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Persels and Associates: How dependable is it?

Submitted by chrisiw on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 08:43
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I'm working with Care One and they want to refer me to Persels and associates llc for a debt settlement program. Our credit sucks - so I'm not worried about a settlement program damaging our credit- I'm more concerned about the fees. The guy from care one, said I'd have to pay 100.00 to retain Persels & Associates debt settlement company. What other fees do they make you pay? I read online that a lot of times they want the fees up front. I can not afford a lot of fees - hence why I'm looking into a debt settlement.

Does anyone have advice on this? This is just stressing me out to the max. I do not feel like myself anymore. :( I just want all this crap to be taken care of...

Thanks in advance.

~Chrisi


Vonnie,

I have been with Persels for 1.5 years and they have settled 4 out of 7 of my debt. The remaining balance is about $66,000. One of the creditors is Citibank and I have a Summary Judgement Hearing coming up. Can you tell me what happened with the three that went to court? I'm just trying to prepare myself for all the scenarios that could happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous
Ihave been with Persels for almost 3 years of a 5 year settlement plan. This is the way to go if you own nothing. If you own property, house, new car, stocks or anything else would not be the best choice. Yes you do need to sign a power of attorney which lasts for the settlement period but only applies to the items you place in the settlement. If they do not have your power of attorney the credit card companies can refuse to divulge info or even talk to them. When you pay each month they take their fee and the rest goes in escrow. As the escrow amount grows it is easier for them to deal as the credit cards companies or collection companies want their money in one lump payment or a lump and a few payments. I have had 3 that went court and got settlements against me. I have had 1 of those settled and one dismissed without prejudice. Be very careful if you have any creditors that get court settlements. They will empty your bank account and this process will freeze your accounts for over a month. Don't think you can hide your money then they will garnish your paycheck. When I went in debt settlement 3 years ago Ihad contacted 2 c/c companies to try to get relief but their answer was as long as you can make min. payment we won't help sorry. Maybe in todays financial climate they might be more receptive to you the individual.


Submitted by batangsutil on Wed, 05/19/2010 - 06:07

batangsutil

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mobile0311
Did Persels & Associates say what their fees were and over how long of a time did they take them ? Also what state do you live ? Who do you owe and how much ? How delinquent are the accounts ?

Persels charges 50.00 per month and a percentage of the money that they save you.


Submitted by on Sat, 06/26/2010 - 09:48

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We have been completely scammed! Our credit is worse and we are being sued by everyone..... WE CANNOT even get in touch with our attorney. We stopped payment for 2 months and they can continue to call and harrase me about that but do not have the ability to have my attorney call me about time press legal documents! I am beyond angry, fustrated and we are now seeking bankrupcy because NOW we are under water!

DO NOT DO NOT GO with them! WASTE of money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Submitted by on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 16:59

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I am an attorney and I worked for them for five years until 2007. I quit because they weren't doing a very good job of turning complaints in 20 days and didn't do a very good job advising people of the risks of being sued if you stop paying your bills. The second time I had to revive a case because I hadn't been notified until after the case had gone into default was enough for me. The other thing was that I had 75 people on my client list and only one had successfully completed a plan. Now, I don't get calls on Sunday night from people having to go to court on Monday.


Submitted by on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 11:19

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Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisiw
i'm working with care one and they want to refer me to persels and associates llc for a debt settlement program. Our credit sucks - so i'm not worried about a settlement program damaging our credit- i'm more concerned about the fees. The guy from care one, said i'd have to pay 100.00 to retain persels & associates debt settlement company. What other fees do they make you pay? I read online that a lot of times they want the fees up front. I can not afford a lot of fees - hence why i'm looking into a debt settlement.
Does anyone have advice on this? This is just stressing me out to the max. I do not feel like myself anymore. :( i just want all this crap to be taken care of...
Thanks in advance.
~chrisi

get out while you can. These people are vultures!!!!!! I started with care one and paid them over $1000.00, then they turned me over to persels, i have paid them over $1500.00 and i am being sued by one the my creditors and have to hire an attorney, how in the hell can i afford an attorney!!!! Get out!!!!!!!!!!!!


