Complain about a product or service

Consolidated Credit Counseling Services

Scott of Phoenix, AZ September 25, 2009

I had problems with CCCS since enrollment. The enrollment counselors cut you off and leave you high and dry after enrollment. The counselor requested ALL of my creditors information so she could verify which ones CCCS could help me with. She asked if my financial institution, or Credit Union was one of my creditors. I told her that they were, but since they give me the lowest rates possible I did not want to include them. Well, CCCS sent their letter to my Credit Union anyway, and my Credit Union in turn closed all my accounts.

I called my Credit Union and told them it was a mistake, and CCCS had not authorization to do that, and that I would like my accounts re-opened, and they replied that they could not do that now that they know I'm with CCCS. I called the enrollment counselor that set it all up and told her what had happened, and all she could say is; Oh ya, we shouldn't have sent anything to the Credit Union, because you can't get lower rates than what they offer.

So now I was left without even a back up credit card for emergencies. I had another creditor, after accepting the offer from CCCS, send CCCS a letter stating that I had paid off my account and had successfully completed the CCCS program. CCCS stopped paying them. I never received that letter, and basically the creditor lied to CCCS to get out of the contract. What the creditor did was change my account number.

By the time I found out that CCCS wasn't paying them any longer, I was already 60 days delinquent on my account. When I contacted CCCS and told them what had happened, they said; We received a letter from the creditor and stopped paying them, would you like a copy? I told them that this action by the creditor didn't seem legal, and that CCCS should have contacted me immediately to verify any such documents received from the creditor.

The guy I spoke with even acknowleged that this kind of thing happens all the time. I asked if this kind of deceptive action on the part of the creditor was in some kind of violation of the agreement they had accepted from CCCS, and the only answer I received was no. So at this point was had a huge delinquency black mark on my credit report, and CCCS was not going to assist me in fixing it.

I have many complaints about this company. They have poor customer service, they do not monitor your accounts (as you would think they would), they actually expect you to call them monthly and update them with you account balance, ect. Many of my creditors would hit me with charges at different times for no reason (like late charges, over credit limit charges, and all kinds of weird stuff). Per the contract with CCCS, they are not supposed to be allowed to do this. If you call CCCS to inform them, they will instruct you to call the creditor and resolve it yourself. I'm still not sure what we are paying CCCS the $50 fee per month for.... Negative impact on credit report. I had prided my self on having no deliquencies or negative impacts on my report. Since CCCS it's been a nightmare.

Cara of Felton, CA August 10, 2007

I signed a contract with CCCS on 12/15/06. I told them from the beginning I had plenty of money in my account and that I did NOT want any lapse time in my payments. I received letters from all my cards that payment had not been received and all my cards went up plus late fees. Then I notice that on 1 of my accounts the finance charge went up 4.5%. They are supposed to negiotiate to bring these finance charges DOWN NOT UP!

They charge me $9.00 EVERY month for the "GOLD MEMBERSHIP" which I never agree to. They never put this "GOLD MEMBERSHIP" on the original contract. I notice 1 lady sent they are charging her $5.00 per month. Why is mine 4 dollars PER MONTH higher than hers? Another thing, they take my money out on the 5th of every month, yet the credit card companies don't get their money until the end of the month. That means CCCS gets interest off my money (and everyone elses) for 2 to 3 weeks.

On July 18th, I sent them a letter stating how displeased I was and that I thought they were doing a terrible job. I demanded that they re-negotiate with the banks,that they pay my late fees, and to send a letter to Experian,TransUnion and Equifax explaining there actions and clear my credit card rating. I also requested a letter from them explaining their actions in this matter. WHAT DID I RECEIVE? I got a reply from them via my answering machine stating my payment was going up $5.00 more. As far as I am concerned these people are a rip off and really don't care about helping people's credit. If you are thinking about calling them up and getting help from them, think again please!!

Catherine of Miami, FL June 29, 2007

I happened to come across this site. The complaints that I read, reminded me of my same experience, especially when I read the name Desiree. I don't know if it is the same person, but it did hit a nerve. I opened my account with them in December 2001, until June of 2003. I followed their rules and was never late with the payment they set up with me for payment to 2 creditors. My credit was ruined be cause even though I made my payments & on time, CCCS did not follow their end of their promise. When I realised what was going on with my creditors - it was that all of my payments where reaching them late, because they had not agreed with whatever cccs had said they had been able to set up with my creditors. What a nightmare.

And in all of that time of of the creditors balance went down $17.10 from 7/17/2002 until 6/12/2003. I don't want to relive this mess, but when I contacted CCCS, they assured me that they had not done anything wrong. I couldn't believe their "mumbo-jumbo." I got out of the mess because I received a sum of money and was able to pay those 2 debts off - no thanks to them at all. My account with them at the time was #72102. Unfortunately, in the beginning, I thought they were wonderful and was ablr to refer to clients to them that signed up for their service.

Stephanie of Elizabethville, PA May 17, 2007

This company took over my account from Assured Credit Counseling....they went out of business. My husband and I FINALLY completed the program and notified Consolidated Credit Counseling. The original company had withheld a one month payment of over $600 that was to be refunded once we completed the entire program. We were first told by Consolidated that we had to notify them in writing first. We did that...no response...then we told that we had to contact Assured...a company that was no longer in business and has no forwarding addresses. I was told that Consolidated IS responsible for the refund since they took over the account. They tell me they aren't paying because they never received any money from Assured when they took over my account. !

