I started with Family Credit Counseling in January of trying to help myself get out of debt before I got overwhelmed. I contacted some company I found on the Internet, who got me in touch with Family Credit Counseling (FCC) after taking my first payment ($750) as the cost of my referral. I was told that they would pay my final months' payment when I completed the program.
The first problem arose with them in those first few months... It took 6 months for all my creditors to reach an agreement with them. I made multiple calls back and forth to my creditors and FCC - things that FCC should have been doing, because, after all, that's what I was paying them to do right? Needless to say, my credit score took a hit during this time.
Go forward about a year... Everything is going along ok... My payments are made at least within the month that they took the money out of my account, granted, not within the 5 days as provided in the contract, but within the month nonetheless..
Now we're in and my payments are progressively getting further and further apart and I stopped receiving statements. I called them last month to inquire as to why, I was told that they stopped sending statements as a cost saving measure (nice that they told us that) and I was told "We are aware that your contract states your money will be dispersed within 5 days of receiving it. We have NO REASON as to why your payments are a month and a half behind". I was in shock. I told them OK, will you be dispersing those payments, and they told me yes.
Now we are in early October. My payments are 2 months behind and I'm fielding calls from my creditors wondering where their payments are. I tell them the story, and that's all I can do. I don't know if they listen or not, or whether they really care, but it's definitely a big deal to me.
I called FCC yesterday, inquiring as to why they were now 2 months behind, instead of catching up my payments as they told me they would last month, and I got the "We have no reason..." spiel again. I inquired as to where my money was and I got silence... You could hear the crickets chirping.
Needless to say I have cancelled my contract with them and have started with Care One Credit. They have a website and forum for users, and get this - they are Better Business Bureau ACCREDITED! Lol... I'm hoping for the best - FCC still has 2 months payments to distribute, and that has yet to be completed. I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Anything I can do to help everyone else avoid these people, I'll do it.
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