Complain about a product or service

Christian Debt Relief

Tara of Peru IN (12/06/07)
My parents went through Nick to get financial heklp for about $25-30,000 dollars. They were told it would be between $500-600 dollars a month over 3-5 years to get out of debt. They agreed and paid over $500 dollars to this company. After doing so they were contacted by New Horizen Debt Councelors and had to go through the same processes with them. They were under the impression that this company was the one that would be sending out the payments to the credit card companies for them. Unfortunanly, this company raised the price to almost $700 dollars. My parents made the first payment then was told by the credit card companies that the offer was turned down. My mother contacted the Christian Debt Councilors to find out why and was told that the original payment was not for payment for the debt but rather a referral fee to New Horizon (over $500 referral fee that they were never told about).

Because of not being told they had to pay over a $500 referral fee my parents are now unable to make payments to the credit card companies. So essenitally this Christian Debt Consolidators  misled my parents. I find this very dishonest and know my mother is an emotion wreck and is beside herself as to what to do. As if she doesn't have enough stress with the Credit card companies calling at least half a dozen times a day. She know she has to figure out how to pay them when she's already paid these debt consolidators everything she had.  If you can help at all it would be appreciated because we really don't know what to do.

Jeremyl of Williston ND (11/13/07)
my wife was dropping off our 2 year old son she saw some smoke.she turned off the car and took my son into daycare.when she came back out side the car was fully ingulfed in flames

Teresa of Little Rock AR (07/30/07)
My 1999 Dodge Stratus burned on 7/29/2007. I had just parked it after driving approximately 50 miles. I bought the car in Sepetember 2006 from the original owner. The fire department said the fire started in the engine compartment in front of the driver. The vehicle is a total loss.

Frank of Cincinnati OH (01/20/07)
Christian Debt Services took $699 as DEPOSIT from me, then charged $704.00 through New Horizon Co. I only have less than $1,200/month retirement income coming each month, as no employer will hire 80-year-old man like myself. I lost my job earlier in 2006, so now expenses outweigh what I make. Wife don't make much either so her expenses are more than what she takes in, too, once she pays for BOTH me and her. Can't keep up on the utility, house, or many other bills unless she borrows more money on credit cards, which is soon to be maxed out. Going to see attorney this week about it.

We won't get our $699 Deposit back, nor could I afford $704/month coming out of retirement income, leaving me with NO money left over to pay other bills. Now I am MINUS (-$500-n-something) on my bank account, as wife makes low wages, not being able to afford paying mine and her bills, so more borrowing on credit cards to pay mortgage, utilities, etc. Christian Debt Counselors fork over services to New Horizon Debt Agency, as they told us we couldn't file for bankruptcy, even though bills outweighed our expenses.

Yes, that 30% interest rate charged on 2 Chase Bank cards (they raised rates way up there from 6% to 30% once they bought out mine and other people's accounts) was brought down to 6%-7% interest; but, monthly payments are still very high, and since employers won't hire me because they think I am way too old, then I can't afford to keep up with payments, once I lost my job. Tried very hard to stay away from wanting to file bankruptcy, but debt settlements made matters WORSE, since they keep automatically withdrawing out of bank account, leaving no money to pay other bills, so now bank account is over $500 BELOW $0.00 average!

Hae of Jersey City NJ (02/06/06)
Back in October 2005, I have decided to do something about the ever so increasing credit card debts I had. I was not sure as to how to go about doing this until I saw the ad in the internet about this Christian Debt Consolidation. I called to find out what debt consolidation was and how it worked. The first person I spoke to was a financial counselor named David S.

He explained to me that my bill will be consolidated into one payment to Christian Debt Consolidation (CDC) who will negotiate with my creditors to reduce the interest rate and once the lowest interest rates are established, the CDC will then disperse my payments to each of my creditors. Basically, I would save money from paying less interest rate and would pay off the debt in 5 years. I thought it was a good plan and so I asked him how I would start this program.

He told me that I have to pay one time handling charge of $35 plus one month payment which was $1769.00 as a deposit, which will be given back to me at the end of the this program when all the debts are paid off. When I told him I didn’t have extra $1769.00 to start this program, he told me not to pay one month credit bill. He did tell me that this really was not recommended, but since I had no other choice, I had to skip the one month payment. He also reassured me that this won’t affect my credit report as long as I only skip one month payment.

I joined the program and sent my money via electronic payment in the amount of $1799.00 on 10/17/05, which CDC did receive as per my bank statement and I signed the contract to start the program. He told me that a representative from a ‘service provider’ will call me before the payment starts to go over the details of the payment. So, I waited for them to call. There was no call even after two weeks later. Meanwhile, I have also needed to refinance my mortgage as my interest rate on the mortgage was going up in Feb 2006.

