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Advanced Financial Dept Services is a SCAM
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Posted by Ocean Ecology
(208.60.6.94) on March 16, 2004 at 09:18:01:
While in college, I accumulated a heavy credit card dept. I have since graduated and have been trying to manage my school loans and credit card debt. I was unable to keep up with my credit card payments and this account went into collections. I contacted American Consumer Counseling Organization, which now may have been renamed to American Consumer Credit Counseling. My intent was to enlist the services of an organization that would help me to manage my debt. They told me that I would need to sign and notarize a contract with Advanced Financial Debt Services (AFDS) that gave them the power of attorney and stated that they (AFDS) was entitled to 30% of the amount of money they save me in the negotiated settlement. It further stated that if I chose to settle this account on my own, they were entitled to 7% of the savings. At that point in my life, I was desperate and eager to settle this so I signed. The starter fee was $300 and I agreed to a monthly electronic deduction from my checking account. For seven months, AFDS electronically withdrew $206 a month. Despite what they had promiced, I was still receiving calls from collection agencies and lawsuit threats. I could never reach AFDS on the phone; I left voicemails but never received a call back. I never received correspondance from them. After six, months I sent them a letter that threatened to block these monthly deductions if I didn't hear from. Sure enough, I got a phone call from one of their representatives assuring me that everything was under control. I finally got wise and called the credit card company directly only to discover that they had never even heard of this organization. AFDS of course denied this and said they had been working on this the entire time. However, nothing had been done and the interest on my credit card continued to accrue. I finally blocked the deductions, but I'm out over $1,700 and not a cent has been paid the credit card company. I am now much much worse off than before I ever contacted AFDS. Please understand that I have nothing to gain by writing this. I am simply warning anyone with debt who reads this to be very cautious of debt counseling organizations, especially those that advertise on the internet. Organizations like Advanced Financial Debt Services pray upon people who are down on their luck and desperate to find a way out of an overwhelming debt situation. Basically, I'm stuck with a very expensive lesson and there is nothing that I can do about it except brood. So instead of dwelling on my ignorance, I want to send out a warning. I sincerely hope this prevents someone else from being scammed.
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