Credit Solutions Lawsuit - Is this company a scam?

This is a horrible company. I paid them over $3000 and did not settle one account. They have all been sent to attorneys like Zwicker and Mann Bracken. They won't budge and now I owe more than ever. If there is a class action suit, I want a piece of the pie. Warning! Do not ever use this company. I got screwed.

This company has DESTROYED my financial life for years to come!!! It is a complete scam and they have yet to settle three of my highest accounts. Now they tell me the accounts are in "limbo" and they can't do anything at all. Please do not EVER use this company!

Jeng - just curious, what do they mean by "limbo?"

Will the creditor not budge, is CSA holding off on trying to negotiate, etc...

Credit Solutions jumped the gun and went ahead and closed my accounts anyway, after I extended my contract date to research further the ramifications on my credit. In speaking with an attorney, I can only seek recourse through arbitration, according to the contract, in which I have to pay for, and being told that they are usually already on the company's side. If I didn't have money to pay my bills, then how can I pay for an arbitrator? So I'm left royally screwed with them getting away with it!! They have messed up my life!!!! If anyone has any suggestions........

Credit Solutions Lawsuit:
Credit Solutions is a scam.. They stole our money that could have been used to pay off our creditors... Instead, they offered NO help, answered no questions, would not send us any documentation of our phone calls, etc. Got us further in debt and ultimately ran us in to bankruptcy. Thanks a lot...

yeah i've had problems to. i used to ask them all the time to send proposals to my creditors, they never did. So now my creditors are tacking on fees driving my outstanding balances through the roof. So my balance goes from $1000 all the up to $1500. So now when they want me settle they say they saved me $500 and all i owe is $1000. I'm also getting sued by my creditors and getting summons from the court.

After spending some time on the Credit Solutions website, I viewed what appeared to be hundreds of settlement letters. I saw settlement letters ranging from 5% to 70%, reducing the debt obligations from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per account. There is a letter dated September 24, 2008 from Mann Bracken, a 45% settlement letter saving the consumer $9,186.58 on the account.

creditsolutions.com/bin/settlement/index.php?id=2008_09-14

The other item I looked at was their BBB report. It appears that almost every complaint has been satisfied according to the BBB website. Reputable companies resolve complaints, not seeing the issue on this one. If they did not resolve them then you would have a problem.

In researching the litigation against them it seems to be inherently flawed, the "proposed" class action has nothing to do with debt settlement, but rather an allegation of a CROA violation, the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Doing a google search for "amicus brief and credit solutions" speaks to this fact - the report was an independent brief published on 7/30/08.

I don't dispute that Credit Solutions has got settlements for some people. However, they fail to warn their clients that there accounts will be sent to these law firms quickly after enrolling and that if they don't have enough money to pay them a settlement than they run a high risk of being sued. It is very common for CSA to put people in programs that are 3 to 4 years long. However, no collector is going to wait 3 to 4 years to get their money. It makes no sense. What happens is CSA loads there fees over the first year and a half and than there clients get sued and quit the program. So they get thousands of dollars for virutally doing nothing, but put nice people into a bind which ultimately end in bk 9 times out of 10.

BIll G. - Next time try not to make it so obvious that you work for Credit Solutions.

If you call Credit Solutions this is what you'll hear...

They are JD Power and Associates rated!! (This really means nothing. They simply paid JD Power and Associates to rate their customer service department. The emphasis here is on "customer service". If you go to JD Power and Associates website you'll see that it basically just means that Credit Solutions customer Service department knows how to answer their phones. That rating does not relate at all with their actual program or debt settlement services ???????? only their customer service department)

They have so many complaints on the BBB because they are such a large company!! (The fact that you can watch their complaint count grow almost on a daily basis should be the biggest red flag for any consumer)

They are too large to be a member of TASC!! (I actually think it????????s funny that they would try to justify that. Their size does impact the amount of money they would pay towards TASC however any reputable debt settlement company knows and any educated consumer should know that TASC looks out for the debt settlement industry as a whole but also makes sure that consumers are protected from dishonest companies such as Credit Solutions.)


