Bella Financial or Superior Debt Services - Whom to work with?

Good luck GJWESTHAM. Let me know how you do.

HELLO TOM EVERYTHING IS GOING GOOD, JUST A WAITING GAME AND ALOT OF PAPERWORK, BUT I AM SO PROUD THAT WE NEVER GAVE UP AFTER ALL OF THE LIES AND THREATS WE RECIEVED, AND PROVED THAT WE WILL NOT BE PUSHED AROUND OR STOLEN FROM, HOW HAS EVERYONE ELSE BEEN GETTING ON, ANY RESULTS NEVER HEARD ANYMORE FROM GEORGIA, TAKE CARE EVERYONE AND NEVER GIVE UP PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ABLE OR ALLOWED TO RUIN YOUR LIVES.

HELLO HOW IS EVERYONE NOBODY WRITES ANYMORE ON THIS WEBSITE WHAT HAPPENED DID EVERYONE GET THEIR PROBLEMS RESOLVED,

So, I take it that people are not happy with Bella....I was thinking of going with Superior Debt....any thoughts?

I am in a program with Superior, and have had very good luck with them so far, in my first year. They have settled four of my nine accounts, and I have done one on my own.

I do want to point out, though, that people need to research the Debt Settlement process itself, before they sign up with ANYone. Many people get into a program, and discover things they don't like, then blame it on the company. Granted, there are a lot of crappy settlement companies out there. Probably MOST of them are scams, in business only to wipe out your bank account. New ones are are springing up at a rapid rate. But you have to realize, that you can still be sued, whether in a program OR settling on your own, by impatient creditors. A company can't protect you from that, even if run by attorneys. I have been sued twice, but each time was able to negotiate a settlement and had the suits dismissed. Also, many people don't realize that you will have to declare any amount of forgiven debt (over $600) as income, unless you are insolvent. You will still receive calls from collectors. When you are in a three-year program, your accounts will be charged off and you will no longer be dealing with the original creditor. (If you only have a couple of accounts to settle, it's best to try to settle on your own, IMO.) Be sure any company you sign up with has you keep your funds in a separate bank account that YOU have control of (Superior does). Find out how long they have been in business, and whether they have a positive track record. I would steer clear of any brand-new company that no one else has ever heard of. Make sure you ask every question you can think of. Use the "SEARCH" box above for every topic or thought you have. Be sure you know what you are in for. debt settlements are not a quick fix. They are a last resort before bankruptcy, when all other options like consolidation or managment plans are not feasible. It is still a bumpy ride. But personally, I feel I made the right choice and have no regrets with the process OR my company.

One more thing - I am with Superior Debt SERVICES. There are other companies using the name "Superior" in their title that are not the same company. At least one of those is not so great.

did you have to get a lawyer when you were sued? Did Superior help you through that at all?

No, I did not have to get a lawyer. One of the suits came from Advanta, who won't negotiate with settlement companies, and that was the account I settled on my own. I simply accepted the settlement they offered that came the same week as the lawsuit. It was a great offer, but I did have to borrow money from a family member to accept it, as my funds with Superior were tied up in settling another account at that time. If I had had the funds laying in my account to pay it, even though Advanta won't negotiate with settlement companies, they would've accepted the payment through them. The other one, Superior did negotiate the settlement before the court date. Came down to the wire though, as the creditor (Target Visa) kept stalling.

I agree with SusieQ and it is clear that you were explained how debt settlement works. You can be sued. Debt settlement is not a quick fix. You did your research and take ownership of your debt. Why did you have to settle one of your nine accounts on your own?

Because Advanta required that the settlement be paid IMMEDIATELY, and the funds that were in my settlement program at that time were already promised to paying off another account that month. BUT, Superior then removed that account and their fee for it from the program, making my monthly payment a substantial amount less.

SusieQ you seem to know a lot about debt settlement. You have 202 posts since 2007 and I am just wondering why you are with a settlement company if you are so informed about how everything works. I think it's great if you are pleased with Superior and how they assisted you so far but from a trained eye you stick out. I use to do paralegal work for a well known settlement company until I decided to be a full time mom. If I am wrong then you should think about a career in settlement since you are very knowledgable.