Submitted by on Sat, 10/16/2010 - 09:07

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yeah i have some advice for you... pay it yourself... why would you pay someone to pay your bills, when you can do it yourself, if you are broke, does that really make sense? there is nothing, no deal, a DSC can get for you that you cant get yourself...


Submitted by on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 11:13

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Do not use them. By looking up the partners names they seem to be connected to Consumer Law Associates or CLA. I was using CLA and other than collect their fees (10%) they not only did zero, but they made things worse. In the end I settled everything on my own. You will do better and get farther for cheaper by working personally with your debtors. Currently I am trying to get my "retainer fees" refunded as they didn't even take care of items they said they would.


Submitted by on Tue, 11/16/2010 - 08:06

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I signed up with Persels. After I found out that their "fees" were 130.00 out of the 161.00 I was paying each month, I tried to cancel. That was in June, 2010. Each month they continued to debit my savings account. Each month I would see $161 removed from my account. I called them over and over, being told it would be stopped. I also called my bank. They sent a letter saying I would be credited. Its been 6 months. They bled my savings a total of $1748. My ballance is now zero.DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY. They are robbers!!!


Submitted by on Mon, 01/10/2011 - 05:32

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I've been using Persels for over a year. I have only 2 more payments to make before I finish paying them. After that all of my payments will go into the escrow account. I've been making payments of $338.00 of month and, yes, I only have $1500.00 in my escrow account but I'm not mad at all with Persels so far. They settled one of my tiny accounts.
BTW: My overall debt is well over $20,000 and I live in NY.

I've already been to court for 2 of my accounts. One of them was for over $4,000.00. The other one was for $8,000.00. The $4,000.00 was dismissed (I think with prejudice) and the $8,000.00 was discontinued with prejudice. At first, I didn't like the idea of going to court without representation when I'm paying P&A but the routine is really simple. Yeah, I could have done it without P&A but my mind is at ease.

I have 4 more accounts to deal with in the court system but after these first 2, I'm encouraged and empowered. I speak to my lawyer often. She never rushes me off the phone and we speak for a long time. When I told her I missed a payment because times were difficult for me, she asked me all of these other questions to just see how I was doing personally.

I do have a question I'm hoping someone can answer. Whenever I go in front of the judge, the lawyer for the plaintiff always asks me if I'm still with Persels or tells the judge I'm with Persels. I feel like the lawyer wants the judge to know for a reason that may benefit them. Does anyone have a clue?


Submitted by on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 07:38

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P.S. Someone in one state will have a different experience than someone else in another state. Each state has different laws and procedures when it concerns debt settlement and I'm guessing Persels is probably different in each state so people really need to put the state where they're having their good or bad experiences.


Submitted by on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 08:07

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i was with them for a long time, im filing bankruptcy through them. they were easy to work with..they settled a few of my debts, unfortunately i have WAY too many, and i managed to accumulate two repos and a few other small debts outside of the program, during my time with persels, i did recieve one lawsuit, which was dismissed after i called persels and told them about it.


Submitted by on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 10:10

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So I was getting divorced and in Debt BIG 6 figure debt and signed up originally for debt settlement back in 2007 the fees were reasonable and I thought this was a way out. After 6 of my credits would not settle with them I opted to changed and file bankruptcy. (Talking to my creditor found out Persels collects fee's first and then pays creditors which is why so many will not work with them) No problem they told me. That was November of 2009. Still no Filing 3 different lawyers and now no one returns my calls and about once a week I get an email. I'm taking my tax return hiring another attorney. I've already filed a complaint with the BBB, The Bar Association, The Attorney General and the FBI because while they were giving me the run around I was educating myself! I only want my $2000 back and for them to be out of business so they can not do this to someone else. Simple!


