Hello...it's me kjabar. I'm having trouble logging in so I posted as a guest.
Is anyone familiar with this org. or worked with them? We've decided at this point we're better off discontinuing financira, a debt settlement co. and I've talked to someone at CCS and they're offering to take our accounts. They're saying they'll bring our accounts up to date and get rid of the harrassing calls. The only thing is that the montly payment they're offering isn't much lower than what we were paying when we were on our own.
The rep. at CCS also told me that even if we were to explain our situation they wouldn't care and will demand the minimum payment plus whatever is past due in one lump sum, we're 3-4 mos. past due because of financira. Now is that just his way of getting us to sign up with them? Cause I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to contact the OCs first and see what they say....any thoughts anyone??
IMO, what they are telling you does sound pretty accurate.
Generally, a service such as CCS doesn't do anything you can't. I don't think it would hurt to try contacting your OCs.
You can also shop around for a better quote, maybe you'll find one, maybe not...but if you do the research, you be less likely to kick yourself in the future about it.
old news
Actually those companies have licensing that allows them with little difficulty to get the lowest possible interest rates. Sometimes on your own they will work with you but there is no guarantee they won't raise it again
Coastal Credit Solutions
Has anyone signed up with them recently? I am looking at getting their help, but it almost seems to good to be true. They can bring my accounts to current status. My monthly payment is not that different that what I am currently paying, but my interest rate will be lowered, and my credit status will be repaired.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Coastal Credit Solutions
Hi sasab,
You can check if the company is accredited by the Better Business Bureau. In addition check if they are a non profit organisation.
Thanks,
Aaron
coast credit solutions
I've done much research on this company and there are some historical issues in Virginia, Florida and Alabama. However, I don't see any issues within 2010 or late 2009 out of San Diego. Nor can I find out if they are related to Florida group. Those law suits were a couple of years ago through 2008 and the NV firm just closed its doors a couple of months ago and is transferring all clients to Florida locaiton. The parent company appears to be The Johnson Law Group FL and some affiliation with Hess Kennedy and Johnson Law Group NV. There have been lots of people credited back and a couple of attorney general's shut down becuase of the business practices.
Again I'm not sure if I will be going with them or not. My situation is that I am current and need to resolve some things before they get out of control. I just wish I could find out more about their recent work performance. A few isolated congratulations here and there mixed with some not so good responses. They work with Debtwave and claim that Debtwave is non-profit, but both are owned by the same parent Johnson Law Group. There is a $49 fee that is placed on your account and they tell you that the first month payment is used to "set up and draft letters from our lawyers". Then next months payment would go toward paying down the principal on your account. Sounds fishy to me, just not sure about it. BBB says A rating for CCS and A+ for Debtwave. However not all people report to the BBB.
Almost like it is too much to be concerned about.
coastal credit solutions
I posted earlier today and have learned that this company based out of CA is associate with Azam Law Firm. Seems to be okay with no major issues. However I think the lawyer from the Florida case is the one who opened this law firm that represents the company out of CA. However, still doing research. No posts on my note earlier, so I hope someone finds this to be useful.
credit
WHATEVER credit company you go through, it's really a good idea to do reasearch on. The ones I've attempted to go through were really trying to scam me out of ALOT of money instead of helping me. ONE of these so-called 'repair co's.' wanted $100.00 set up fee and a fee of almost $100.00 every month,..NOT including the motnhly payment I was to owe them. GOD!! Just horrible. That would have put me MORE in debt!! Just beware of these companies. SOME ARE good (according to other consumers). I just don't know which ones are legit.
CCS
sounds like you could do credit counseling which is always the best option if you can take it. you may not pay much less than your monthly payment but what CCS does is lower your interest with the creditors. They can pull that off because of their programs set up with the creditors. the affiliates they work with are non-profit and it allows the creditors tax write offs as well as getting some of the money you owe that they wouldn't have gotten back if you just stopped paying and went bankrupt....I think the CCS program is a no brainer for you to take up, your savings outweigh any fees or they refuse to sign you up and paying off your debts faster allows you to rebuild your payment history and credit score
Coast Credit Solutions
They helped my family a couple years ago on a credit counseling program and I'm not 100% debt free. Furthermore, I called up my rep and asked how I could help out my sister. Again, with the great service, understanding, and education, they were able to help her. I enrolled into a credit counseling program with them and saw a great jump in my credit score. My sister however NEEDED a debt settlement program and they put her in great hands working with Azam and Nulo. She also received help with a short sale as she was facing a foreclosure. I will continue to go back to my rep there for ongoing financial help.
Debt Wave - Positive Experience
Debtwave has been an excellent service for me. I started with over 140,000 in debt and am down to below 90,000. They always answer the phone, e-mail me back or call me proactively if there’s a question. Super courteous, professional and honest. Seriously.
I’m a smart guy and I tried for nearly two years to negotiate directly with my creditors to reduce rates. I did NOT want to go to a counseling agency. I wish I had just started with them back then, because I would be almost done by now. Instead I paid over $60,000 more in interest than I had to.
Ultimately, a commercial lender I know was the one who referred me to them because he had a number of clients who had success with them.
I did have some concerns, initially, with the Sales Rep who was a little pushy. Do what I did – tell them to back off. If it’s a good idea today, then it’s a good idea in two weeks or a month. After I thought about it a while (and saw that I would recoup my upfront fee in two month’s of interest savings) I decided to go ahead.
A couple of hints if you are starting one of these programs (which you should)
1.) If you have a lot of accounts, start with one or two. First, the set-up fee is based on your initial monthly payments. You can come back later and add more.
2.) If you are interested in protecting your credit, you should make double payments (send one payment to the creditor yourself, on top of the one Debtwave is sending). Sometimes creditors won’t post a payment until a plan has been accepted.
Past due payments during the proposal period can also cause your proposal to be rejected, or come back with different numbers than what were originally proposed.
It’s been a totally positive experience for me, and I have gotten other people involved with Debt Management Programs since. I’m ending my “wage slaveryâ€, so I’m a convert.
It appears that people who have problems with counseling agencies are in denial about the real problem, and just want someone to blame for their problem. People with problems with their CCCS may also be confused with another Johnson Law Group, which is definitely a scam operation and in the news a bit, too. The Florida and Nevada ones – stay clear. San Diego – good to go – RATED A from BBB.
You don’t get something for free and the fees these companies charge are WELL WORTH the service you receive.
Feel free to e-mail me if you want to discuss these guys or credit services in general.
Good advice here BTW. For the most part the reason for signing up for a credit counseling agency is that they are going to negotiate you lower interest rates with your creditors so even though you're paying only a slightly lowered monthly payment you are actually going to be paying your debt off faster due to the lower interest rates across the board.
That's only unless your credit counselors know what they're doing and are doing their job...