Consumer Law, Warranties What are my options?

[KyleW]

Hello all,
I need help figuring out what my options are that I have.
It's a long drawn out dramatic story on how I got in this predicament and how i got so broke so I wont get into it right now.
I am currently involved with a "Debt Negotiation" company and basically I pay them a little over 200.00 a month and they put my money in a special purpose account so I can pay off all my collection and credit companies that I owe. I just recently received a letter in the mail from them stating that since time i guess are rough for them they are going to start taking an additional 38.00 per month out of my bank account. I know that an extra 38 bucks doesn't sound like that much at all but for me that is quite a bit making the little amount of money that I do make. I did my best to thoroughly go through my agreement that I have with them and see if there is any stipulation in there that at anytime they are able to adjust my monthly payment. No where in there did I find such a statement, what I did find in there was an itemized list of my payment agreement with the dates that I pay, the amount that I will be paying, and any fees in which i will be paying. The only fees that I was required to pay was two down payments and for the next 12 months I paid them "X" amount of dollars. I also found a couple mistakes that I possibly have made on the agreement forms that I signed and e-mailed to them. I discovered that when i was going through this paperwork that I never even check the little box indicating that I approve of them deducting money out of my checking or savings account automatically in which they do.
So can any of you please help me I cant afford this, I am currently struggling to pay them the minimum that they are asking me at this time? If you need any other information please let me know. I have the originals to my agreement since they told me I could scan them and email them the papers.

 

[fredrikklaw]

Terms & Conditions!

It would be helpful if you could put up just the "Terms and Conditions" which I take it must be on the reverse side of the agreement (contract) forms; I couldn't (and wouldn't) even hazard a guess without seeing what the terms and conditions dole out.

fredrikklaw

 

[KyleW]

Since im new...

I cant do anything. My files are too large i guess and I dont have 10 post under my belt so I cant post links to my documents. Any ideas?

 

[fredrikklaw]

Let's see...

Well, let's start with what we DO know and go from there!

I have a healthy dislike of direct debit when it is with the best of companies, but I thought that setting up one was a bit more entailed than merely "checking a box" on a form and also that once it is set up, the amount debited could not be changed willy-nilly. Any ways, let me ask you a few questions:

• When did you start the "agreement" with this company?
• What is the length of the agreement? (6 months; 12 months)
• How many $200.00 payments have you made to them?
• For receiving the $200.00 monthly payments, has the company finalized negotiations? Do you know which creditor has agreed to what settlement and how your payments are being distributed?
• How many monthly fees have so far been paid by your bank via direct debit?

Last but not least…

• What state is this company headquartered in?

I really do not wish to sound doom and gloom or alarmist, but I just do not like the sound of this debt negotiating company and the first order of business may well have to be a trip to your bank and a swift cancellation of the direct debit. We'll see.

fredrikklaw

 

[KyleW]

1. My first payment was in June of 2008
2. All together believe it is a 28 mo. contract
The first 2 mo. were down payments and the next 12 months I had to pay 220.93 plus 91.87 service fee and from 8/16/08 to 9/16/2010 its just the 220.93
3. So far I have made 18 payments not including the 2 down payments.
4. Yes they have done some work for me I will give them that much credit.
5. I dont want to sound like an idiot but im not understanding that question, I hope my previous responses have answered this.
6. They are based out of CA.

 

[army judge]

Debt consolidators are unscrupulous people.
They are often debt collectors disguised in debt consolidator clothing.
In the end, they usually make money and screw you.
You might be better off filing bankruptcy.
They are also akin to dead fish, in that their stench is also impossible to remove long after your relationship is severed with them.

 

[KyleW]

I honestly don't think that they are a consolidation firm since they don't I guess own my debt. What they do is more a long the lines of manage my money and put it in a special purpose account so when I do get an offer letter or they receive an offer let they call me so I can approve the offer and they cut a check to the bank.
Sorry if this is difficult to read its 3:50am and I'm on my phone typing this out

 

[army judge]

If that is all they do, why do you need them?

You could do that yourself.

I see no value added from them, just taking more of your money that could go to paying your debt.


Your total debt doesn't appear to be that much, as you're only doling out $2400 a year (@ $200/month).

Some of these companies never pay your creditors.

They eventually abscond with your funds, leaving you worse off than when you began.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KyleW]

Yeah but it works ok for me I don't have to deal with the credtors press or anything like that. My debt totals about 14k and I don't want to leave the "American Way" and settle my debt with a BK. I do know for a fact that they are settling my debt with the lawyers, creditors etc. because I had to personally call them to change my address with them to get my 1099-Cs. I just need to know if they are allowed to change my payment plan like this because I never seen anything in any of my papers.