These three "selling points" should be more than enough to scare off any consumer. And if you decide to look into the class action lawsuit, it clearly defines that Credit Solutions intentionally mislead consumers on a number of factors related to their services - read the lawsuit, it's in there!)

You mean more settlements than the top 20 settlement companies combined, is that what you meant to say?

NCO is one of the largest debt collectors in the US, the letter below was settled in 4 years and 5 months - 17% settlement offer paid out over 16 months.

creditsolutions.com/bin/settlement/index.php?id=2008_09-7

Not sure what data you have viewed to make that kind of allegation about BK and their client base, please enlighten us to your source.

EAshliee - Next time try to make is less obvious that you work for a small settlement company.

You may want to research JD Power to learn more about the certification process.

Doing a search for "Sprint PCS" on the BBB website will show you what a large company has for complaints - 31,853 in the last 36 months. The concept is pretty basic, the more clients you have the more complaints you could have. And yes, they increase daily if you really want to know.

Correct, the more clients you have the more your monthly fee will be to become a member of TASC.

See that's called an allegation, you may want to read a little more on how the legal system works in the US. Anyone can sue anybody for anything in this country. Just because you get sued does not mean you are guilty.

Are you guilty of defaming Credit Solutions ???
It sounds like it to me but I'm no lawyer. You never know who is reading this or who could read this :)

Well Bill G...I do wonder how you and so many other people that work for companies like Credit Solutions sleep at night.

You and the people you work with are all the scum of the earth as far as I and so many others are concerned. These companies STEAL peoples money, give false hope and leave them totally screwed in the end. Why would ANYONE pay thousands of dollars to a company so they can come out oweing almost double what they originally owed, have their credit totally ruined and have lawsuits against them???? Doesn't make much sense to me...and knowing that your wonderful employer does this to people and you help them with the process and you continue to work there says a lot about your character!

You will be judged. Hope that you sleep well at night because the innocent people that you are screwing aren't. They get their wages garnished and judgements against them. NO ONE, I repeat, NO ONE would sign up for any of the debt settlement companies or their programs if they knew the truth of what it does to them. And wouldn't that be great! It would put quite a dent in your commission checks!

Merry Christmas Jerk!

Yes, people like Bill G are evidence that Evil actually exists. I find it hard to fathom that anyone could rationalize that they don't work for crooks, when there is so much evidence that they do.

The following quote seems like an attempt to intimidate or scare people into silence:

Are you guilty of defaming Credit Solutions ???
It sounds like it to me but I'm no lawyer. You never know who is reading this or who could read this.

Working them was the worst decision of my life and nearly ruined me financially.

If Bill G does work for tham, his actions are shameful, if he DOESN'T, they are even worse!

I'd imagine there's a special place in Hell for people who willingly work for a company like Credit Solutions.

Meee,
I think you are either confused or misinformed about the facts, according to the data that can be found on the Internet - debt settlement is one of the most effective, if not "the" most effective way to get out of debt.

ftc.gov/os/comments/debtsettlementworkshop/536796-00014.pdf

consumerfed.org/pdfs/credit_counseling_report.pdf


And the company that you are concerned with has settled more debt than the top 20 debt settlement companies combined. Seriously, do the research - it????????s not hard to find.

Scott S,
You bring up a valid point about evidence.
It would be helpful to the general public if you provided some "real" data that supports your argument.

There are some other large settlements companies that have settled near as much as CSA. I doubt they have settled more than the top 20 combined. Provide some facts for that statement! The real deal is debt settlement is an alternative to bankruptcy. debt settlement companies need to be more strict on who they enroll. When the majoerfrity of your clients are current on their accounts with decent credit when they enroll, like csa, the clients are going to run a high risk of getting sued and will damage their credit. However, CSA is a business and they are trying to make money. Consumer's should read the contract's they sign. It says you can get sued and interest/fees will acrue. CSA is a legit company and they do settle debt for a lot of their clients, however, any debt settlement program is risky and takes a great deal of patience and understanding to complete. That is why almost every semi large settlement company has complaints and angry clients. CSA is a very large company with many aggresive sales people, that is why they have a lot of complaints. The BBB says to take into consideration a companies size.

