Consumer complaint received 2020-07-22
Company: FREEDOM FINANCIAL NETWORK
State: CO
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Debt settlement
Issue: Confusing or missing disclosures

Complaint:
I was contacted by Freedom Debt Relief in the summer of 2018. I had about {$25000.00} in debt & wanted to learn the best & most responsible way to pay it off. The representative made a lot of promises, all which ended up not being true. He also left out several important aspects of the program, which I would have immediately known were unacceptable and would not reduce my debt. He said I had to sign up right then to get the program offer. He did NOT send, read, or give me an accurate idea of the agreement prior to signing. I have been paying every month for 2 years and put {$8500.00} into a trust account for them to negotiate and pay the debt after I approved. They have only settled one debt for less than {$1000.00} and ALL the rest of my account funds are empty. I have been calling since XXXX and everyone was rude & would not look into it. I did my own research & figured out their schemes. Some were in fine print that wasn't transparent or communicated, but there are also major federal & state violations that they are practicing and exploiting the poor who are trying to pay off debt. They are profiting & causing us more debt, hundreds of hours in time, and excruciating emotional distress when we are already in a vulnerable state. The violations include, but not limited to : 1. Telling me on the sales call to that they were signing me up with my parents address in Pennsylvania because of " filing '' convenience for them and that it would not affect my program at all. - Fraud & Against the law 2. Promising debt services they knew were not attainable & were already sued for saying ( my debt would be completely resolved in 2 years or sooner ) 3. They said they could negioate with all my creditors, which I found out later they could not work with XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX. They said there was transparency, but I soon found out soooo many issues to ensure my funds were taken by them, not creditors 5. I was rushed in to signing & was not told there were non-profits or other options 6. They never explained the process and they said their algorithm would pay off my debt including their fees and ave me over {$10000.00}. That was a lie. 
7. Their client dashboard is inacurrate and doesnt show vital information including which account the settlment fees they are taking is for 8. I was not communicated with & some accounts ( I had XXXX creditors ) were negioated & payments made without my consent. 
9. I did not know the money in the account was mine & I had control 10.I received a summons & complaint for XXXX XXXX XXXX which I immediately notified them about. They said they would handle & let me know if I needed to do something. They did nothing! I got sued & my WAGES were garnished. Causing me to have to pay more than the debt of XXXX XXXX & also hurt my career reputation. I could not get a hold of anyone that would even take the XXXX XXXX off my program as promised for an entire year. Later, I found out they could never work with them. I also pay $ 12 month for legal services ( another {$10.00} for the account & 23 % of each settlement ) and they never told me I could utilize if for the XXXX XXXX, which made me miss a small 3 day window for legal council I pay for. 
11. They are illegally charging me 23 % in settlement fees, which is above the alloted amount of fees. Also, they take out the entire amount immeidately, depleting all funds so accounts are not resolved. Causing the debt to last much longer than necessary. This is not legal!

12. They promised they dont take any fees until debts are sucessfully resolved, which is a lie as they made XX/XX/XXXX of my accounts go null & void and did not return the 23 % to my account and losing all the debt paid on the account costing me thousands of dollars. I called & went online regularly and they NEVER said I lost a creditor contract even when I was asking specifically what was going on & where my funds were.

13. They finally gave me a ledger to reasearch on my own & thats when I found all the laws & violations of how they were illegally taking me funds. They were depleting funds on purpose, not telling clients, making deals with creditors without my consent, saying it settled for more than it did & purposely doing all of this to maximize profits. 
14. Their entire program is predatory, fraudulent and downright illegal. They are not doing ANY of the services promised, taking advantage of the poor, treating them cruelly, illegally taking their money, lying to them and then trying to cover it up. 
I have proof of every single claim above and more. Please stop them! I live in Colorado & they knew that and put Pennsylvania. I now know that because our regulations are stricter, so they will try to get around state regulations. The bank we have to use & the legal service required to use are on the same financial board. Clients are poor & have no resources. They lied and said my recurring payments " were not able to pulled '' but I pay automatically and it comes out twice a month meeting all their requirements & more. They also reduced my monthly amount without telling me of any of the null & voids when they finally took off XXXX XXXX. That shows they had the intention of my funds depleting. They refuse to help & wont return my calls or give me any information or recourse to resolve this. Please help us! We cant afford lawyers & they know that. Please! I am a single mom who has no help or recourse. This is illegal & can prove it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation