My fiance and I saw the online ad for Homeland Financial Services that offered debt relief help for those who were at their wits end and could not continue to pay off there credit cards.
So we called them up and "hired" them, set up a bank account that they could draw from and started putting money in it. Homeland, of course, took the majority of their service fee right off the top. The way the plan was supposed to work was that we put in a fixed amount of money each month; they take their fee each month and the balance accumulates until there is enough to begin paying off the debts in lumps sum settlements that Homeland negotiates with all of our creditors.
After 6 months of them taking their fees and no debts being settled, we received a great offer from one of the banks to settle that acct. For about 37% of the balance. This offer was sent to our home. Since Homeland advised us NOT to negotiate or pay off these accounts on our own, we faxed the offer and all supporting documents to Homeland for immediate action.
After 4 weeks went by and we had called them at least 15 times to check on the status of the settlement, Homeland failed to act and the offer was withdrawn and the debt sold to a collection agency. The collection agency wanted the full amount of the debt paid immediately. DUH!
Now Homeland will not return our calls and they have taken nearly $2500.00 out of our bank account for their fees. They have done nothing but lie to us or hang up on us after holding for more than 30 minutes on every call to them. They set up their customer service unit so that no one agent is assigned to any one account.
Each time you call you get another rep who knows nothing about what is going on and you have to spin your wheels and start over every time. This is by design, so that you will get discouraged and quit calling. Not once in 6 months did Homeland initiate a call to us concerning our account.
The bottom line is Homeland FInancial Services is a fraud. They will continue to take their fee each month but will try to delay settling any of your debts for as long as they can. Their fee is determined by the size of your initial debt. So they encourage you to include any and all debt, calculate their fee and then later admit they can't negotiate with certain debtors such as credit unions.
If you are considering Homeland Financial Services to resolve your debt - DON'T! Go to the Better Business Bureau website and check them out - Homeland received an F. I wish I had known that before they took our money.
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