In October my wife and I were looking for a way to consolidate our credit card bills. We were not behind on any payments and had excellent credit. We attempted to get a personnel loan to consolidate the bills, but we did not have enough collateral and were denied a loan.
A friend from work recommended Gibson Trust to help us consolidate our payments. I looked into Gibson Trust, checked their website, and compared them to other debt management companies, ie Ameridebt and the other big companies that advertised on late night TV. I called Gibson Trust and talked to Leslie Gogatz, he made several promises to me over the phone, he promised that Gibson Trust could have are creditors reduce or even eliminate our interst rates, and late fees etc. Les Gogatz also claimed that Gibson TRust could pay off our $15000 credit card debt in a mere 4 years for only $385 a month. Les Gogatz seemed very convincing and my wife and I agreed to sign up with them, and have the monthly payments automatically deducted from our checking account.
Within the first two months of signing up with Gibson Trust we received countless calls from our creditors demanding payment, at all hours of the day and night. We would call Gibson Trust, and spend hours on hold, or being transferred from one extension to another, when someone finally took the time to hear our concerns they told us not to worry, that this was normal and they would take care of it, and then call us back when the problem was resolved, however Gibson Trust never returned our calls, and never contacted our creditors. Over the last 14 months I have done some research into these debt management companys, what they are suppose to do is once you sign up for their service they are immediately suppose to contact all your creditors that will be going through the service, and send them a proposal stating that your account will be handled through them, and then they come to any agreement on payment amounts, and reducing interest rates and fees. Gibson Trust did not do that, they simply took my money every month, and made occasional payments to my creditors. These payments were less then my previous minimum payments, if a credit card company does not recieve at least the minimum payment due, they consider that a missed payment for the month. Additionally Gibson Trust has skipped payments at least three times to several of my credit cards that they claimed to be handling.
This company and its gross incompetence has destroyed my and my wife's credit rating. Over the last month I have tried several times to contact Gibson Trust, I have tried there 1-800-700-6812 number and the direct line. Both numbers are answered by their automated answering system, and whatever extention you tried to reach, you are always transferred back to the main menu. I hAVE E-MAILED the company and gotten no response. Gibson Trust has not even withdrawn my monthly payment from my checking account for the last two months, and i was not notified of this. This morning I had to spend over 6 hours on the phone with my various credit card companies trying to straighten out my credit, and I had to pay almost $900 just to get my accounts current becuase of all the missed payments. The credit card companies themselves were also unable to contact a human being at Gibson Trust, only the same frustrating answering system that we all get when we call the 1-800-700-6812. If you don't believe me try calling the number yourself, I guarantee you will not be able to get a human on the line, or even a voicemail box.
Please people do not use Gibson Trust or Debt-Zappers.org or any other company associated with Gibson Trust, they will rip you off. If are are currently with Gibson Trust, please cancell your contract, send them a letter via certified mail requesting termination of their services. And demand a full refund of your original down payment, and all your monthly service fees. If they refuse to refund your money, then contact the Federal Trade commision, the better business burea, and the Florida office of the Attorney General. Their actions or lack their of are breech of contract and fraud. And they must be stopped. Also contact an Attorney. As of 11/27 there are 112 negative reports of Gibson Trust on this website alone, and I know there are others who were ripped off by this company. We must sick together and I would like to start a class action law suit. For the time being we should communicate through this website.
TP
Grand Rapids, Michigan
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