Also I don't know how many of their clients end up having to file bk. However, since debt settlment is an alternative to bk and if the clients aren't completing the program than they probably will have to file bk.

Scubaman,
Other large settlement companies, who are "you" referring to?

They have settled 800 million of consumer debt since their inception. After doing some research utilizing TASC, USOBA, IAPDA, and the Internet it's not difficult to add the top 20 list together.

Please reveal your ???????source??????? about:

1) the state of their clients credit before and or after
2) policies on who they enroll and or actual data
3) if their clients read / understand the contract with them or not
4) if they are current or late on their payments
5) the % of clients being sued and or risk of
6) the % of people who file bk during or after or because of and or risk of
7) the complaints process and state of their clients level of satisfaction with their program

The FTC has some interesting data on top consumer complaints. Listed at # 18 is debt management / credit counseling with less than 1% for 2007 combined. After viewing the other categories it seems like you have the ???????Chicken Little??????? syndrome to the debt settlement Industry.

ftc.gov/opa/2008/02/fraud.shtm

From your post on the 10th you stated that most (9 times out of 10) of their clients end in bk, now as of the 21st you state that they are "legit" and that you don't know how many of their clients end up having to file bk. What changed ?

As of the 21st you state that ???????debt settlement??????? is risky and that it takes a great deal of patience and understanding to complete. Based on what findings and or what data do you have to support this claim?

Bill G., Scubaman pulled your card! Get over it. Stop with the stupid statics, it make you an even bigger jerk! Credit Solutions tells you to stop paying your cards so that they can get a better settlement for you. The claim they will negotiate based on your ORIGINAL balances and your payment/savings plan is based on 40% of your ORIGINAL balances plus their 15% fee. IT'S A LIE. They do nothing while your late fees/interest fees skyrocket! The negotiation is on a final balance (after all the fees). I don't care about CSA compared to other companies, I care that they are liars and manipulators and take advantage of desperate people. We were not late or delinquent on any cards prior to signing up. Now thousands of dollars later, it's so out of control there is no other option than Bankruptcy! Stop defending your company you jerk!

Quote:

Totally misled!,
You may want to read their contract again; it????????s specific on how their program works, including any late fees/interest and their service guarantee.

Why would a company employ 900 people to sit around and do nothing as you claim? That really seems like a large expense for not doing anything.

Guest,
It????????s called ???????tortuous interference??????? and companies and or individuals will typically avoid this unless they want to get sued. As stated in a previous post, the ???????proposed??????? class is flawed and has nothing to do with their business practice but rather a CROA claim.

Bill G I dont care to argue much more so I will make this my final post. I changed my tempo a little because I know CSA is a legit company. I dont think someone should read these posts and think "oh shit" I have enrolled into a scam and the company is getting sued and will go out of business so I must cancel. However, debt settlement is a complicated thing and should only be considered as an alternative to bankruptcy. I have no sources to provide you, but I do know a lot of these angry people have mentioned they had good credit and were current before they enrolled and that is why they are upset now. So I made the assumption that a lot of your clients are current when they enrolled and not on the brink of bankruptcy. Instead of trying to make as much money as possible, maybe you should set up an approval process with a budget and asset analysis. The BBB states something like they have failed to fix the underlying problem. It is obvious that CSA has angered thousands of clients in its path and you take responsibility and try to fix the problems. Is it worth helping 2 lives if you had to ruin

1 to do so. I dont know. But it might be worthwhile trying to fix the problem, rather than make excuses.

1 to do so. I dont know. But it might be worthwhile trying to fix the problem, rather than make excuses.

