Consumer complaint received 2019-09-30
Company: FREEDOM FINANCIAL NETWORK
State: NM
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit repair services
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019 I was directed to Freedom Debt Relief after being denied for a debt consolidation loan. I reached out to the company and the program was explained to me. I agreed and signed up for the program, not apparently understanding how the fees worked. In all the documentation I received I was not informed how much of a percentage would be taken during my debt relief program. I payed monthly fees for the account that seemed very reasonable along with a few other fees here and there. I assumed these were the fees for the program not knowing there would be more. 

Between XX/XX/2019 and today, XX/XX/2019 I had deposited XXXX. On this date I logged in to see the progress of my account and observed a fee of {$4400.00} which completely caught me by surprise as it was almost the exact amount in my account. I immediately called and spoke with a representative who stated that is was a service fee for my settlement and that I agreed to it when I signed my contract I asked to cancel the account immediately and that I did not agree to pay everything that had been saved as a service fee. I was transferred to someone who could cancel my account. 

I spoke with a XXXX. When I asked to cancel my account and be reimbursed. She stated that this had been agreed upon and I could not receive a refund for the services provided. She continued to state I agreed to the fees and was told this on my welcome phone call. I had to ask over 5 times for her to quit arguing and cancel my service. She finally relented and began cancelling account arguing with me the whole time. While cancelling I asked follow up questions about the fees that were not explained thoroughly to me and she stated that they had just made the first payment on my first settlement that day. This apparently entitled them to all the money in my account keeping me from being reimbursed. I confirmed if I had called one day prior I would have gotten my money back she stated that was correct. The agreed upon payment to my debt collector was for just under {$300.00} a month. So they made one payment of roughly {$300.00} and now get to keep {$4400.00} after I asked to cancel my program due to misleading information. They also canceled the settlement so I do not even get the product for my {$4400.00}. 

After finding this out I asked to file a complaint, which the person insisted on taking herself. I had to demand more than 5 times that I speak with a supervisor, before she finally connected me for the complaint. The supervisor took my complaint but stated there was not any real follow up that I would receive and that was what I agreed to. All in all I feel like I just lost over {$4500.00} and received nothing in return due to misleading information about the fees. 

I obviously researched to see if this had happened before and find that they were required to pay for misleading information in the past. Please look into this so no one else has this happen to them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation