Consumer complaint received 2022-07-25
Company: Americor Funding, LLC
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit repair services
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I signed up for an account with Americor after seeing their ads saying they could help me handle my credit card debt. Long story short, my first wife passed away in XXXX, and I had to leave my job at the time and take a 70 % pay cut to care for my XXXX young children. I eventually was able to get my income back to normal, but in the process took on about {$80000.00} in credit card debt. 

I requested Americor 's help with this, and during the intake process they seemed legitimate and helpful. 

Unfortunately, though, as it turned out there were two MAJOR misrepresentations they made, which completely invalidated any benefit I could have received, and that they absolutely lied to me about during the signup process. I would NEVER have signed up if I had received this information clearly during the process. 

False claim # 1 : After 12 months of payments they would lend me the funds to fully pay off my creditors. 
When signing up, I was told both verbally and in writing that after 12 months of on-time payments, Americor would arrange a loan to fully pay off my creditors. This was false. DEEP in the fine print of their agreement, and contradicted by the verbal statements of their staff, they reserved the right to require me to pay them for 29 months before offering the loan, not 12. 

False claim # 2 : They would provide me a loan at a reasonable interest rate. 
Then when I finally got close to the much longer number of payments, I reached out to arrange the loan, only to find out that the loan interest rate was an incredible 24 % higher than ANY of the credit cards I had enrolled! 

It's easy to negotiate a credit card settlement on your own. The only real value-add for this group would be the loan, and I've come to find out it actually has no value to me, despite all the assurances I got during the signup process. 

Ultimately I was charged over {$9000.00} in fees for essentially receiving XXXX value. I repeatedly emailed and called Americor to try and find a solution, but they have never emailed me back on this, and when I requested a call from a manager, they simply never called. 

I have also filed a complaint with the FTC for false advertising. I also reached out to the CEO and COO of Americor directly via XXXX, but have gotten no response. I'm hopeful that a CFPB complaint will get their attention, or if not I may be forced to file a lawsuit to recover my fees and the funds they are holding on my account ( over {$19000.00} total ). 

Please understand that beyond the financial damage, the fact that my credit has been destroyed for over 2 years ( when Americor promised it would begin recovering after 1 year ) has been an additional hardship for my family. We struggled to find a home to rent, and we're greatly overpaying for our vehicles due to my poor credit score.

Attached file is a statement from " Reliant '' who processes these transactions on behalf of Americor.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation