My husband had a work injury and company sell out to Mexico which reduced his time and wages. We knew our income while he was recovering would not make the monthly bills. We called and wrote our creditors and stopped using all cards. We then hunted for the right place to seek help and located Solutions which is a new name for Consumer Credit Counseling. We informed the case worker we did not intend to have any damages to our credit and wished to maintain our payments until my husband was back with full pay. We wanted to buy a home soon and we also let him know this too.
At no time were we told that handing this to them would destroy our credit and future hope of getting a home.in fact, we were encouraged to participate and that the creditors highly respected our diligence and working with Solutions could even help us get a home within a year. We could also secure a loan to consolidate this in six months with continual payments. We were not behind when we brought this to them.
Within months of paying them on time and often ahead of time we had creditors calling our home wanting to know why we did not pay our bill. We assured them that we had done everything we were asked and that we would call Solutions to find out what was wrong. Each time I would get the run around and answers that made no sense. We even came in twice to see this counselor which was an hours drive for us and he was never there. Finally we got a notice that the Airport Way office had taken this case there and this continued to be a problem.
I sent two certified letters asking them to explain why they were failing to properly handle this case.instead I got letters back asking us what we were going to do about continuing with them. I had informed them that due to their misconduct I had to write and call all of our creditors and tell them what Soltutions / CCC was doing and that we would just simply find a way to handle this without them.
I wrote more letters and called all of them. I paid off all of our bills/credit debt. We even went to the head of Solutions in Airport Way and all we could get out of them was how sorry they were about all of this and that the caseworker was no longer working for them. No letters or calls to the creditors was offered and we had interest fees and late fees attached to my pay offs. I felt they needed to do something to clear this matter with our creditors even if they needed a little egg on their face. I thought they were working for us?
We have not entered the zone of Credit Repair. I can not tell you the number of people with repair that said going to these people was the wrong thing to do and they could not help as repair our credit even though all debts were paid. To think that not even one year had passed between my husbands injury and good credit and total destruction of our credit and no chance of having a home because we used a credit counseling service despite the fact we paid off all of our debt. How do we ever get a home now and will we be damaged and punished for the rest of our lives became of a few months of a mans injury who still paid his bills? This is just appauling. What about all the other people in debt now do they loss everything too?
I feel the public needs to aware of all of these consumer credit counseling places and I believe this Solutions needed to compensate us in some manner. This was also presented on a local Oregon channel for the Oregon State Bar consumer education by two Oregon Attorneys of how CCC is the best way to go. No mention even from them of the damage they will do. You may as well sit and go to collections. Now we are even being told we shouldn't have paid off these debts as it hurt us even more on our credit report. Going to the CCC added some 10 points to our score. We just can not win.
If anyone would like to form a research group to investigate all of these places let me know. Perhaps you all should check the web for the National Foundation For Credit Counselors Leaders Conference in Seattle, WA Sept. 11-13 for $300 a person and a say at the Sheraton for $189 per night. Add air fare food and other expenses on NON-Profit and ask yourself were they got all of this money? You can call and ask them questions like, "What about the consumers damaged by all of this?" Does your conference have room for poor consumers?
For more information on their expensive conference a new way to bring in the bucks while calling yourself a non-profit consumer helper is 1-301-589-5600 ext. 18 Pam Carter or e-mail questions to: [email protected] I would like to see what NFCC 2002 will do for us poor slob consumers with credit damage from getting help. It's like jumping through the fire. Lay offs, International sell outs, roping in consumers who are hurting even for basic needs to be met, then offering Consumer Credit Counseling million dollar businesses and then jump to the Credit Repair business after that. What a racket.
If they can afford a 3 day trip like this to gather together then where do the consumers and their taxes fit in to all of this? Whose money are they spending and who are they really working for? Not you and I. They can't make money like that!
Elizabeth
St. Helens, Oregon
0 comments