Has anyone dealt with Hess Kennedy & Company or Credicur

I would recommend that you do an extensive research on any debt consolidation company. What is good for one person may not be good for another, so the best thing to do is have options and ask questions

Thank you Monica, that is excellent advice.

Hi,

If you need to get back on your feet and out of dept you came to the right place. Providing step by step instructions, this site will pull you out of the rut.

It did for me!

~Sabina

Sabrina, that's nice of you to share the success story. Unfortunately many members here have not had similar success.

I like this site and think that it would be beneficial to anyone trying to consolidate them debts with vital information about companies performing such services.

anyone looking to consolidate debt should do some sound investigation on the companies that a advertising these services. It would be the best way to get to know who you are dealing with.

Good morning, guests! I see you guys are back and ready to go!

Ahhhh...here we go again :roll:

They are all over the place today. Seems they could be a little more creative with their names.

I have never had experience with those companies. However, checking forums like this one and doing research on the internet will help you make an educated decision. Just remember this decision will affect your future one way or another.

are you a prophet?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Hi,

Does anybody have any information on what type of services "Hess Kennedy & Company" and "Credicur" offer?

Praveen

If you want info on Hess, just use the search button at the top of this page- there are a bazillion posts about them!

Any company you are thinking of using should be checked out with the BBB, and possibly your states' AG..karen

:?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?:

[color=Red][/color]I too have been a faithful member of the Hess Kennedy Club. I'm a single Mom that was left a lot of debt by my ex husband. I have always paid my bills, and wanted to try the debt settlement way instead of bankruptcy. Hess Kennedy has taken faithfully for almost a year my monthly payments along with a huge attorney fee. To date I've had judgments issued against me and they refuse to return any of my phone calls. I've sent repeated faxes, letters and been put on hold for 40 minutes at a time. I've sent them additional correspondences and e-mails so we will see what happens. I think we've all be had. Just as a side note - our money is probably in the Caymen Islands because they have an "office" there as well.

Courtgirl,that is the saddest story I have ever heard in my whole life.

Wow, single mother with multiple judgments because of the meenie weenie lawyers. You are so full of crap.

Whats the matter debt collector? Pockets getting light?

courtgirl, (the one who actually had something intelligent to say) is your account continuing to be debited? If so, go into a local branch of your bank and have the debit blocked, then send a letter via certified mail/return receipt requested to Hess Kennedy, advising them that you are revoking any further ACH debits to your account, and that you have already instructed your bank as to this matter. Inform them that any future debit attempts to your account will be viewed as fraudulent and unauthorized and your bank will pursue the matter.

Next, go to the BBB website and file a complaint against them, and state that the resolution you are asking for is a refund of all funds accrued in your settlement account to date. Also, go to the Florida Attorney General's website and file a complaint through them as well.

if you are looking at this company to get out of debt DO NOT DO IT!!! i started with this comapny in january and they did nto do antyhign they did not call or settle the debt the only thing they did was take my money and then when i canceled the program they onyl gave me some of it back took about 600 from me.

I talked to hess kennedy and company today about giving me the rest of my money back because i am 21 years old with a 5 year old and work a lot and really trusted them to get me out of debt after doing nothing is when i called today and after screaming and yelling with the manager i told him i would get a lawyer to get my money back because they didnt do anything call anybody not even me, HIS EXACT WORDS WERE "GOODLUCK PROVING IT" if you are looking to getout of debt then make sure that they have lots of good things about them and make sure it is somewhere close to you where you can walk into an office and see what is going on. DO NOT GO WITH HESS KENNEDY ITS HORRIBLE THEY TREAT YOU LIKE SHIT AND OBVIOUSLY SCREW YOU OVER.

