This is a Consumer Credit Counnseling Service company that is supposed to help the consumer pay off credit card bills by working with the consumer and credit card company to lower interest rates and make sure the bills get paid in a timely manner. I have been using them for a little over a year.
About 4 or 5 months ago I started getting calls from all of my credit card companies, saying they had not received payment for the last 2 months. I made several calls to New Step Solutions and was repeatedly told by my "Counselor" that "Don't worry, the bills have been paid, and we are looking into the problem with them, to find out where the problem is".
Well, after several calls and complaints to the manager, I finally was appointed a different "Counselor" and she admitted to me that the bills had not been paid, but they would get them paid and they would also pay all late charges. I was also told by the manager that they would not charge me their $25.00 monthly fee for the next 3 months.
On the third month the $25 fee showed up on my statement, and when I called my "Counselor" I was informed by her, that the manager that told me this was no longer employed there, and that they had used the 3X$25 to pay the late fees incurred which they were the reason the late fees were even charged.
I now, have started getting calls again from one of my credit card companies, on Monday May 19th, again saying they have not received a payment since March 28. It is May 16th today. I called NSS on Tuesday, and found that my account was being handeled once again by the "Counselor" that had repeatedly lied to me before. I explained to her that the credit card company had called, and she said she would call them that day and look into it. I asked her to call me back within the next 24 hours, and she replied: No problem. I will call you back by then end of today".
Well, by yesterday (Thursday) morning, I still had not heard from her, so I called her. She apoligized for not returning my call, and explained they were having problems with their computer software, a new program they had just started using or some stupid excuse. Anyway, she said she had called the credit card company, and the informed her they had received the payment the week before on Wednesday 5/7 and had not posted it until Friday the 9th. She said that the collection dept had probably gotten it before it posted and that was why they called. (Sounded fairly reasonable to me).
After I hung up from her, I called the credit card comapny, and they told me they showed in their records, that she had called yesterday the 14th and was going to make a payment by phone, but they had to put her on hold, and when they returned, she had hung up.
After learning about this, I called and spoke with the manager, and told him about this situation. He assured me he would take care of the matter, and that the "Counselor" would not be allowed to handle my account from now on. He said he would take care of everything and call me back by the end of the day. Guess what! He never called me back. I tried several times today to call him and left voicemail sent him an email and still no reply.
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