This will not contain all the details as it is now over 15 months old and I do not want to waste any more time fully documenting all my inquiries and non-responsive answers. It is complete in that I am telling one side of the story, this does not make my side look good, it is a complete representation of the "service" I have received.
Due to Hurricane Wilma, Family Credit Counseling was unable to make payments on the three cards I had signed up to have consolidated. The first missed payment was in October. Successive missed payments in November and December resulted in late payment fees and increased finance charges on one of the accounts. The other two experience no such difficulty as apparently they received the hurricane letter. I followed up with FCC in November to find out why the one account was charging late fees and had increased my rate. I was told at that time they had been sent a hurricane letter and would adjust my account. I was told to call back in one month to follow up with FCC. I continued to follow up with FCC and was told that it can take up to four months to process an adjustment.
In February I finally spoke with a representative that seemed to show concern about the matter. He conferenced me in with a service representative from the creditor and she informed FCC that they had not received a hurricane letter. After much prodding, I was told FCC was no longer sending letters, FCC said they would send another hurricane letter to the creditor. I continued to follow up with FCC about the late fees ($117) and increased finance charges (approximately $200) that were in my account balance. FCC's lone response was that all they could do was inform the creditor about the problem but not clear any fees or charges. Once again, I continued to follow up monthly.
Finally, in January (11 months after my initial inquiry), the late fees were paid. I was told numerous times prior to this that FCC would NEVER pay late fees. I am guessing that my constant inquiries had something to do with them paying. However, the additional finance charges are still on my account. Whenever I refer to the late fees and the additional finance charges I always get the answer of "FCCC paid the late fees as a courtesy". This is obviously a misstatement as there is no way they would have been paid if Family Credit were not at fault. I am continuing to follow up regarding the additional finance charges that are still on my account but will follow up when (not if) the issue is resolved.
Important to note that the additional finance charges on my account are the only reason I have not paid off this final creditor. The other two accounts have been paid in full and I have the funds to pay off the final account. I will not pay this off until FCC is held responsible for their misdoing.
Finally, while trying to find out my final payoff amount I inquired about the initial payment that was held until I had complied with the contract and would be used as my final payment. I was told that this was not FCC, it was handled by CDME. EVERYONE that uses CDME, please be aware that this is the same company. They may go by different names and all but have the same business address. Please refence the new FCC website, www.familycredithelp.org, contact us page that lists DCME. However, a Google search of CDME (full name) will show their business address as 7516 E Independence Blvd, Charlotte, NC and the FCC business address as 7516 E.independence Blvd., Charlotte, NC. Hmmmmmm
I would like to single out two people at FCC that have been completely and utterly incooperative, Jeff Maglione and Donyale Dezmal. They continually avoid questions, refer me to other email addresses and generally answer with from the book answers. I was told by M. Maglione that "We do not have any contact information to supply you to contact your enrolment agent. All there contact information was given to you with your original paperwork with them". I will avoid correcting his grammar but it is finally clear that CDME and FCC are one in the same. They have now changed their name to DCME, apparently to avoid any confusion with the other rip off company.
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