I know a lot about it, because I have researched it thoroughly and continue to learn all I can, even though I am currently in a program. I don't go into ANYthing blindly. I have a science background, so I am very analytical about things. I learn new things every day, even about credit and how it works because I never stop reading. There are posters on this very site that have lead me to invaluable information, good and bad. I had to close my business because of circumstances in our town beyond my control; that is how I ended up with so much debt. Just trying to get it all behind me, like everyone else. I realize there are people out there that do NOT have good settlement experiences, but that shouldn't stop anyone from learning about the process itself if they are interested in it, as an option for getting out of debt. I would suggest to anyone who wants to settle to try it themselves if they only have a few accounts, by all means. But for me, with the responsibilities I had with family members and in the community, I just didn't want the extra burden. To me it's been worth it to have a company do most of it for me. It is all just individual opinion. Different things work better for different people. That is why I always tell people to read all you can, learn all you can, and in the end choose something you are comfortable with.

I don't want a career in anything remotely connected to the credit industry, lol. Once this is all behind me, I plan on moving forward, debt-free. I have learned my lessons.

SusieQ- has Superior explained to you just how they plan to restore your credit? I am finding that this company seems to say that to it's clients and I am not sure exactly what they mean.

They apparently cover the cost of the services of an independent company that will scrutinize your credit reports at the end of the program, and to make sure everything has been reported correctly and that all accounts are marked paid as agreed as of the time they were settled. This is, of course, something anyone can do themselves, and it wise to be checking your credit reports all along. Which is what I have been doing; no reason to wait until the end of the program to keep up on what's happening now. But some people just aren't very good at that sort of thing. So they offer some help.

HELLO. RUSSELL THARP WAS RIGHT, BOY WHAT A LOT OF COMPLAINTS, BUT NOT JUST ON THE COMPLAINTS BOARD WEBSITE EVERYWHERE, TO HAVE A STATE THE SIZE OF CALIFORNIA KICK YOU OUT TELLS YOU EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS COMPANY, THE DALLAS BBB GIVES THEM AN ( F ) RATING THAT SAYS IT ALL ASWELL 51 COMPLAINTS ( WOW )

Bella financial, debt by debt settlement services.... Mike Hauser BAD BAD BAD

I makes a BIG MISTAKE signing and trust Bella Financial Inc. They are the louzy customer service and SCAM & RIB OFF COMPANY and had cheated many people. I am one of them!!!

Yes, I totally agreed with all the complaints and I am one of the victims with Bella Financial Inc. Bella Financial Inc. took my money from my checking account amount of $5, 700 and doing nothing to help me or talk/negotiate with any of my creditors... At the end, I am the one who suffered and chased my the creditor law suit/attoneys. Bella never return my calls after I had signed the contract and paid th

You half to watch them. I told them several times I wanted to cancel because the only time they done anything for me was when i was getting sued and it ended uo costing me more than when I signed up with them. Every month they are still trying to get money from my checking account. If you stop using them change your account number so they will not have access to your account.

HAS ANYONE EVER GOT THEIR MONEY BACK FROM THESE PEOPLE, WHO IS THEIR INSURANCE COMPANY DOES ANYONE KNOW.

I believe that Superior Debt Services owns and monitors this website so I would not trust anything that is said about them. Everything is a shill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DebtCC has nothing to do with SDS. Please check you r facts before posting.

DID ANYONE FIND OUT WHO THEIR INSURANCE COMPANY IS SO THEY CAN GET THEIR MONEY BACK

THEY ARE BASED IN DALLAS TX. SO SOMEONE ON HERE MUST KNOW WHO THEY USE AS AN INSURANCE COMPANY ? WHO IS THEIR INSURANCE CARRIER ?

Another month goes by and Bella tried again to get money from my checking account again. They do not understand the meaning you no longer want there services. As I said before, I paid them over two thousand dollars to clear up some debts for me. One was for over ten thousand dollars. I was going to be sued in court for that debt because Bella did nothing. Not once did they contact this company. It ended up costing me about a thousand dollars more than when I signed up with them. This was my largest debt and when I asked them to remove it from my total which would reduce there fee there reply was they worked on it. I guess they did work on it when you come to think about it. They worked out a agreement with the law firm that as I said cost me about a thousand more. I have settled myself in one month more than they did in 6 months. If you sign up with Bella you might as well drive down the road and throw your money out the window.

Hi Russell,

File a complaint against them with the Federal Trade Commission, the BBB, and your State Attorney General's office.

chrys

THIS IS CRAZY THAT THESE PEOPLE STILL KEEP GOING INTO PEOPLES BANK ACCOUNTS AND TRYING TO TAKE MONEY HOW CAN THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS IT IS ALL OVER THE INTERNET ABOUT THIS COMPANY JUST TAKING PEOPLES MONEY AND DOING NOTHING AND NOBODY DOES ANYTHING TO STOP THEM IT IS UTTERLY SICK

HOW MANY NAMES DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE I WONDER IF THEY REMEMBER WHICH ONE THEY ARE ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS DALLAS BBB - F - AND I MEAN - F - RATING WITH 52 COMPLAINTS DESIST & REFRAIN ORDER FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE HOW LONG CAN THIS GO ON YOU ARE RIGHT IT IS SICK

Did anything happen for anyone any results of any kind

I was reading all of the reports on bella financial it is all over the internet these people going into peoples banks and taking money when people have cancelled with them and they have cancelled because they took their money and did nothing it is the lowest form of scamming to take money from people when they are at their lowest and in need of help this is totally sick like what was said before and i cannot believe that no one has done anything to stop this what a messed up srewed up society we live in sick behavior

hopefully anyone who reads this post will be able to make a very good decision without alot of research. This would be the end of my searches for these companies.

If you are searching for a settlement company i would suggest to forget the bbb rating but be sure that all complaints are resolved.(complaints are very normal in this business) resolved complaints means they have done as promised. Check to be sure they are members of tasc, who keeps them in check to provide the top most best settlement services.

and research for posts as these.

53 Dallas BBB complaints not good

SEE THE THING IS THAT THE COMPLAINTS WITH THIS COMPANY ARE NOT RESOLVED THERE ARE (53) COMPLAINTS WITH AN ( F ) RATING THAT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF BUT JUST READ ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS OVER THE INTERNET AND IT WILL CONVINCE YOU ANYWAY DESIST AND REFRAIN FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

What is a desist and refrain? There is no such thing. There are always going to be skeptics and nay sayers. Debt settlement works. I have already posted on many other threads that the BBB is not anything to use as a tool when making a decision about a company. I love my things has some great points.

55 COMPLAINTS DALLAS BBB, NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK OF THE BBB, THESE ARE REAL COMPLAINTS BY PEOPLE THAT TRUSTED THIS COMPANY - STILL THE DESIST AND REFRAIN ORDER IS IN EFFECT FROM CALIFORNIA.

the sad thing about settlement is that most people are unaware of how it works. that is why settlement companies recieve alot of complaints through the bbb. There was a post not to long ago about this guy complaining that his settlement company was a scam because they did not continue to pay his bills every month. see, he was confused with consolidation. This happens alot, and not to say that there are not scam settlement companies out there, THERE IS, and people need to be VERY cautious as to who they use to handle thier finances. But with the proper research, and knowledge of settlement and how it works, you will not be scammed easily.

"Desist & Refrain" order is how the State of California words it. Here is a link to the Desist & Refrain order against Bella Financial.

I THINK PEOPLE ARE SO SICK AND TIRED OF BEING RIPPED OFF BY ILLEGAL COMPANIES LIKE THIS AND THAT EVERYONE IS UP IN ARMS THEY ARE A SCAM AND ARE GETTING AWAY WITH IT NOBODY DOES ANYTHING TO STOP THEM IT IS PATHETIC AND SOMEONE SHOULD STEP IN AND DO SOMETHING

Of course, that's why it takes properly filed complaints to the proper authorities, especially the FTC and your State's Attorney General's Office. TOO FEW COMPLAINTS ARE FILED. Anonymous complaints on an open forum can be seen to be gripes/whines, hearsay, and rumor - even slander. For instance, in the Attorney General of New York Office's report on the lawsuit against NAFS, it mentions only **90 complaints in 3 years across the entire United States** and STILL it filed suit. You cannot get anything accomplished with that small squeak amidst the well paid lobbyists an in-pocket politicians.

It requires numbers! How would you like it if someone came on to a public forum and spread nasty rumors about you? You could sue them for defamation of character, slander, libel, etc. etc. However, if they filed a Police Report against you - well, that is entirely a different story.

Know your rights. Defend your rights. Demand your rights.

PEOPLE SHOULD CONTACT THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE & TELL THEM THAT THIS COMPANY IS ILLEGAL AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS TOTALLY ILLEGAL PUTTING COMPLAINTS ON WEBSITES DOES NOT STOP THESE PEOPLE THEY ARE A SCAM

Okay, I'm in a bind and HAVE to do settlement, I'm torn between Trinity Financial Mission (Dallas, Pennsylvania) and Superior Debt Services. Does anyone know which one is best? I was going to go through Care One Services (who I have my consolidation through, but monthly payments are still killing me, hence why settlement is my only option), so PLEASE tell me which one. CareOne is only willing to do a 54 month program, but Trinity said 42 months, but I'm not getting why the cheap payment. So...any help would be great.