I have heard of people like Bill G. before. He reminds me directly of the inquisition or perhaps the holocaust. This is as most things are in life...subject to perspective. If your on the the burning pyre or in the incinerators your idea of evil differs significantly from those that placed you there. You see Bill has no worries because he has either no debt to deal with or a significant interest in this companies welfare...whereby allowing him no debt. If he were like myself and...obviously many others, struggling through the toughest of economic times, he would be more inclined to realize the truth. That companies like this are (listen closely) OUT TO MAKE MONEY!!!! They could care less if they burned people to death along the way. Honesty comes from the heart. If these sodomites have anything on their minds besides blood money it would be apparent from the start. They lied about the way the system works and they take peoples money for nothing. If they were so confident in their abilities they would be paid for their winnings. Not money for false hope. I know that BILL... will sleep well every night. Because when you can eat the still beating heart out of a starving child you can destroy the world and smile. Isn't that right BILL G.?

Yes i work at Credit solutions and yes i can sleep peacefully at night and not worry about your debt that YOU got yourself into. It is not my fault that you did not read the fine print where it states you can get sued and your credit score will be affected. You should also read the part where you agree only to use an Arbitrator in the great city of Dallas Tx where the laws will protect us from your outrageous claims. This program is not for everyone, i have clients that have success, others that dont try and others that get hit with litigation left and right. Yes i give my clients full Discloure, and most of them continue, others say not for me.

Allowed or not, fine print or not, the sales pitch from Credit Solutions DOES in fact instruct clients to cease payment on their debts. Aged accounts are the entire basis of the "settlement" industry. If you are current on your debt, then no creditor is going to be willing to negotiate balances.

Now, to the point, this means that 'settlement' should only be an option for those people who are already not paying their creditors. For these people, programs like Credit Solution are a great alternative to bankruptcy. They are already not paying, so CS can step in and help them to the next step. I am OK with that.

Where Credit Solutions is being dishonest in my opinion is that they accept people into their program who are not at that point. When I enrolled with CS, I was still current (though soon to be delinquent as the birth of our child caused a re-allocation of our funds). I was explicitiy instructed by my advisor to cease making all of my minimum payments because they wouldn't have any negotiating power until my accounts had build up a delinquent aging of at least 90 days.

Again, I was OK with this because I was headed there anyway, but I have known 3 other people who were simply trying to get out from under their credit card debt and were not anywhere near the kind of trouble I was in. They also were explicitly instructed to cease payments. (though the contract does state that CS does NOT advise ceasing payments).

I think that this is the grounds on which some lawyer may be able to build a successful case. The contract DOES require Arbitration as you mentioned slvn, however a case could be made that CS has already negated the contract by explicity instructing people to violate their credit card contracts contrary to their own written policy.

My only advice to people is do your research and use common sense. Its idiotic that people actually think that a creditor is going to wait 2-3 years for their money. GIVE ME A BREAK. My only advice is if you are going to join a program like Credit Solutions....live in a state that does not garnish and is a homestead state...like Texas. You have a better chance of keeping your stuff that way.

Hey Meee.....Everything you said is exactly what happened to me....How did your case end up? Thanks for putting the truth out there!!!

My credit was great, until I enrolled in Credit Solutions...I thought they would get you out of Debt in 3 years, not ruin your credit and get you in worse shape than you already were in.

Deep Grok,
This link will help you understand the last point you were alluding to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference

The only party that could conjure up a lawsuit for tort would be the original creditor. The interference that you are alleging is their problem, not the consumers or some unrelated attorney. Despite what you might think from the outside, the banks and 3rd party creditors understand the process of debt settlement and the financial impact that settlement has had and continues to have on their overall collection efforts.

Guest,
Banks and or credit card companies are regulated by the OCC, FDIC, or FRB depending on their individual classification. Each of these agencies has rules and regulations about delinquent accounts. Most creditors turn their delinquent accounts over to a collection group or agency at some point. A small percentage, less than 1% will try to litigate before that time. Most litigation will end in a settlement arrangement, no different than and other industry. The other 99% will then go down the road of traditional collections which will involve multiple agencies over months and or years depending on when they are able to collect. This entire process is a numbers game for all parties involved.
Tammy O,
What's your definition of great credit and ruined credit?

