I was contacted by a Mike that works at Clear Debt Pro, inc via e-mail. I don't know how he got my information, but at the time - it seems to be a God-sent! I was struggling to make my credit card payments, late fees, and other monthly bills. Mike told me that I would be able to pay everything off in 3 years. WOW! What a relief! I thought that I would be struggling for the rest of my life.
After speaking with my husband, we decided to trust him. He wanted us to compile all of our bills and get back to him. I called and left numerous messages. That should of been my first sign! After about 3 weeks, we finally connected. We went over all our bills and came up with a plan, that seems to pinch every penny that we made, but it was better than paying all those late fees.
He stated this, "Stop paying those bills! You will begin to start getting phone calls, but just ignore them! You see, we need your credit card company to "charge off" those accounts so we can begin negotiations with them to pay 1/3 of what you owe!" We asked about our credit, which believe it or not, was not that bad at the time. "No problem!" he stated. "Your credit will probably go down a bit, but once we start paying off your bills, they will go up again".
Everything was done rather quickly while on the phone with him. We gave him our checking account number and signed a consent form via e-mail, allowing Clear Debt Pro, the right to speak to our creditors. It was a computer generated contract with our names signed for us and our initials in places that we "agreed" to. We didn't have a chance to read it and he told us that this was "just a formality!"
For a few months, we got our amount deducted from our checking account. It was hard to make ends meet, especially since we could not use our cards for gas or grocery shopping anymore. We struggled, but faithfully made our payments. I had letters pouring in, phone calls to work, home, friends and family's homes. Everyone was "looking for us". After a few months, I had one creditor actually stop by my work, threatening to sue me and take me to court. My boss has a no tolerance policy when it comes to personal phone calls, so this was driving him insane! My job was even put on the line.
A few months later after that, I wrote a letter to Clear Debt Pro, asking them to stop taking automatic withdrawls from my checking account. No response. I left messages for Mike, which I was told is no longer working for the company. They passed me off to someone else. Lorrie Kunkle. She seems to be sympathic and understanding of the fact that this situation was getting under my skin. She told me to just tough it out and that it'll get better soon. She told me that after paying them over $1,000 that I was finally able to make a "possible deal" with on of my creditors. I owed them over $2,000. She offered them $400.00! They laughed and said no way. With that, it ended.
I sent a certified letter to them in June. I was e-mailed that it was filed in my folder. The letter was to them asking them to again stop withdrawling out of our checking account and close this account. Another week went by, I called and asked Client Services. At first, I was given to Lorrie's voicemail, but when I hung up and called back, I spoke to Phyllis. She was a little distant at first with my questions. I tried to relay my concerns and she softened a bit. She told me that she would e-mail a General Release form and my rebate amount. I received an e-mail in 15 minutes, but no attachment with any forms. I e-mailed back, no response. After a few days, I called and told her I had no attachment. She re-emailed it to me. Boy, to my surprise my refund was $1280 LESS of what I paid them!
I faxed a letter to them with my unsigned release form at the end of June. It stated that I did not agree with their refund amount and for what reasons. They didn't contact the majority of my accounts, with the one exception of the poor attempt mentioned above, they did NO arrangements to close any of my accounts, and in my opinion, HAVE NOT earned $1280.00! I faxed it numerous times - again with no response. I called Phyllis who told me that she had to get in touch with her supervisor in California. Time and time again, I was told to call back in 2 days... 3 days... Next week, it was sitting on the President's desk and that he needed to sign my letter.
I eventually got the letter in AUGUST! It was the same lame-ass refund request that I waited for since the beginning of June. I was being charged for the work done on the above mentioned account, which never did amount to anything, I was also being charged for the 1/3 of service fees earned by Clear Debt Pro. FOR WHAT SERVICES? They didn't do anything for me.
Still, I am argueing and fighting with this darn company and I am still less the $2000.00 I paid them. I have been struggling still, my credit is now ruined, I am being sued by my credit card accounts, and am out money to an attorney that 11 months later, I have to file for bankruptcy to fix all the mess that they have been caused.
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