What they did was and is perfectly legal, but very misleading. I was on unemployment, and under the assumption that for a little over $300 they would start to help me. And that my account would have $250 per month from me that would build and then when they received enough they would approach my creditors.
Being on unemployment, money was scarce, but I managed to get the $250 each month until winter set in, and I needed the money for heating. After a while I realized that I needed the money I had sent them, so I requested a refund, and was told that after paying in over $3000 I had exactly $28.00 and change coming to me.
In fairness they did reimburse me about $250, and that was it. Was it legal, yes, I didn't read the contract (as in every word) and when I did I saw that they would take about 8 percent of my bill and apply that to attorneys fees BEFORE and money would be applied to settle my debt. Being on unemployment I never would have agreed to this stipulation knowing that it would take years to pay the 13000 that I owed.
If I had a job, all that might not have been so awful, but I didn't and now I am roughly $3000 poorer and wiser. Save your money, and do it yourself. And the companies I had problems with, I still have to settle with them, but I do know that after they went to collection agencies, they stopped adding interest.
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