Findelstein, Kern, Steinberg, Cunningham

We have an account with Beneficial that we have been trying to work out payment arrangements on. We agreed to four larger monthly payments to be deducted from our checking account. We started receiving letter after letter indicating that all the payments would be deducted on the same day. I called and could not get a straight answer other than that their system showed the four different payments in different months. I asked to pay another way and was told that the first payment had to come out of our account and then we could send in payments. The date for the payment came and went and it was not deducted. I called and was told that for some reason it was submitted and then deleted from THEIR system and that they would look into it and get back with me. I asked what to do in the meantime and was told to just wait for them to investigate. Next thing I knew, we got a call from Finkelstein, Kern, Steinberg and Cunningham-a collection attorney's office. I called them back and explained the situation. We got on a conference call with the Beneficial rep and she said they would investigate again and get back with us. A few days later, we got a letter from the attorney's office. I put it to the side, to wait for the explanation from Beneficial. That has been a few weeks ago, so today I called the attorney's office to see what was going on and was told Bebeficial said we had stopped payment on the original payment, which we did not, and that a "court date" had now been set for 3 months out. The only other option I was told was a settlement, which was not much of a settlement, or a "consent judgement". I asked if papers had already been filed and got a very vague answer that they could be sent any day. We are to get back with them in a few days. I called our local courthouse and there is no court date set.

Has anyone had any dealings with Beneficial/Finkelsten, Kern, Steinberg, Cunningham and what was the outcome? Also, has anyone had any success with a decent settlement from Beneficial?