They really need to be stopped. Has anyone tried to contact dateline

I have had several comments on this complaints board over the past year regarding Bella Financial. There are others who have spent a lot of time and money trying to do something about the way they rip off people. I will not use there names but have no doubt they know who I am referring to. I would at this time thank the both of you. I have never met you but consider you both to be friends of mine. When I first started up with Bella I thought they were the answer to my problems. As I said before, I started with Mr. James Davenport and very quickly got bumped from one person to another to the point I half to look at my notes to keep track. I have been sued by just about every company that I trusted Bella to reduce my debt with. More than one ended up coasting me more than what the original amount was. I want what I paid them to work on in my behalf returned to me. I paid them in the excess of two thousand dollars. I feel what we need to do is contact every news program you can think of to get the results I am looking for. I by myself can not achieve this but if we all contact CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS with the same story maybe one will listen and run with the story. I believe with the way the economy is now and what Bella is doing to people who trusted them into providing the services they claim to perform we might just get someone to listen

People who have been scammed & ripped off by this company need to call or file a COMPLAINT online with the TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE

Graham how can i u... what is your email...

I agree 100% with you and the other posts....

There are two sides to this story...

1. The clients who agreed to a program they could afford... hence the reason they are probably in debt....

2. A couple of ppl at DBD are crooks... and they do tend to not tell the truth... they tend to sugar coat the program...

Sincerely yours......

Someone who was a successful Debt Settlement negotiator!!!!

dallas, tx

Hi when you say a couple of ppl are crooks do they have names, and why do you two not have names and if you have email addresses what are they so we all can get in touch with you thanks.

It hurts my heart to see all these stories about Bella Financial, but they are true. I walked away from Bella because of their improper & illegal business practices. I am not unhappy or mad at them, I just did not agree with the way they ran their business. Unfortunately, it is true that they continue to take money after the fact. They took money from clients that had filed bankruptcy, which is illegal. Mike Hauser is all about the money, I learned that first hand. I cried after I spoke to a man that had a heart-attack and stroke back to back and it paralyzed him for life. He cried on the line with me and it broke me apart. He worked hard labor and after his unfortunate health issues, he could no longer work. I went and spoke to my manager, who did nothing, then I sat down and talked to the owner-he told me and I quote, "We have to get rid of the dead beats, let him get sued, that's not my problem." I went so far as to ask if we could give him an extension or something until he had some type of income, and that was a no-go! I was very dissapointed and even compared to another employee that used to work there, that cared more about the clients and their debt, than Mike Hauser and getting rich quick. They flat out don't care and when you care more about the client, you won't be there long. Hauser is money hungry and always will be. He is a power-house with money & money talks. He knows how to work his way around everything. That said-I want to make sure people know that yes they will do anything and everything they have to do to get money-after all that is how we got paid. The only time I saw checks being written to the clients is when they went to the Attorney General and complained. They would highly prefer to wait until you get sued to take care of you. I wish, (after reading these blogs) that I knew the insurance company, but I don't sorry. I only remember those that were no Good. Oh, I saw that Georgia (thank you I do remember your difficulties)-mentioned me earlier in the blogs-I am Crystal (and not ashamed), and I did care quite a bit about my clients, because I have been there. That is why it was so easy for me to understand. There were clients that made it through the program with a breeze, but every client has a different lifestyle and a different story. I am open to anyone who needs any information that I can give to help. Gjwestham9, I do apologize, but I have been extremely busy and will take out time to get that information to you. I hope I have been somewhat helpful. If they own this website who cares. I have and always will stand up for what I believe in Debt Settlement or No Debt Settlement-wrong is wrong.

Dear Crystal what a great story about what Bella Financial did to you and so many others. You saw first hand how they treated people and what goes around comes around is the old adage. They are the worst company and most unfeeling people I have ever known. Thanks foor speaking up

I THINK YOU TWO LADIES ARE SO STRONG AND MAYBE MORE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN RUINED BY THIS COMPANY WILL TELL THEIR STORIES

Too bad the people that debt settlement compaines have helped aren't here telling their story. Don't always believe what you read.