I signed up with the J. Hass group in the belief that they were licensed and had the ability to help me resolve my debt issues. I was approximately $11,400 in debt and wanted to get out of debt faster. I contacted the J. Hass group in an effort to assist me with this effort. I spoke to a telephone representative at J. Hass who assured me that the J. Hass group would work directly with my creditors and that the accounts would be settled and brought down to a zero balance over the course of a 30 month program. The electronic contract I signed stated that J. Hass Group did not recommend that the client stop making payments to their creditors. It stated that it was our decision whether or not to stop making payments. However, I was specifically advised by a J. Hass representative in my initial meeting to stop making payments to my creditors in order to participate in the program.instead, I was told to make payments to a savings account from which they would make payments to settle my debt.
After making 9 months of payments ($258 monthly) and erroneously thinking that these payments were being distributed to my creditors in an effort to pay down my credit card balances, I began noticing a severe drop in my credit score. I contacted the J. Hass group on several occasions, and each time I was assured by the J. Hass telephone representative that the accounts were being handled that I didnt need to worry at all. I was assured that as long as my monthly payments were made to the J. Hass group, all of my accounts would be settled within the 30 month period with no problems. Feeling uneasy, I decided to re-read the electronic contract, and I realized that the telephone representatives were leaving out important information in an attempt to mislead me. The contract stated that J. Hass offers NO GUARANTEE that the accounts would actually be settled within the 30 month time frame (although settlement was verbally guaranteed on several occasions by J. Hass representatives). The contract also stated that there was a significant risk that the credit card companies would refuse to settle; if this happened I could (and probably would) be sued by my creditors for the balances on the accounts (plus any applicable interest, fees, etc.). None of these risks were explained to me when i signed up for the program. Had I been aware that this was how the program worked, I certainly would not have signed up for it.
I contacted my creditors directly (even though the J. Hass group advised against this), and was horrified to discover that the J. Hass group LIED when they said they were handling the accounts on my behalf. All three of my creditors (Chase, Citicards, and American Express) informed me that they had received absolutely no contact from the J. Hass group whatsoever. All of the accounts had gone into default. Furthermore, I discovered that (contrary to what the J. Hass representatives told me on several occasions); NONE of my creditors actually work with the J. Hass group because of their shady business practices. All of my accounts had been sent to collection agencies and all three companies were beginning to file the paperwork necessary to sue me. Had this occurred, my financial future would have been destroyed.
Luckily I was able to get a loan from my parents to settle the accounts BY MYSELF. J. HASS did absolutely nothing to handle these accounts, yet they still want to keep $1610 of my money that was paid to them to handle these accounts. Since October, I have paid a total of $2322 to the J. Hass group. When I requested a refund of my money, I was told that only $712 of this money would be refunded to me. The other $1610 was for lawyer fees associated with settling the accounts. Since I settled these accounts directly with my creditors (with absolutely NO HELP from the J. Hass Group), I do not believe that they should be allowed to keep ANY of my money.
It is my firm belief that the practices of the J. Hass group are VERY deceiving. Their telephone representatives essentially LIE in order to get unsuspecting customers to sign an electronic contract that locks them into a program that will financially destroy them, and I have become of victim of this practice. Their program has made my credit situation worse than it was when I started. Had I continued with their program, I would have been sued by my creditors and ultimately been forced to file for bankruptcy. Thank God I was able to avoid that situation by taking matters into my own hands. I am currently in the process of trying to rebuild my credit, since my participation in this program has severely dropped my credit score.
If you are thinking about doing debt settlement, DON'T DO IT! This is a scam!!!
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