I talked to hess kennedy and company today about giving me the rest of my money back because i am 21 years old with a 5 year old and work a lot and really trusted them to get me out of debt after doing nothing is when i called today and after screaming and yelling with the manager i told him i would get a lawyer to get my money back because they didnt do anything call anybody not even me, HIS EXACT WORDS WERE "GOODLUCK PROVING IT" if you are looking to getout of debt then make sure that they have lots of good things about them and make sure it is somewhere close to you where you can walk into an office and see what is going on. DO NOT GO WITH HESS KENNEDY ITS HORRIBLE THEY TREAT YOU LIKE SHIT AND OBVIOUSLY SCREW YOU OVER.

Jenna, have you filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau yet? If not, I suggest you to to their website, do a search for Hess Kennedy and then file a complaint directly on their site. Also, go to the Florida Attorney General's website and file a complaint against HK on there as well. Only when I did this did I get any of my money back.

I have learned the hard way that using a debt settlement company is bollocks! I was able to successfully settle some of my debts for a lot less than the full balance. I'm just saving up now to settle the remaining 2 accounts.

It would be advisable to keep a log of the dates, times and converstions (who you spoke to and what was said) that you had with HK. Any documentation that HK mailed to you, anything that you signed, etc., will also be useful. Filing the complaints is the first step.

Courtgirl and others. I know how you feel. You hear nothing about what is going on, and you feel cheated. But going through a debt settlement takes time. How much do you owe? How much are you paying. Hess Kennedy works with the creditors and settles with them once they know you can pay off the debt. Look at my previous post I had a 13000 chase card that settled for 4500. They sent me a confirmation letter and then got a confirmation letter from Chase saying that the debt is 0. These take time. If you want to call them, call in the morning. (Early) I have been put on hold and waited for calls. Be persistent and call themyourself.

Now I'm scared. I have an account with them and assumed that everything was all right. What is the best way to get in touch with them?

Sophger. I was in the same position you were. Scared. Reading all these post about how they are a scam. I toughed it out. I didnt get to many calls, but I would call them all the time. They werent the best Customer service but when I finally talk to one rep who was super nice I always called her Ext. I Just checked my Credit score and Saw that my Chase bank said balance owed 0!! Im so relieved. I still have one more card with them to get rid of. Be on them. Dont freak out.

Be very carefuly with any of these companies. I just recently cancelled this service and am now filing bankruptcy. After speaking with the bankruptcy lawyer I found out that the company pays themselves first then starts paying the creditors. This service can not and will not stop garnishments, lawsuits etc. ON top of that When I cancelled all my bills were even higher from the late fees and such that continued to accumulate and the company would not give me any refund. Be Very Careful!!!

kuddish19 - I'm totally aware that debt settlement takes time and that you have to save up enough funds for a settlement company to start settling your debts. But, Hess Kennedy acknowledged that I had enough funds saved up to start settling my debts, on one of the few occasions that I actually go to speak to someone, yet they did not start this process, despite my continued follow-ups. This is when I finally got a clue and realized I was being scammed.

Also, dzyner is totally correct. These settlement companies cannot help you legally, and just because you are in a settlement program and the creditor/collector has been made aware of this, that doesn't mean they're going to be patient and wait until you can offer a settlement. I had a collection agency sue me for a $2500 credit card debt 1 month after they were given the account by the original creditor. I had actually started with a debt consolidation company after getting burned by Hess Kennedy, so my creditors were getting paid some money, but I still got sued.......so definitely keep that in mind.

between credit counseling and debt negotiation is one negotiates the interest while not having a negative imoact on FICO and the other negotiates the balances owed and has anegative impact

To the guest who posted this in Aug of 2007. I appreciate the compliment. It is nice to know that I can help. Also to respond to the loan officer: Most people that look for third party programs are in dire straits financially. The last thing they need is another loan. Consistancy, honesty, and dedication is key in order to make any debt program work. Also do your homework. If you follow the direction of a good counselor, you will get through your situation with minimal problems. Remember folks this is the credit system. It is a system, no one ever said it was a perfect system. So many consumers find a scape goat in blaming others for their financial woes. The only loan officers I here complaining about peoples situations are the ones that lose out on their commisions when they can not close a "deal". Did any of you ever stop to think before bad mouthing a company out there that tried to help someone in which you are dealing with know... Hmmm maybe this person that I'm trying to close this loan with is NOT telling the complete truth or that maybe this person actually had severe credit problems before they contact a counseling agency. Just think about this. Know your finances. Keep your eyes open and NOT your wallets. Mark Lawa..Certified Credit Counselor.

I just don't understand how I have gone through about 3 different companies for this debt thing. It's just wrong. How come once you sign up it's harder and harder to get a hold of someone. People should get back with you if they got nothing to hide. Just rude! I can't believe I did this, it's just horrible and makes me MORE stressed then before, I just wish I could just go back!

It is important that you stick it out the first 120 days in the program. During this time the banks are going to lie to you call you incessantly, and send you letters.

The banks have less rules when it comes to debt collecting, however, they cannot blatantly lie.

Thus, 99% of all debt settlement clients who cancel cancel because the creditors refuse to stop calling.

The creditors do this on purpose the moment they know you are in a debt settlement plan.

Some facts though: 1. all creditors deal with third party settlement companies. 2. all creditors lie and say the debt settlement company is doing nothing. 3. After 120 days the account information is sold to a debt collector and one letter will stop them in there tracks.

stick it out and do not listen to the creditors.

If you do a search in the above box on This company therer are pages and pages of horror Stories that members have had with this compnay.Hess kennedy seems to be one of the worst companies to dael with.

I've been working... MORE like having to DEAL with Hess & Kennedy, now Laura Hess & Associates P.A., for the last two years and have YET to see positive results. They have been paid in FULL since June of 2007 and have YET even contact the majority of my creditors or over a payment/settlement. They not only have NOT done the job they have been paid to do with their WHOPPING 200% apr but they don't return phone calls(I've left a total of 150 in the las 7 months since paying in full), they DON'T contact your debtors when you've asked them to, they don't send copies of ANYTHING you've singed to you, to top it off, When requesting a refund, they want to charge a 30% fee for services.... Services that have YET to be fullfilled! STAY AWAY FROM HESS & KENNEDY... If you're willing fork up that kind of money, you'd might as well hire your own personal attorney to help you take care of everything yourself!! H&K will RIP YOU OFF ROYALLY!! I'm STILL trying to get a hold the M.I.A person who's "supposedly" handeling my account!! Do some serious in depth research before you sign with ANY 'credit counseling' program and make your fair share of phone calls to make sure their reputation isn't a finctional posting or website just to get you to sign with them!! My husband and I have paid a VERY DEAR price, not only with money, but with our credit... DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST and stay away from Hess& Kennedy!
Also, keep in mind that when you sign with a credit consolidation program, after they've taken your money, they sell your accounts to someone else to do the work FOR them... Make sure to ask MILLIONS of questions before signing or agreeing to ANYTHING!!! Good Luck!!!!

Hess Kennedy phone number is 866-867-3135. I have been working with them since November, and they have setteled one (of many) of my debts so far. They are very friendly and helpful. they have made me feel like I have a chance in a hopeless situation.

to ms g who are you working with can you share that information i also started with this company and none of my creditors were contacted. i hope i get my money back. now i need to find someone who is legit

My aunt has been giving money to this company for 3 years. Who knows what they're doing with it. She is being sued by one of her creditors.

Just FYI, stated on the BBB website, the state of Florida has filed a lawsuite against Hess Kennedy and Company as of February this year. If that doesn't tell you anything I don't know what will.

Stay Away

Alert / Stay Away

I have used them. They have almost two grand of my money and they won't release it. I recieve no information from them regarding my account. What was consistant on their part was the taking money out of my account each and every month. I have left several messages with them with no response. AND IF YOUR NOT PLEASED WITH THEIR WORK AND WANT TO CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT YOU'LL LOOSE YOUR MONEY.