Deborah of Saint Louis, MO October 26, 2005

When I joined CCCS, I was told that I had to authorize that all of my credit card accounts be closed. I gave permission for this to be done and assumed that CCCS followed my instructions and the agreement I made with them. Even though my credit card statements continue to show a credit line being available, I paid more attention to the fact that they also stated that I had not credit for immediate use. After 2+ years and getting no where with the debt reduction, I chose to refinance my house and pay off my credit cards in this manner. When I sent the check to CCCS, I stated that I wanted all accounts paid in full and all companies to be properly informed that I had withdrawn from the program.

In applying for a line of equity, I have discovered that all of my credit card acccounts are still active, thus negatively impacting my credit report; it is still showing that I am under consumer credit counseling, which is negatively impacting my credit report, and despite, the fact that they are active, I cannot obtain a credit card on an account because CCCS has never informed any of these companies that I had withdrawn from the program.

Kim of Daniel Island, SC June 9, 2004

Misquoted total monthly rate to me 4 times, 1 creditor (Jacobson's)I was in good standing with and I now owe more to them before signing onto their program and was sent into collections because they were only paying them $15.00 a month. When I cld the co directly about this they said they never authorized this amt. So now not only do I owe more to them, I am in collections w/them and have this on my credit report. They are charging a $25.00 late fee every month plus finace chgs which puts me into the hole every month.

The $15.00 does not even cover the late chg which they are chging because they say now such a large portion of the balance is overdue. The total amy now due is approx. $500 and when I started on the program I owed them about $375. This is extremely upsetting in many ways as you can imagine.

Ann of Logansport, IN December 19, 2003

Almost three years ago I went to them to get help with almost 20,000.00 of credit card debt. I was immediately told to cut up my credit cards and was quite litertally slapped into a DMP that was to last 5 years. I have two of the largest balances not only not going down, but actually increasing due to "not receiving payment", and when I call CCCS, they say they will look into it. I continue to accrue interest. Currently, according to my math, it will take my at least 3 more years to pay off the balances I have now with no more interest.

Elio of Cambridge, MA July 9, 2003

I enrolled in this debt management program four months ago. And my interest rates and balances are now HIGHER than when I started. I have made all my payments on time through their program. The problem comes that supposedly it can take up to SIX months AFTER the CC company recieves the proposal for rates and fees to be reduced. In my case, TWO companies have not even received proposal yet!!!!!!! The reason is that these were "business" accounts which need PAPER proposals rather then the ELECTRONIC ones CCCS insists on sending out.

I called once 6 weeks ago, I was told it was sent out and should be fine. WRONG. MBNA called me. I called CCCS back, I got a manager on the phone who said he was dealing with the special MBNA department at CCCS and this was DEFINTELY being taken care of. WRONG. 3 weeks later I got a call from MBNA. Meanwhile, my account which was already at a painful 22.99 was jacked up to 29.89!!!! AND Im still be hit with late fees and credit rot. 40 minutes ago I got off the phone with Marsha who supposedly actually WORKS in the special MBNA department of CCCS. She said she call me back in 20 minutes DEFINETLY. I'm still waiting........... DO NOT USE THEM!

Elaine of Sugar Land, TX April 9, 2003

My husband and I chose this company to help with our financial debt crisis and to our dismay, after about 90 days, we were in a worse financial situation than when we started. We got virtually little help with our creditors and decided to "disenroll" from the CCC program. We called CCC as well as faxed a statement to them telling CCC we no longer wished to participate in their program. We were told the next auto-debit for $932.00 would not occur from our checking account.

Desiray Z, a counselor/supervisor took it upon herself to not honor our request and went ahead and debited our checking account (which had previously been on autopay) $932.00 We had no knowledge and gave no consent for this debit to our account and subsequently our checking account went into the overdraft, was assessed hundreds of dollars in fees, and returned several checks to businesses that we use frequently. As a result, we are still responsible for our checking account and have not been reimbursed for these fees nor are we able to write checks to several businesses in our area as a direct result of Desiray's error. The only thing CCC has done since the problem occurred is to reimburse for the $932.00 that was taken in error.

David of Pittsburgh, PA July 2, 2002

In Novemer 2001, I went to Consumer Credit Couseling Service of Miami for help with my debt service. They told me that they sucessfully made agreements with my creditors and they arranged a monthly automatic payment from my credit card account. But I eventually learned that they did not follow through. They did not actually make agreements with all of my creditors. Payments were deducted from my credit card account, which were allocated to the various credit card financial institutions, but, since the agreement had not been made, the payments fell short of the minimum payments, and I was therefore charged late fees. Under these late fees, some of my credit cards reached their limits, and, therefore, I was also charged over the limit fees.

Unfortuntely, it is extremely difficult to reach anyone at CCCS in Miami. The telephone rings, and generally nobody answers. When somebody does answer, they cannot help you, unless you speak directly with your assigned counselor. But these couselors are never available. They don't return telephone calls, letters, or e-mails. On several occasions, I contacted the manager by telephone, but he would not do anything. I was told on several occasions that I could successfully talk to someone if I had a telephone conference appointment. I made several telephone conference appointments, but the agents never called, as they said they would, and, when I tried to contact them, they would not come to the telephone.

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