The biggest mistake of our lives was the day my husband and I joined Fidelity Debt Solutions in order to lower our credit card bills. Their website and their reps. Mislead you and misrepresent what they are able to do. We were given a monthly payment plan and told that they could lower our credit card balances by up to 60%. Our plan was for 30 months. They charged us very high fees also. Long story short, 8 months into the program these accounts went to collections and one got a money judgment on us. The entire time the collection agencies were contacting us Fidelity convinced us that all was well and they rarely ever took anyone to court. BIG lie, both of them have. We were faced with garnishments. We had no choice but to file bankruptcy. Fidelity has ruined us financially. You see... Before we joined Fidelity we had only been late a couple times on one account, the other always on time. The problem was we were without income for almost a year and had to use the cards to get by. Once the income started up again we knew we had to find a way to lower our monthly bills in order to build up our savings again. We never wanted to get in the position again of not being able to meet our bills. Only on Fidelity's advice did we stop making payments. They told us once we joined their debt management program we had to stop paying the credit card bills because of the negotiations. Well sadly and too late we realize that the credit card companies will not work with these types of debt solutions. We were under the impression that payments would start right away. That is not true. Fidelity does absolutely nothing until you have built up enough funds in their special account to make the creditors an offer. And guess what??? They do not wait for you to get enough money, they turn your accounts over to collections and the next thing you know you are being sued for money judgments and the creditors always win. Then they can proceed with garnishments. And I learned that just because you are self-employed you are not protected from garnishments. They can garnish a checking account! I called Fidelity many many times and was very upset and frantic because things were really heating up. They always told me not to worry, nothing was going to happen. They also told me the only thing they could do if they got a judgment was put a lien on my house and as long as I was not planning to sell it, it meant nothing. Not one time did they say they could garnish wages or bank accounts. We have filed a complaint against them with our state attorney general. I know nothing will come of it, but at least Fidelity knows the complaint will be on record. If you ever want to do a debt solution there is only one that can help you. It is Consumer Credit Counseling Service, which is a non-profit organization. They do start payments immediately but it works best when you do it before accounts are given to collections. We tried but the collection agencies would not work with them. Therefore our only recourse has been bankruptcy. We are hoping that our future will be brighter and happier soon! Stay away from any debt solution agency you find online. They always charge huge fees too.ccCS does not charge much at all. Fidelity Debt Solutions website is online and they are based out of Irvine, CA.
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