Most people enrolling into a debt relief program are out of credit, (i.e. maxed out) which by definition would not be great, good or even ok credit. Did you enroll with your credit limits available? If so, then why did you enroll? What was your hardship situation that caused you to contact or even be interested in such a program?

My problem with credit solutions was that the "presentation" I was given over the phone did not match the agreement that was in writing. By the time I got a copy of the agreement and read all the fine print, my 3 days was up and it was too late. Some of the discrepancy between presentation and contract was: I was told that I would not have to pay more than 50% of amount owed at time of enrollment to any of my cards. The majority of settlement offers I've received have been in the 60-80% range. I was told that I would no longer receive any harassing calls from creditors. I still receive 5+ daily. I was told that they only work w/creditors they have relationships with and can negotiate offers with. I've been told by 2 creditors that they "do not and will not work with credit solutions to negotiate debt". I was told that the likelihood of being sued was slim to none. I already have 2 pending law suits and 1 pending arbitration after less than a year. I was told that I would not accrue more interest/late fees. I owe much more on all my cards then I did when I enrolled. I was told they offer a 100% money back guarantee. Now, they won't refund me a cent.

My husband and I both had 700+ credit scores when enrolling (mine was low 700's and his was high 700's) Both of us were current on payments and I had one 30 day late (stupid mistake) on my report. Now, our scores are low 500's and no one will even consider giving us a loan. Also, we were told by our CS representative to stop making payments to all of our credit card companies. I've never even read anywhere that CS does not recommend this??

Since enrolling, I've paid Credit Solutions $6500 in fees and have only been able to settle 1 card for 40% of what I owed and that was initiated by myself and the credit card company, not Credit Solutions. They didn't even negotiate, just handled paperwork basically. I tried to settle on another card recently, asked that Credit Solutions renegotiate and they didn't and I haven't heard from them and either has the card company.

I don't know what to do anymore as almost all my cards are being bought off and lawsuits or arbitration being brought against me. I'm settling/working with most of the companies myself to keep us from having to file bankruptcy. To date, Credit Solutions has done very little for us other than send a few pieces of paperwork to some of the companies.

Maybe I got a bad representative, but even if everything is written out in the agreement, I don't think its fair that the representatives lie about what Credit Solutions can/will do for you. I feel cheated out of a lot of money that could have been better spent paying off my cards.

i am not aware of this company if its bad or not, but i do know about debt settlement. And for the most part to get a settlement you must stop payments to get the ball rolling. Your credit is going to tank thats the way of settlement. If you dont want your credit to be bad then maybe consolidation is the best option for you. Settlement is one step below consolidation and one step above bankruptcy. This is one rule of thumb if you remember any thing remember this. NO SETTLEMENT COMPANY CAN PROMISE YOU ANYTHING!!! And if they do they are scamming you. The company i used flat out told me that right from the get go. They said i may have a account that refuses to settle and my best option to avoid lawsuit was to pay as much as i possibly could to get it done as fast as possible. In the end most of my accounts were paid in about 15 months except for 1. 1 that refused to lower what i owed and it was my smallest account. In the end i ended up getting a judgement with a lean on my home. When I recieved my tax refund and the rest of my money in my account i paid the debt.
I wasnt angry i knew it could happen. Any company that promises you that thier program is going to be all rosey and happy from then on out is a liar. Debt settlement is hard no matter how you go about it. You must be well informed as to debt settlement and how it works before signing on know the facts and you wont be scammed.

I paid them over $4,000, 2 years ago and they did nothing. I tried to do it myself, but finally had to file bankruptcy. This company is big rip off!

