My family like so many today was struggling in debt. We considered bankruptcy, but I didn't like the idea of stiffing people who had extended us credit in good faith. When Liberty Settlements said they could settle our debts for 40% of their current balance and have us debt free in three years or less, it seemed almost too good to be true! Sadly, like most things that seem too good to be true, it wasn't.
Early on I started worrying because the company takes their commission upfront instead of waiting until the debt is settled and taking the commission along with the payment. I tried to ease my concerns with the knowledge that I was "guaranteed" that if they didn't settle the bills, I didn't have to pay them. How could I lose???
The smallest of the bills I filed with them was only a few hundred dollars, so as soon as my account balance at Rocky Mountain was enough to pay off this bill, I started calling Liberty. I was told that in order to be effective, they needed to wait until they had enough money to settle the largest bill so that they could force the companies to 'bid' for a payment (company A is willing to take a 60% settlement, so unless you want to come down to 50%, they will get the money instead of you. Company B went down to 50% but company C agreed to 45% so they get paid first, etc...) I didn't really get it, but I figured that they were the experts and I trusted them.
When the first summons arrived, I freaked out! I called and spoke with George Roberts (only now finding out that isn't his real name) and was admittedly screaming hysterically. I told him that getting mixed up with Liberty was the biggest mistake of my life and from where I sat, it looked like they were going to take their commissions then close up shop before a single bill got paid. I asked what reassurance I had that they weren't going to blindly rip me off, at which point he got quite defensive and rude. OK, so I'd basically called the man a crook; I guess I understand him not being my biggest fan, but my concern was legitimate. I asked Mr. Roberts if he would terminate my contract and allow me to 'walk away'. Give back the monies they had taken other than the bank account fees ($10 a month) and we could both forget this unpleasant experience. He refused. He said that they had 3 years to settle my accounts and I was unreasonable to expect them to be settled in less than half that time. If I had realized that I could have just stopped the autodebit authorization thru my bank, I'd have done it at that point, but I was led to believe that they had a legal and binding contract that required me to allow the debits. I thought I was just inviting Liberty to sue me along with my creditors, so I did nothing.
Currently, my family is 2 years into the 3 year death sentance. We've been able to settle 3 of the 5 accounts listed with Liberty, but the only substantial settlement discount offer that we received was the result of a wonderful creditor that I spoke with and negotiated a deal myself. Had I followed Liberty's advise and refused to speak with my creditor, I would still have that bill hanging over my head along with the 2 other accounts that have been granted summary judgement and may soon be garnished against our wages.
Liberty "graciously" allowed us to withdrawl the accounts that we were sued on, but neglected to tell us that they were not going to refund the fees. The new director of client services, Andrew Davis, who evidently replaced George Roberts, says that we can not be refunded the fees because we chose not to allow them to do the job they were contracted to do; in other words, they want us to continue paying them monthly for another year claiming that they will miraculously accomplish in the next 10-12 months what they have been unable or unwilling to do during the past 20 months.
I am still corresponding with Mr. Davis, and nothing would please me more than to update this report with the news that Liberty has refunded the $1200 in fees that were collected even though they didn't honor their commitment to us. I will post again within 10 days and let everyone know if there have been any changes.
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