The National Debt Relief Group is a sham company based in Brooklyn, NY. They used to be Lifeguard Financial, but closed up due to the all the complaints they were receiving. For a short time, they were SafeTrust Financial (a couple of weeks or so?), and for some reason that didn't work out. Now they're back with a fancy new website, and some worthless accreditations. If you're unfamiliar with Lifeguard Financial, just do a google search on them, and you'll see a myriad of complaints.
As I said earlier, they might call you and boast to you about their "accreditations", which are meaningless. Sorry folks, but not even the BBB is to be trusted. To become an accredited member of the BBB, all you have to do is pay a fee. Don't believe me? Check out these two articles-http://www.thebluesmokeband.com/bbb.php and http://articles. Latimes.com/jan/21/business/fi-lazarus21? Pg=1 You might also be told of something called TASC. TASC is not a government run organization, and the owner of the company has his own debt settlement company, while the President of TASC is also the CEO of Debt Settlement America, a company which was subpoenaed by the Attorney General Of New York. Do you really expect these guys to hold one of their own accountable? Besides, to become an "accredited" member of TASC, all you have to is pay a fee.
Lifeguard Financial is now the National Debt Relief Group. Their new headquarters are at 2502 86 Street, Brooklyn NY 11214. There are also additional offices located at 714 3rd Ave, Brooklyn NY, and 263 52 Street, Brooklyn NY. The new website is www.nationalrelief.com They've set up shop not too long ago, and unopened boxes can still be seen at the 86 St location, which was formerly a Sprint office.
I was an employee there until I found that these guys were crooks. Sensitive information was seen lying around the office, such as credit reports. The office located at 263 52 Street Brooklyn, NY is in a shady, run-down building in a desolate area of Brooklyn. The office at 714 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232 isn't much better. The scripts were given out in the office had a name crossed out, and later i found out why. It used to say Lifeguard Financial! How did I know? These guys actually left some Lifeguard Financial manuals lying around the office, and it was from there that I compared the two scripts. That is what also lead me to investigating the company. From there, I found a myriad of complaints about Lifeguard, and people asking, "where did they go?" Well, the answer is clear now, folks. These vampires have moved, and when the heat turns up in a few months, the process will just repeat itself.
The debt settlement industry is very dirty. There is no regulation whatsoever. You have people who are unlicensed giving out financial advice. I've even heard that there are minors working for them at one of their offices, however I cannot prove the validity of that allegation. But what I do know is that you can all of this on your own. When we were trained, one of the rebuttals was that if someone asks why they should use NDRG instead of doing it themselves, was that the creditors won't work with individuals, or that because NDRG brings the creditors so much business, that they'll give the NDRG the best rates. This is a lie! I've spoken with many people who told me they saved 40-50% by working directly with the creditors. All you would have to do is use the same methods the same debt settlement companies use, which is falling behind your payments and telling your creditors that you're undergoing severe financial hardship. This works best once the account goes into collections, which is between 120 and 180 (or 210) days. So many people have defaulted on their cards, and these guys are worried, and will gladly take something instead of nothing, with the something being anywhere from 30-60%. There are also several websites out there with information that can you assist you on how to settle your debts on your own.
There will probably be a few people who will come here and say that the two companies are not the same, but do a google maps search RIGHT NOW. As of December 9, when you do a Google Maps search of 263 52nd Street, Brooklyn NY, and you will see that it STILL says lifeguard financial under businesses listed. The same goes for 714 3rd Ave, Brooklyn NY. These guys are also affiliated with a law firm, FBL Associates, located in Fort Lauderdale. I don't know how long their partnership has been, but I've heard that they're taking care of all matters related to Lifeguard Financial.
How long will this be tolerated? When will someone take action? The entire debt settlement industry is unregulated, which allows scumbags like these to run wild.
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