Hey Bill G... I would like to apologize for the "written uppercut to the chin" that I delivered above. I understand your desire to defend your company. Especially when you truly believe in the efforts you put forth in such an endeavor. Although just about all of the misinformation given upfront by Credit Solutions to everyone is real. They do help those of us that are in-fact beyond salvation. It is very unfortunate that people become so entranced in their hardship that they fail to make absolutely sure that a program like this is really for them before signing up. Yet, like myself, most people would like to believe that all the "realities" will be made abundantly clear (to the clients by the reps) before any plans are made to sign them up. They are hoping that a debt management company actually does put the welfare of the indebted before the commission earned from the debt. This is not always true and is a part of peoples furthered disgust, obviously. Nevertheless I have made GREAT strides eliminating my debt thus far (after my outburst above of course) and am on the verge of being nearly debt free using Credit Solutions. I have to add two major points though. First, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BUNCH OF MONEY UPFRONT TO GET A SETTLEMENT OFFER!!!! If not you are going to be sitting forever on an ever growing debt that WILL end up in a lawsuit and you will end up paying more than the 40% initially stated. Second, IF YOU AREN'T UP SHIT CREAK WITHOUT A BOAT AND DROWNING FAST YOU SHOULD NEGOTIATE WITH THE COMPANIES YOURSELF!!! If you have any other option of negotiating a reduction in the interest rates or payment amounts per month then you don't need a debt management company. BOTH VERY GOOD THINGS TO BE TOLD UPFRONT AND EXPLAINED IN EXTREME DETAIL BY THE DEBT MANAGEMENT REPRESENTATIVES AS A PART OF AN INITIAL PRE-SCREEN BEFORE ANY DOCUMENTS ARE SIGNED!!!! Having said that I am very satisfied with the reduction of my debt from over $30,000 down to about $5,000.

They took all my money from my account and never settled my credit card debt.If there is a class action lawsuit or what can I do to get my money back.

Credit Solutions has been wonderful to me. They allowed me to become debt free in just shy of a year an a half. I understand I put myself in the situation, and they helped me rectify it.

after reading the entire thread.guest is an employee of there's and therefore is a humanoid.this is a BAAAAAD place to go for debt relief of any kind.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Texas Attorney General Charges Debt Settlement Company With Unlawful Conduct

AUSTIN ??? Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today charged Credit Solutions of America, Inc. (CSA) with conducting an unlawful scheme that defrauded Texans with financial problems. According to the state???s enforcement action, CSA purported to offer a debt settlement service that would eliminate its customers??? unsecured debts ??? such as credit card accounts ??? in as little as three years.
Despite CSA???s promises, a state investigation revealed that the defendant failed to negotiate settlements with creditors for most accounts entered into its program. Further, when CSA did negotiate settlements with creditors, its clients did not always receive the 60 percent reduction they were promised. The state???s enforcement action seeks an injunction against CSA that will prevent the defendant from continuing to unlawfully promise services which it does not deliver.

The Office of the Attorney General has received 140 complaints against CSA in the past two years. Additionally, the Better Business Bureau, which gave CSA a ???failing??? rating, received over 1,600 complaints against the company in the past 36 months.

Hi Bill G how is the pron industry, you might want to consider that industry rather than working at creditsolutions considering this oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2009/032509csa_op.pdf

It would not surprise me if a great deal of the negative posts on this sight are from disgruntled collection agency empolyees. First off, in the post just above mine here, the point was made that in the doccumentation that CSA sends its clients, it DOES state that you can still be sued and that fees/and charges can accrue. That being said, any idiot with half a brain knows that before you sign a contract you READ IT, AND ASK QUESTIONS. Having successfully gone into and complete the program, it did just that. It took me 2 months of reading, re-reading and asking questions to finally decide that this was the program for me. Where this program is not for everyone, it has worked for a great many. One of the most important things that Credit Solutions educated me on was the legal do's and dont's of collections agencies. They will use tactics of threatening to actually send a police officer to your house to arrest you for not paying a bill. Such threats and tactics are ILLEGAL and most of the public are unaware of this. If anything, CSA made me aware of these tactics and it made me not so afraid of the collections agencies. I was also told that the process would not be easy and it wasn't, but it worked. Again, this program is not for everyone. . . so the bottom line is DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU ENTER INTO A CONTRACT.

i guess me and mobile0311 are disgruntled collectors.sorry,but this many people can't be wrong.if you had success.good for you.you are of the very few who had.do not talk down to people who post negatively.it makes you look like a shill.

I regret ever entering the CSA program!