Removed, reason: multiple postings of the same article. Edited by: Shazzers

Removed, reason: multiple postings of the same article. Edited by: Shazzers

Removed, reason: multiple postings of the same article. Edited by: Shazzers

Removed, reason: multiple postings of the same article. Edited by: Shazzers

debt settlement Complaints Lead to Search for 'Attorney'
Bud Newman
Daily Business Review
04-16-2008


A man named Edward T. Kennedy is listed as a name partner at the embattled Hess Kennedy law firm in Coral Springs, Fla., but no one with that name is licensed to practice law in Florida.

A Florida Bar complaint filed March 13 against Laura Hess, the Hess in Hess Kennedy, notes Florida lawyers are barred from forming partnerships with nonlawyers in a legal practice. The thrust of the complaint is that the law firm is running a "deceptive debt settlement scheme" that is long on fees and short on assistance.

The law firm and related companies are targets of hundreds of consumer complaints nationally, and the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida gave it a failing grade. No one has estimated the full scope of an alleged debt scheme, but in North Carolina alone, more than 220 residents claimed they paid Hess Kennedy more than $500,000.

State corporate records at various times list addresses for Kennedy in Coral Springs, New York and the Cayman Islands.

New York lawyer Edward T. Kennedy is a taxation attorney and accountant with the Jones Day law firm in Manhattan. Asked Monday if he had any connection to the Coral Springs firm, Kennedy said, "No, not at all." But he said he was asked the same question by the West Virginia attorney general's office about two months ago.

A Chase Bank lawsuit filed in February against the law firm claims Kennedy may be Edward Cherry, who is listed in state corporate records as a business partner in Hess Kennedy and several affiliated companies.

The Bar joined the attorneys general of Florida, North Carolina and West Virginia, Chase Bank and Cherry's former employer in court against Hess Kennedy, its affiliates or its principals. Hess denied Kennedy and Cherry are the same person in a countersuit filed against the bank March 7, saying: "Edward T. Kennedy is a human being who is not Edward Cherry. Edward Kennedy resides in Brussels." No other information about Kennedy was provided.

But the existence or whereabouts of Kennedy may be the least of the problems facing Hess and Cherry. Hess, a Florida Bar member since 2000, is fighting the 10-count, 119-page complaint in her second run-in with the Bar. She was disciplined with a public reprimand in 2005 for drunken driving convictions. Cherry is a defendant in a pending Broward County civil suit claiming he embezzled at least $600,000 from the company he worked for just prior to joining the Hess Kennedy businesses. His attorney said Cherry committed no wrongdoing. Hess could not be reached for comment despite repeated requests via phone, e-mail, a message left in person at her Coral Springs office and through her attorneys. Cherry could not be reached for comment at the law firm or by phone.

The Florida Bar alleges Hess Kennedy's operation is "designed to extract upfront fees from financially strapped clients whether or not any useful services are performed" for them. Clients "rarely obtain debt settlements ... and end up in a far worse financial position" than before.

The Bar also claims:

Hess and her agents are running an illegal advance-fee scam.
She failed to provide clients with competent representation.
She charged excessive fees for her services and shared fees with nonlawyers.
The firm failed to place customer payments into trust or escrow accounts as promised in advertising and agreements or by sales agents as required by Bar regulations.
In her reply Monday to the Bar complaint, Hess denied operating any scheme and rejected allegations that her firm intentionally preyed upon unsophisticated clients to collect large legal fees. She conceded some of her client agreements specified funds would be placed in client escrow accounts for subsequent payment to creditors but acknowledged no such funds were maintained. In an earlier response to the Bar last October, she said funds collected were for legal fees and not to pay clients' creditors.

Hess attorneys Culver Smith of Fox Rothschild in West Palm Beach and Kevin Tynan of Richardson & Tynan in Tamarac filed for dismissal of the complaint. Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jack Cook has been appointed as the referee to hear the trial. No date has been set.

Tynan told the Bar last October that "Hess and her law firm are engaged in some very cutting-edge litigation in a very technical area of the law that is heavily regulated." While there have been some "growing pains" at the firm, he said there should be no charges against Hess because clients who complained had gotten refunds. The Bar complaint noted Hess Kennedy gave almost no refunds until the professional investigation began.

