Consumer complaint received 2020-02-27
Company: ClearOne Advantage, LLC
State: TN
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Debt settlement
Issue: Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing

Complaint:
I was contacted by accredited debt relief company. I was told they could help me get out completely out of debt within 48 months. At this time I had not ever been late with any of my creditors but I was overextended and looking for relief options. They pulled my credit and stated they could and have worked with each one of my creditors. They said they would reach out to each one of them to settle my obligations to them. They asked me to stop paying my creditors and instead pay them each month and the money would be put into a trust that would then be used to pay these creditors. They told me If I could pay {$1000.00} per month it would be enough to settle my debts. I agreed to the {$1000.00} per month as it was less than my current monthly obligations and it would provide some much needed relief for me and my family. They gave me a phone number and instructed me to change my contact number on all of my accounts to this number so they could talk to my creditors if they called. They called it a " client safety number ''. They said if I followed their instructions I would be out of debt completely in 54 months. The first red flag I got was that they immediately transferred my account to a company named Clear One Advantage. 
I followed all of their instructions and Clear One Advantage began drafting {$1000.00} from my account in XX/XX/2019. In XXXX days after my first draft they called to ask me to provide more funds monthly to settle accounts. They said they settled my biggest account of {$17000.00} for just under $ 10k of course their fee is 20 % so I now owed them {$3400.00}. They said for almost the next year all of my {$1000.00} would be tied up paying this one creditor and they had XXXX  funds to work with any other creditors. They stated could not call any other creditor and try to negotiate a settlement until they had additional funds to work with. That's when I started receiving relentless calls from my creditors. In XXXX I had to agree to pay an additional {$150.00} per month to work with one more creditor to get them to settle. I am now up to {$1200.00} per month and they have only worked with 2 of my creditors. One creditor sent me an attorneys letter in XXXX and I called ClearOne and asked if they would call and try to settle the account. Their response was oh, if they have an attorney we can no longer work with that account. " You are on you own with that one ''. My credit is now shot. I was sued by that creditor and now have a judgement against me for {$430.00} per month and I am now having to try to work with other creditors that have threatened legal action to try and pay what I no longer have. I had to agree to another {$100.00} per month to another creditor to keep them from filing a lawsuit. I am sure the others are close behind. The outcome in just 5 months is that I am significantly more in debt than I was prior to signing up with this company. I now owe legal and attorney fees from creditors they refused to call. They systematically pick the largest accounts that they will make the most money on and then make sure they are pay themselves before the debt is paid not caring that they have no funds to work with your other creditors and how it will affect you. 
The service they promised is not even close to what I received. Financially I am ruined for at least 7 years. From what I can find there seems to be very little regulation over these companies essentially giving them a " license to steal ''. from consumers that are the most vulnerable.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint is the result of a misunderstanding
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation