True, I was concerned at the few calls my husband received but I did not "freak".

Seems interesting that he says he spoke to Steve Bruce. I spoke to the attorney in his office that was in charge of my case. I never had a conversation with Mr. Bruce!

There are alot of holes in his story but it just goes to confirm my feelings that settlement companies say what they have to in order to get your money and business and then you are hung out to dry. I would find it so refreshing to actually hear of a "good guy" in the business.

Thanks for allowing me to clear up this matter. You are a great group of people.

Well I wish you the best of luck. I hope it all works out in the end after what you have been through.Now I understand why you didn't tell your hubby. I don't think I would have either. I thought it was strange that he came in and said stuff like that, but we all let things out when we are mad. I am sure that there is someone in here that could help you out with your situation, so you can do it yourself. I don't know if you have started another post or not, but it would be a good idea to put a question out there in the CA forum. Good luck :rose:

Sixfpert tried to scare me into using his services telling me if I did not use his services I would be sued. I guess we will see ... and I guess you can get sued with him too, he has no legal protection and it you do get sued he has to dump you as a client because he can't give legal advice. Thanks for the info really mad.

Really Mad - I'm sorry none of this is working out for you. Have you been able to share any of this with your husband? If so, is he able to perhaps get a loan against real estate or something to help you settle your debt? If not, have you been to see a BK attorney? If you and your husband exceed the median income for a two person household you most likely would have to file Chapter 13 and when I talked to an attorney, he said they would only get pennies on the dollar and I would not have to pay back all the amount. That is my backup plan if I get in trouble and get sued. I didn't go with a debt settlement company because there was not legal protection and they can not represent you once you have been sued. I know they are not able to guarantee I will not get sued so I hired a BK attorney to represent me if I should get in trouble. He has advised me to talk to my creditors with very limited information "I've lost my income, I'm overextended and I'm trying to avoid bankruptcy" I further tell them that thee is no way I can possible pay monthly payments to everyone I owe because of my loss of income and I am looking to family members and friends to assist me and I will let them know when something develops and I only talk to them about once every month, if that, now. When I get further behind I will opt to talk more often to try to avoid a charge off and settle my accounts. I still need to sell a car and few other items to have enough to work with them.

I am so thankful for the support of this board! This week I especially need it.
I am going to talk to a bankruptcy atty this morning so I will post again after I get back from that meeting. I am hoping this will give me some relief from the stress. My blood pressure has gone into the danger zone and my physician had to put me on 2 new heavy duty meds to get me calmed down!
No I have not told my husband about all this yet. I am going to have a long talk with him this weekend after I have a plan in line.

Good for you :) You need to do what is best for you and your family. especially when health issues are involved. Hope all goes well and that the stress level will finally go down for you. Good Luck !!

I just wanted to let everyone know that things are starting to line out. I had a long talk with my husband and he was mad for a little while but has reconciled to the whole thing now and understands why I handled it the way I did. Our Chapter 13 bankruptcy was filed 2/19 and we go for the trustee meeting on 4/1 (hope that is not a bad thing being April Fools Day and all!). Our payments will be around the same amount I was saving each month in the settlement account and we will be paying the creditors about 40% of the balances. I now have legal protection from the creditors so I am basically happy with the outcome. Our credit is messed up but it was already with the late payments and then the non-payments while playing the settlement game. Dave Ramsey said one time he had no idea what his credit score number was nor did he care as he did not have or want credit - he chose to pay cash as he went. I think that is the only smart way to go - keeps you out of trouble that way.
I will also add that if I had it all to do all over again, I would skip the settlement step (and the thrill of being ripped off by 3 settlement companies!) and go straight for bankruptcy. It ends up with the same result and protection from being sued that settlement does not offer.

Good for you, I'm glad things worked out.

I am glad to hear that you talked to him and now have a plan. Now you do not have to keep it to yourself. Things will get better from here on out, but just remember what got you in the situation you are in, in the first place, so you don't make the same mistakes again. Thank you for keeping us updated :)

What a story!! I'm SOO glad things are working out, for you, too!! Sounds like you really had it rough, for a while. And, from personal experience, when you're going 'through this alone, the entire world is on your shoulders.' Gosh....I'm glad you are seeing SOME relief now. What a horrible experience. I don't care what the issue/situation is, nobodys financial issues should be 'put out to the public' without the persons consent. That was extrememly unprofessional.

I am happy that you have found some relief too. And it is nice to hear that even though your husband was not aware of things, you two were able to work through it. Too often people split up over money issues. Congrats!!!!

OOPS - Thought I was signed in.

I am curious, however. When someone's personl information is given, on this forum, WITHOUT permission of the individual, can something be done? The CA had NO right to do that. What if he got mad at someone else?...would the 'client', he was mad at, be 'subject' to the same 'treatment'? Gosh..I hope not.

sdchargers - the person who slammed me on this post was sifxpert a settlement company person - not a CA, which in my opinion is as bad if not worse. He shows no perfessionalism in my opinion and yes, it would be interesting to know if he can be in trouble for his actions.

Wow!! 'ReallyMad'......I wonder if there IS something you can do, for the compny to 'slam' YOU? Just horrible, I say. This issue was just that...YOUR issue, not everyone else's..ya know?

All I can do at this point is just let everyone else know how he operates so they will not be blind sided like I was.

aka "Really Mad"

My opinion, is that you were looking to hurt sifxpert who couldnt fix what was already broken and you knew or should have known that you were doomed. Regardless of who lied, from an outsiders perspective, neither party handled themselves well. I personally handle debts and look to sif for guidance posted on his site. If anyone thinks he is a thief, go read his site. I guarantee you will be convinced otherwise.

You were not ripped off. You were given the truth and you took a gamble. Unfortunately, the house wins as usual. I've read several times on several forums how you say "sifxpert lied to me and ripped me off". I have to say that you are wrong. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I do not think you are insane but perhaps a little too optimistic and regardless of who lied sifxpert or the collection agency who sued, you said it in your own words, you were probably the most challenging client for sifxpert given the preexisting condition of your accounts having been with 2 other companies prior to enrolling with sifxpert.

I do however disagree with disclosing personal information on a public forum but I am sorry to say it and I am surprised no one else has mentioned this but obviously, you did not confront sifxpert prior to posting how he ripped you off and lied to you. Nothing he posted was questionable. Your post here, and on other forums I have read, are full of accusations with malicious intent. Again, I am sorry for your health issues and I wish this never happened but I think alot of mud slinging could have been avoided if you confronted sifxpert before posting such harsh and questionable allegations on his integrity.

Before making an opinion based on what you have read here, read his forum and then form an opinion. You would be doing yourself a disservice by going on what you have read here.

There is not one negative comment about sifxpert anywhere but here. If you google his handle, you will find nothing but praise about him. I read on another forum credit info center where you smeared his name also. Its not his fault you were sued. You admitted going to him with serious issues. So how did you get ripped off and how do you know for sure he lied to you? I'm sorry but if I just lost a family member and read what you have posted on not just this forum but numerous others when you have no proof, I dont think I would have been so kind either. By googling sifxpert, you will find posts dated back to 2004 from sifxpert with advice you will not find anywhere else. He is given praise by several attorneys who went as far as saying the information he provides on forums is far more detailed and far more valuable than anything you would ever pay for from a naca law firm and I agree.

The bottom line is that you blind sided him and looked to discredit him. After consulting sif for several years I can not allow anyone to pass such accusations when I know that it is not the truth.
How he gets his information is beyond me but wherever he gets it is direct from the source and alot of people would pay alot of money for it too yet it is made available for anyone who is in need of managing their finances on their own.

I am an attorney in Southern Cal. I know of Sif but have never met him but in return for all he has done for my firm I owe this post to him. I know there are many others out there who would do the same.

If anything, this thread should be deleted. Its nothing more than people venting and saying things they should not have in the heat of the moment. The OP needs to get over it and move on and stop blaming others and take responsibility which I have not read once.

Let this be the end of it before things get blown out of proportion and this forum loses a valuable asset if it has not already.

I wish to make one more post and then I will comment on this any more.
Mr. Esq - while we are both entitled to our personal opinions - you must agree it all depends on what your experience has been. Ours have surely been on opposite ends of the pole.
My intent was not to personally hurt sifxpert as much as I wanted the fine people of this forum to be accutely aware of the fact that settlement companies do not work for everyone and I had a total of 3 let me down. I should have never placed my hope in them as it appears that the only way they can be effective is if you have tons of disposable cash and are on the front end of your default game. Mine was too far gone and I should have filed for bankruptcy long before I did ( hindsight is wonderful, isn't it?!)
As to your comments on my lack of action - I did try to contact/confront sifxpert several times by email and voicemail and he chose to not reply to me. So the attempt was made on my part.
Of course there are no negative comments on his forum - it is his personal forum! I posted an inquiry there one time to see if anyone had spoken with him in the last few days and he deleted the post and PM'd me to state that inquirys like that hurt his integrity - so he does have total control of the board and what you can and can not read.
He stated in his post here on this subject that he had obtained a refund for me from Precept - that was the first I had known of that happening. I never received a cent from them so where is that money??
I appreciate your feedback and your standing up for your friend. At one time, I thought he was my friend too.

I'm really tired of the alias's that sixfpert uses to represent himself and using an alias as an attorney is even more unprofessional and cheap; like people aren't smart enough to figure this out.

I have read SEVERAL negative things, about Sifxpert. However.....I din't think it was appropriate to post them. APPARENTLY.....I should have. "Nothing but praises?" WRONG ANSWER!! Of course a so-called 'law office' will stand up for another....if they 'belive' in the same thing. I hope this meaning is COMPLETELY understood by this so-called 'ESQ'.

I've read several negatives as well about clients not being able to reach him and him not returning calls or emails and each time he is having a crisis in his personal life.

Well I am not anonymous nor am I Sifxpert and I will go on record to say that he has handled our accounts with professionalism and RESULTS. He has contacted us when he had something to contact us about and we have been patient enough to let him do his job. This doesn't happen overnight--settlement that is. He don't have time to take emails and phone calls every other day from every client.

He told us up front that we, because of our debt load, would probably get sued. He worked our accounts and found ways around that. He has saved us from bankruptcy, I am sure.

We did what he told us to do--we forwarded all mail from creditors to him and refused to take their calls. We let HIM handle it.

He has been honest from the beginning and has saved us untold grief and stress.

Anyone who has this kind of debt and/or is thinking about settling that hasn't told their spouse FOR WHATEVER REASON has more issues than debt.

I think if everyone was honest here, we would all find out that this client brought an absolute mess to James and expected him to wave a magic wand and fix it all.

ok lisa,i have seen you on alot of topics.time to come across.honestly,you either work for him,or are a friend of his.i don't appreciate your talking down to people here.james,she called him james everybody.is faultless,great,perfect.please i said it before and i will say it again.it is up to the consumer what they want to do about there debt.
there is no magic bullet,you just said that,but you seem to think he's flawless.i say this because you seem to take issue with all who have a problem with him.well now i have a problem with him,problem with that?

I have never met the man and have no idea what he even looks like. I called him James because that's his name and that's how I refer to him when we email about the accounts he has settled and is settling for me and my husband.

We came to him with more than $50K in cc debt. He was honest, told us exactly what we were in for and was right. His fees are results based and fair.

I think if anyone does enough reading and research, even on this website, I think they'll find more good said about him than bad.

lisa,lisa,i know somebody taken by him.he controls what is put on his board.my friend just e-mailed a query as to why her calls are not returned he sent an e-mail saying that her note made him look bad.sorry lisa,but i didn't mean to slam you,but james is so oily if he sold himself as a commodity at 110.00 a barrel he could retire tonight.sorry if i offended you,then you are of a few he helped.there are more he hasn't or made there situations worse.

SIFXPERT STOLED A 500,00 FROM ME.
IT IS A BAD BUSINESS WITH BAD PEOPLE WORKING FROM THEM.
DO NOT USE SIFXPERT.