C 1 training school recruited my husband in 2003. They promised he would be able to sign on to one of their trucking companies after completing the CDL training, and would be making $35,000 the first year of driving! He was told when he completed 12 months of employment with PAM Trucking he would only owe $700 for the tuition fees to C 1. My husband was hired by PAM and went to work doing a dedicated run from Janesville, WI to Pontiac, MI. He did that run for 4 months. His paychecks were only $82 a week (net pay)! That was a far cry from the $35K he had been promised, so after 4 mos of trying to support a family of 6 on that so called pay, he quit driving for PAM.
C 1 continually called, and sent letters to us about us owing $4900 for their tuition cost. We set up a monthly payment plan with them, but when we discovered the amount due went from $4900 to over $7300 we quit paying at all! They were charging 18% interest and late fees on top of that.
In August we got another threatening letter from their attorney-Brian Alsip. We decided to just set up a payment plan with them and get this debt paid off once and for all. Well, by then the balance had gone up to $7853! We could only afford to pay $150 per month, so that's what was agreed. We figured we'd get them off of our backs and in February we'd just pay off the entire balance with our income tax refund. We recieved a letter stating that we had agreed to pay the $150 per month until paid in full, and it would be automatically deducted from our checking account. We figured that was over with... WRONG!!! One of the reasons we decided to take care of the C1 tuition was because we wanted to purchase a house, and we knew we had to clean that debt up on our credit report even though we felt C1 had ripped us off from the start.
We got approved for our mortgage and had disclosed to the lender the situation with C1, and had even sent the lender copies of the letters from C1's attorney etc.
Five days before we were to close on our house loan, C1 decided to submit our agreement to the Marion County Court-even though they're getting our payment and we'd made the agreement with their lawyer! We had no idea they could enter our agreement in Court! I know we should've taken care of the debt to them sooner, but they didn't deliver any of what they'd promised, and we were so financially ruined because of my husband trying to stick it out and make it to the 12 mos with PAM that we couldn't afford to pay it by then.
So, now we can't buy a house, and with C1 still adding on late fees and 8% interest, we will have this hanging over our heads forever.
If anyone out there is considering going to C1/driving school, please be warned! Do not fall for the empty promises from the C1 recruiters unless you are willing to be gone from home for days on end, and bust your butt for a mere $82 a week!!
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