Sorry LOUBEE , but I work in the debt settlement industry. I just hate Credit Solutions because they give our industry a black eye.

I signed up with Credit Soultions a month ago. The next day after I signed up I came here and read all the bad things about them and immediately asked them to cancel my account and not to withdraw any money. They did!!! What can I do to stop them from withdrawing more money. Im afraid they will withdraw money this month again even though I told them to stop. Help!

Mobile0311,
Who do you work for and what???s your qualification for your wisdom on these boards?

Sorry Bill G. , but this forum doesn't allow solicitations so I haven't and won't mention the settlement firm I work for. As far as qualifications I have working in the credit card , credit counseling , and debt settlement industry pretty much since I was old enough to work.

I actually used Credit Solutions over the past year. I enrolled on 6/20/08 and as of 6/1/09 I am debt free. I enrolled with almost $7000 in debt on 4 credit cards. I paid around $900 in fees to Credit Solutions, and $4600 to the actual creditors. So in the long run I saved almost $1500.

If you take the advice of Credit Solutions and actually save money every month, it works. My credit score has raised about 50 points every time I settled an account. So yes for a short while your credit is bad, but once you settle on your accounts, it raises dramatically and nothing is permanent on your credit score.

No I do not work for them, no I am not getting paid to say this. I just want to let people know that for some people it does work. As with EVERY company out there, you can't make everyone happy.

I would just like to say...How is it that this company can get away with ripping off customers as they do. My life is a nitemare since i joined CS......Any suggestions?

I have an account with Credit Solutions and also fee a bit slighted, I say a "bit' because I was insistent on them getting my first deal done, saving about $1,000.00 having no more FEES and interest increases on the other two and working out a deal that by most standards showed only about $500.00 for each acount. This amounted to equally paying Credit Solutions FIRST for just under that, that I saved. So all in all, I saved $500.00 initially and then when I saw what was happening to the account I settled and paid off in cash for $2402.00, it was a little more saved.

As for the other two accounts, I wound up paying $300.00 a month that would have had me paying about $350.00 a month over the same period but would be much higher with the inflation that was beginning to take shape by Jan. 2008 ( I could have easily been billed $500.00 a month at that point.

The account that hurt was the one I had to pay $100.00, for 10 months (paid $200.00 on my own up front), then $200.00 for 16 more months. I should have held out a bit longer, but it wasn't an "increase" like interest rates and fees, which also were stopped for BOTH accounts. I guess I got lucky.

However, I am unemployed now since Dec 2008 and when I actually VOLUNTEERED to KNOW what I could still pay with a decrease to accommodate my situation for now (unempl pays far less than my previous pay of 36K), I got NO ANSWER from the companies I already had a deal with through the Arbitrator and Mann Bracken, and before that Wolpoff and Abramson. Instead Wolpoff and Abramson sold my account to someone in Indiana, who in turn got impatient after ONLY a month, even though I WANTED to keep the arrangement previously agreed on AND was what they BOUGHT IT FOR - NO INCREASES. That I guess turned them off and they sold it to Mann Bracken who won't return calls and said, "talk to Credit Solutions" who in turn hasn't updated me in months, and when I DID speak to the last person, he acted like a "rumor" control and said he read "his" paperwork showing I wanted to pay MORE to settle. HUH? What give them a TIP, LOL!!! Jeez. The same guy cut my before $1800, when I called to pay it, he had upped it to $2402.00

Best thing to do is use the APPOINTED Debt Management programs approved by the U S Bankruptcy Courts Trustees.

The TRUSTEES Do NOT represent you, but there are only CERTAIN U S Bankruptcy APPROVED debt management programs with traiing and certification and the fees are very very small. They got me savings from day one, stopped the fees, and reduced my interest rates to half or even less.

Simply go to the U. S. Bankruptcy Courts website, look for TRUSTEES and sub heading under that should be for Approved Debt Management programs around the U S.

1600 complaints out of 200,000 clients.. that's less than 1% of their total clients that have ever complained. AND all of them have been resolved is what it shows on the BBB... that's a good track record.