Current Debt Settlement Contract & new FTC rule
Date: Thu, 01/06/2011 - 14:24
So my question is this: Since the FTC rule last year forbade these companies from continuing this practice in the future, do I have the right to demand all the fees put back into my escrow account until after they settle something, or am I just out of luck? Or even better, assuming they would give me back some or all of my fees, I could cut my losses and continue on myself. I'd be able to settle 2 of my 7 cards today if I had all that money back... I'd love to quit them entirely, but only 2 more months and their fee is fully paid, so my wife is leaning toward staying with them as we've already paid them over 80% of their fees... I'm sure with the help from this site, I could do better than they are doing for me, but I'm kind of stuck at this point. I could quit the program now and at least save $1300 over the next two months that can be used to settle, but have until the 20th of this month to decide so I have some time.
Any thoughts?
file a complaint with ftc and your state attorney general-- i wo
file a complaint with ftc and your state attorney general-- i would call the ftc and inquire about it too... from what i have read, once the fees are paid, they will not refund them. but i believe they should refund money that is in your escrow for settlement.. i would even call an attorney that handles this type of matters and ask for their input on what should happen if you drop out of the program. we talked to one, partially enrolled with them, then after reading over their documents, we called back within 48 hours and told them to cancel our enrollment. some tell you a retainer fee is paid out of first payment, a monthly service fee and the rest of fees ONLY if and when they settle. well, if that is the case- for example you pay $800 a month and the monthly fee is $50, minus the retainer ($500 ex).if you have low balances on several cards, within a few months some should be settled. but no- they sit on your money and you are in a bigger mess due to fees and such that the cc banks are slapping on to the accounts..
Yes, the chances are very less that the fees will be refunded.
Yes, the chances are very less that the fees will be refunded.
Well, the company just settled a Citibank account, so I'll have
Well, the company just settled a Citibank account, so I'll have to pay them those fees, but they did indicate they would be will to restructure my contract to allow me to remove some of the accounts I feel I can settle myself, and refund those fees to my escrow account to be used toward settling other accounts... So at least I can get some of my money back to speed this mess along!
@Generallee - I did call the FTC yesterday about this, and all I could get out of three different people, including a supervisor, was that they couldn't tell me how their rule is applied in this case, and I should just contact an attorney... And unfortunately, most of my cards had much larger balances, so they were nothing I could quickly pay off. Since they will refund me the fees for the one card I'm currently settling myself, I'm done paying fees, so I guess there's no harm in continuing to retain them if I can't get any more money back, either. I do think I'm going to file a complaint with the AG just to see how the FTC rule should have been applied - can't hurt, after all!
Thanks for the responses!