Submitted by on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 17:12

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avoid persels - period ! we talked to care one & was referred to persels. they told us all the info, including the fact that they WOULD NOT notify our creditors that they were representing us until AFTER they got the first monthly payment in the account. we signed on, got more papers via email immediately to look over after that, then didnt like what we saw, called back the next day (within 24 hours of signing on with them) and cancelled enrollment. 3 months later, we learned that 2 of our cc's that we had remained current & never missed a regular payment on- had been turned into collections at zwicker & associates, then the next month, another one had been turned over to z&a. i called and talked to p& a about this and had them fax another document to me showing the day we enrolled and day we cancelled enrollment. they just outright lied about that. glad i saw the light quickly via the papers they sent via email & cancelled before they really made a mess of things. i had to call my other cc banks and let them know i had document to show that we cancelled the enrollment and were not involved with any debt settlement company. it is odd that they all said they had not received any notice from any settlement company, yet the 3 did ! what a mess that was


Submitted by generallee on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 21:19

generallee

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I hired Persels and my debtors are suing me anyway. The lawyer there won't give me any help with it and threw me to the lions. These are debts of $4000 and $3000. Two lawsuits. Maybe I'll go totally bankrupt if I can find a lawyer who accepts payments. I can't deal with the stress caused by Percels and am canceling immediately. If you are considering them, be aware they will throw you in the street and probably keep your money if you get sued.


Submitted by on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 16:23

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i forgot to mention this in my prior reply.. care one referred us to persels immediately after we discussed our debts and stuff with them. i recently filed a complaint against persels with bbb, and they are saying they sent out the letters to creditors the day after we "retained" them (dec 09), which the person i was dealing with there told me repeatedly that they would NOT contact creditors til after first months pay was received by them.we cancelled enrollment several days after enrollment.. i wont get into the details of what is going on with the bbb complaint too much, but all in all, they are trying to weasel their way out of it. i have a document from one creditor that states they received the "retainer" notice in march of 2010, then a second letter in april 2010 stating we had cancelled our debt settlement enrollment. please explain to me, if the letter was mailed in december to creditors, why did it take until march for them to receive this letter???


Submitted by generallee on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 20:33

generallee

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Ive been with careone ,who then sent me with persel the councelors im working with are very supportive and kind but I just pd them 193$ to settle a 400.00 debt.. i still owe a 3000$ debt how much more will they charge .Im praying Ive made the right chose.I just wish i had it to do over NO CREDIT CARDS for me!!!Im so scared about this Im on anti depressants.. Thanks for letting me vent:confused:


Submitted by on Mon, 07/04/2011 - 06:17

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I work as a legal collector for a nation wide legal collections law firm.... The best advice is to keep your money and call and work out your own settlement ........ why would you pay some one to talk ? the same conversation you going to have with the account manager ... is the same they will have.......pay your own bills and not pay someone to pay your bills


Submitted by on Mon, 06/18/2012 - 12:01

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CREDITORS & COLLECTION AGENCIES ARE JUST AS WILLING TO WORK WITH YOU AS THEY ARE A DEBT MANAGEMENT CO. ITS NOT ANYTING YOU CANT DO YOURSLEF... OPEN A SAVINGS ACCT & JUST PUT MONEY IN IT EVERYMONTH & START CALLING YOUR CREDITORS & ASKING THEM FOR SETTLEMENTS (PLAY HARDBALL)!! MOST IMPORTANTLY TALK TO A TAX PROFESSIONAL ABOUT THE 1099C, ANY SAVING OVER $600 ON A SETTLEMENT COULD RESULT IN TAX CONSEQUENCES!!


Submitted by on Thu, 12/13/2012 - 07:05

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They are very dishonest company, they took my money and now I am being sued by companies. I am still in shock, they came recommended by care one. My recommendation would be to stay clear of that company and this is from personal experience.


Submitted by on Tue, 12/18/2012 - 19:06

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