I joined Gibson trust back in April. They seemed like a godsend. We had many unexpected medical bills. It seemed our only choices were bankruptcy, or a company like Gibson. I called around and many companies said right off the bat that this would hurt my credit for a period of 7 years. I called Gibson, and they said that with them my credit would not be affected, it would actually improve.
How naive I was.
At first everything was very professional. I was talking to a guy named "Guy" and even though his voice mail was messed up, he would call me daily to let me know how things were going. The moment all the paper work was done, and they got the first payment, Guy disaapeared. I was told he was on vacation and that any customer service rep could help me.
How naive I was.
After about a month I find out that nobody has been paid and Gibson told me, "Your first payment is a deposite. We don't make payments until the second payment." They expected me to essentially pay twice in one month. If I could have afforded that, I would not have needed them in the first place.
As some time went by, I was comforted by Credit card statements that showed payments. However, not everyone was getting paid. One company would not get paid one month — another the next month. When we started they said they would take care of all our problems with just a few minutes on the phone. Now they tell us that we have to check our credit card statements each month to be sure they are getting paid.
In August and September, both Discover and Citibank were not getting any money. They were calling me threatening legal action accusing me of breaking the deal with Gibson by not paying them. I have never missed a payment. Gibson has missed many. The statements Ginson sent me show everyone getting paid. But the credit card companies don't get their money.
Recently, one of my Creditors — Easter Seals — forgave my medical debt.
Bless you Easter Seals!!!
I sent instrcutions that the monthly extra $20 that had been going to Easter Seals needs to go to the IRS and increase my monthly payment from $56 to $76. The statement Gibson sent me says they paid the IRS $76. The receit the IRS sent me shows they received $56.
Calling these people is increadibly difficult. It is very difficult to get a live person. When you get voice mail it says you will be called back in 48 hours. I called in mid August about the problems with Discover and Citibank. I explained the problems caused by their not paying. I noticed that no matter how many times I called, and how many complaints I made. No one ever said "i'm sorry". That is only possible is their employees are trained not to apologize for fear that it would imply wrong doing.
It is now the middle of November. The problem with Discover was seaming ironed out when they received some payments, though I had to pay Discover and extra $23 out of my own pocket to get back in their good graces.
As for Citibank, the problem is still not solved. I out them more than I did back in April and my interest is now over 24%. They have been calling my wife at home and at work demanding payment. A woman named Kendra is suppose to fix this. It took me almost a month before I could get through to her. I actually know from experiance that if you wait on hold for an hour, you are kicked out of the system. One time I called at 4:00pm — was on hold for 45 minutes — and then was tranferred to her voice mail. The fact that I was on hold in the first place means she was there. The fact that I was transferred to voice mail 15 minutes before closing time means SHE DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO ME!
The last straw is when I opened my mail today. It seems to balance out the fact that Discover and Citibank have been getting a couple payments, Bank One and Target did not get paid.
What gets me is the increabily sneaky way they suck you for every penny they can get. If they simply would not pay anything they would surely get caught. So they pay some of the creditors — different ones in different months — and pocket the rest.
John
Going Broke, Texas
0 comments