When I contacted a few mortgage companies to find the best interest rates, I was told to cancel the debt consolidation program immediately as no bank will give me a loan if I am in this debt consolidation program. The mortgage companies told me that the debt consolidation was like declaring a bankruptcy. This was what I was told from all 4 mortgage companies I called. I immediately called the CDC to David to cancel this program. David also agreed with the mortgage companies that this program was not for those who are seeking to refinance the mortgage. He told me that I should have mentioned this to him earlier. I told him I had no idea it was going to affect the mortgage refinance.

Carol of Silver City NM (04/07/05)
I contacted CDC to inquire regarding my credit card debt problem. I spoke to Jason. He enrolled me in the Settlements program. I was told by Jason to STOP paying my credit card bills, and instead to send $832.00 each month to Christian Debt Consolidation. The first $832.00 went to CDC as a payment for their services. They also charged a monthly service fee of about $50.00. Our credit card debt at the time of enrollment was about $47,000. All our payments were up to date at that time with all our credit cards. It was explained that CDC would negotiate a settlement with our creditors. At that time we had 7 separate credit card debts.

CDC did negotiate a settlement with one of our Bank One accounts for $991.00 (I believe). However, they made no headway in settling any of our other accounts. Also, even though they sent out requests for our creditors not to call us, we were constantly receiving calls from our creditors, not only at home but at work as well. In April we received a notice from the National Arbitration Forum, regarding our MBNA and Union Planters Accounts. Apparently, the Nat. Arb. Forum has the authority to arbitrate debts and make recommendations to the courts for garnishment of wages, etc.

I contacted CDC about this, and they sent in forms to the National Arbitration Forum, as requested. However, after really researching this on the Internet, I realized that I would probably end up having a negative judgment and my wages garnished. I contacted Aaron at CDC in this regard, and was told that - yes -that was a possibility. In my conversation with him, it was pointed out that I had about $50,000 worth of debt at that point and, though I could stay in the program and attempt to stave off the creditors, I could end up with a garnishment and other legal actions.

My husband and I talked this over. My husband wanted to know why we weren't told this up front - before giving this outfit $832.00. As a direct consequence of my enrollment in CDC, I am now about $4,000 deeper in debt than when we began with them. Our credit card payments are so far behind now that there is no way that we will be able to make even the minimum payments. We will have to seek relief in the courts. I feel that we were not fully informed by CDC as to the consequences of paying them $832.00 a month and not paying our creditors. I also feel that I should have at least part of our $832.00 enrollment fee returned. They settled only one small debt for us, which I probably could have done myself.

Also, when a company uses the term Christian, it seems to me that Christian principles should be used as well. I have requested that the $1,100.00 remaining in our CDC account be returned to us, and I hope that it will be promptly, as we'll need the money to pay our attorney.

Joseph of Palatine IL (03/21/05)
I signed with Christian Debt Management to negotiate a payment plan with four credit card companies. They required a deposit of $795 that would be returned upon successful completion of the program if all payments were made through them. In March, CDM transferred my account to Nationwide Consumer Credit Services, not having made a single payment to the four creditors. Before signing with CDM, I was current with all payments, but having to pay the $795 deposit caused me to fall behind.

Nationwide did an OK job, but I could have done better and saved myself the $38/month service fee. Just this month I finished paying off the four credit cards with profit from the sale of my house. I was ready to request the refund of my deposit from CDM, but when I tried to phone them, none of their phone numbers worked. After further research I have determined that CDM and Debt Relievers have gone out of business, taking my deposit with them.

The damage that resulted: Loss of the $795 deposit and a total of about $400 in monthly fees. A lowered credit rating as a result of being a month behind and consequently a less favorable mortgage (a higher interest rate) on our new house and having to get a fixed second mortgage rather than a line of credit to pay off my credit cards.

Marc  of Tupelo MS (10/20/04)
I filled out an internet informatin form. They called and made an offer to pay of my debt in 55 months @6 % interest. They said they needed my checking account number for a $1,043 draft and would fax the contract to me. When they faxed the contract it was under the name of Attorney Dennis McDevitt and reference to Debt Relievers. The contract didn't match what they said on the phone. In fact it said they would keep the first payment for their fee and had the right to not apply any funds received toward the debt.

I called them and told them I wasnt interested. I had a call at work with their representative threatening to take the draft out of my checking account saying that he had a verbal authorization on the phone. I told him that I wasn't interested in entering an agreement with them. He said the phone conversation was an agreement. I hung up.

He called back and my wife answered. He called me her moron husband and said he would take the draft out of the account. I then received an email from them saying an electronic transfer had been made to Debt Management. 

I am having to close my checking account, change my social security number and close out my credit cards to protect against theft identiy

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