I noticed that a lot of people have been taken by a company in Lake Mary, Florida called Enlightened Debt Solutions. I work for a collections attorney and I deal with jokers like these on a daily basis.
First thing I want everyone to know is that they are registered to do business in Florida, but they have thier licenses in New York, and they use a bank in Colorado to do their transactions. That should be your first flag that they are hidding something. They are owned by a law firm called The Hooper Law Firm, but they are owned by a gentelman called Peter T. Hooper, who is not a lawyer.
That name is not even registered with the state of Florida. They say they have a lawyer on site, but no attorney is ever there. They are also under the umbrella of the Hopper Group, again, no such business is registered in the state of Florida.
The company Enlightened Debt Solutions and the other name they use Budget Right Debt Management are both registered with the state of Florida. Their pitch to their clients is that they can reduce your debts by 35% to 75%, but they don't tell you how magically they will do that. They also charge you a 15% based on the total amount of debt you have.
So lets examine this. If you have $20,000 in unpaid debts, and most people who are in this situation can not afford to pay these debts because they have gotten over their heads for one reason or another, they claim to magically reduce that debt but will charge you $3000 to do it. Folks, always remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is false. That is the case with this and all debt settlement companies. They way the work is this, they claim they can stop collection calls, and they can; but you can do that yourself too for the price of a postage stamp and an envelope. They will contact all your creditors and send them a "Cease and Decist" notice, which by law will prevent a collector or creditor to communicate with you.
In the mean time you are in the dark about what is going on with your debt. Your credit score will continue to suffer because you will have more unpaid balances showing on your report.
Also, a "Cease and Decist" notice will not stop a creditor from filing suit against you. It only stops them from calling you. Like I said before, they don't have an attorney on staff, they can not represent you in court and if you get sued, which by the way, a lot of creditors usually go the legal route as soon as they find out you are using one of these bogus services, because they figure if you have the money to pay someone else who is taking you for a ride you should have the means to pay this bill, you will end up owing a lot more money.
Every credit card and loan contract has a clause which clearly states you are responsable for paying all court costs and attorney fees associated with collecting the account. Folks, don't let this clowns or any other joker from one of these fligh by night companies fool you.
They can not and will not do anything for you except take your money. When they get a bad rap, they will change their name, re-register with the B.B.B. Under a new name, they will send all their clients a letter stating they have gone out of business and the account has been transfered to their newly rename scam shop and they will continue to rip people off. This company used to be called Liquid Debt. The president of the company Tom Stuart was also involved with another one of this scam shops called Progressive Debt Relief. As of right now there is no goverment oversight for these companies, unlike a collection agency or a litigation firm who are all govern by the Federal Goverment and they all have to adhere to the Federal Debt Collections Practices Act.
In my line of work I see every day how people like these take advantage of good people who want to do the right thing, and are in the most vulnerable position.
DON'T BE FOOLED, NO ONE CAN MAGICALLY MAKE YOUR DEBTS DISSAPEAR. If you want to settle your debts, go to your local bank and open a free savings account, put your money there rather than in an account in Colorado, which charges you a bunch of fees and when you have the money, negotiate settlements on your own and your debts. It will cost you a lot less, plus collection agencies and litigation firms will give you better settlements than if you go with one of these jokers. They have less clout than you do.
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