As for Cherry, he was sued in 2003 by his former employer, Internet Billing of Deerfield Beach, which claims he embezzled at least $600,000 days before he abruptly resigned from the firm.

The suit said Cherry was listed as Internet Billing's "in-house counsel" even though he is not licensed to practice law in Florida. The company claims Cherry revived and had total control over an administratively dissolved Florida company called Esquire Escrow and used his position at Internet Billing, known as iBill, to get fellow employees to funnel company funds to Esquire Escrow.

Three days before quitting iBill in February 2003, Cherry made a $500,000 withdrawal from Esquire Escrow. The withdrawal slip filed as an exhibit in the case said the money was transferred "to personal and children's accounts." Cherry also made tens of thousands of dollars in additional cash withdrawals of Esquire Escrow funds from money machines and from banks during 2001 and 2002, court documents showed.

Bank records included in the court file show Cherry withdrew at least $12,200 from Esquire Escrow accounts at ATM machines in May 2002. A company bank card was used for a $763 purchase at a Sunglass Hut the same month and $3,130 in charges at Fort Lauderdale's upscale Voodoo Lounge the next month.

In an Oct. 30, 2003, deposition, Cherry invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer any questions about what happened to the money moved from iBill to Esquire Escrow.

Boca Raton solo practitioner Charles Wender, who represents Cherry and who was present at the 2003 deposition, said Cherry's "position is that he is totally innocent and these are just wild allegations that they obviously can't prove."

Internet Billing attorney Anthony Carriuolo of Berger Singerman of Fort Lauderdale, who conducted the deposition, said documents show Cherry "was just siphoning off tons of money."

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It's all a big scam! Call your attorney like I did if you want to get to the bottom of this. By the way, what professional company comes back with such tacky verbage on these comments.

debt relief firms ordered to stop taking money in NC, says AG
Quote:

Hess Kennedy being sued counts:

23. On or about January 3, 2008, Laura Hess & Associates, P.A. filed an Annual
Report listing Edward Cherry as an officer and director.

24. Edward Cherry is not an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Florida.
Section 621.09 of the Florida Statutes requires a shareholder or member of a professional legal 6 services corporation or limited liability company, respectively, to be an attorney licensed in the State of Florida to practice law.

25. Laura Hess & Associates, P.A. is the owner of the fictitious names Consumer Law
Center and The Consumer Law Center (Coral Springs) filed with the Division of Corporations on or about September 6, 2007 and September 10, 2007, respectively. Said fictitious names violate the provisions of F.S. ????621.12(4) as they are not ???????identical to [the professional service corporation????????s] name???????, i.e. Laura Hess & Associates.

26. Laura Hess & Associates, P.A. is the owner of the fictitious name Hess|Kennedy
Chartered filed with the Division of Corporations on or about September 6, 2007. Said fictitious name violates the provisions of F.S. ????621.12(4) as it is not ???????identical to [the professional service corporation????????s] name???????, i.e. Laura Hess & Associates.

27. Laura Hess & Associates, P.A. is also the part owner of Hess Kennedy Chartered
LLC, in conjunction with a Cayman Islands business company. Defendants represent Hess
Kennedy Chartered LLC to be a corporation responsible for processing consumer payments on behalf of the law firm. Laura L. Hess has testified that the predecessor in name to Hess Kennedy Chartered LLC was an international law firm. This ownership by Laura Hess & Associates, P.A. violates Chapter 621 of the Florida Statutes.

This is from court Doc. filed in Florida.

The bashing of Hess is getting old please post updated news if you are going to throw dirt at someone.

Just google search: "Hess Kennedy Continues Victories Over Credit Card Industry in Pennsylvania Court" you will get updated news on Hess Kennedy all over media.

FAKE NEWS STORY ON TOP. Hess Kennedy never beat anyone in court. They are Frauds

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