Consumer complaint received 2021-03-16
Company: FREEDOM FINANCIAL NETWORK
State: TN
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit repair services
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
Overview : Over the course of my nearly 4-year program, I have made every single scheduled payment to FDR on-time and in-full. Nevertheless, FDR has : ( 1 ) neglected to make payments on my enrolled debts ; ( 2 ) has charged me for debts that it in fact never settled ; and, ( 3 ) charged me settlement fees on debts that I paid-off without their assistance. 

In addition, FDR : ( 4 ) used an ambiguous contract to mislead me about its fees, ( 5 ) pressured me to increase the initial amount of debt that I enrolled in their program ; ( 6 ) gave me financial advice as though acting as my fiduciary, when in fact working against my best interests ; ( 7 ) pressured me to continue to make full payments throughout the program and misled me as to the consequences of changing my payments. 

As I earnestly worked to understand and resolve my account issues, FDR : ( 8 ) obstructed access to my account information ; ( 9 ) provided inaccurate and conflicting information ; and, ( 10 ) thwarted my attempts to pay in-full and ( thereby complete ) my program.

I feel that FDR has acted entirely in bad faith. It has pressured, intimidated, and misled me throughout the 4-years of my program. I have over-paid. I have also been prevented from making final payments and as a result my program is dragging on and on. I have been treated unconscionably by FDR. As a result, I feel that a fair resolution would include FDR refunding me all of the fees that I was charged. ( Please see the conclusion of this letter for a full explanation of my proposed resolution. ) What happened : Misled During Initial Enrollment On XX/XX/XXXX, I hired FDR to help me address my debt situation. Upon my initial enrollment, I was seeking help for certain debts only. However, I was encouragedthen pressuredto submit ALL my debts and bills in order to be approved for the program. Including more bills and more debt was presented as advantageous to me. When I expressed concern about including more debt than I had originally sought help for, the FDR representative reassured me that this was a sound debt relief strategy. When I continued to hesitate, the representative continued to pressure me and stated that I could remove these additional debts as needed in the future. Thus, I was persuaded ( at a time extreme emotional stress ) to act against my own financial self-interests to include all my debts, including medical debts, in the FDR program.

As mentioned above, at the time I was under a tremendous amount of financial stress and feeling considerable fear. In retrospect, I feel that FDR took advantage of my situation and behaved in a predatory manner. I was pressured to act quickly. In actuality, I was misled and misinformed regarding FDRs policies and how/when settlements would be made on my behalf. 


Debt Relief Program Paid as Agreed/ FDRs Misinformation and Continued Pressure My original enrolled debt was {$48000.00}. FDR customized my payment program and I began making monthly payments of {$800.00} to FDR on XX/XX/XXXX. For the past 43 months I have not missed a single payment and FDR has received a total of {$34000.00} from me. 

Despite my steady progress and declining balance, I was consistently pressured by FDR representatives to continue my {$800.00} monthly payments. Without exception, every time I spoke to FDR representatives by phone, I was told that altering my payments could negatively affect my settlements and prolong graduating FDRs program. 


FDR Obstructs Completion of Program Naturally, I had begun anticipating the end of my program, because in addition to making the monthly payments to FDR I had ALSO cleared some of my original debt on my own. 

However, as I approach the end of my program, FDR became extremely unreliable and uncommunicative regarding my account. Whenever I called to inquire about my remaining payments and final balance, FDR provided inconsistent information. Each time I called FDR, I was given a different story. Even now, I can not get a clear answer as to what I owe. The only thing that FDR representatives consistently told me was that ALL of my settlement fees have been paid. I heard this statement repeatedly, but investigation with individual creditors revealed that some settlements were never paid. 

Unpaid Account XXXX XXXX Things became even more confusing ( and concerning ) on XX/XX/XXXX, when I was seeking to lower the interest rate on my home mortgage with XXXX XXXX. I have been an account holder at XXXX XXXX for 8 years. Two of my XXXX XXXX accounts were included in my FDR enrolled debt program. 

When I inquired with FDR as to my standing with my XXXX XXXX settlement plan, a FDR representative stated that my XXXX XXXX balance totaled {$6000.00} and that payments to XXXX XXXX began on XX/XX/XXXX. However, when I reviewed the account details myself on my XXXX XXXX account, I saw that FDR had made only 2 payments (! ) to XXXX XXXX : one on XX/XX/XXXX, and the other on XX/XX/XXXX. I called XXXX XXXX directly because I felt that there must have been a mistake. In fact, XXXX XXXX reported to me that there have been no payments in over 900 days! 

Shocked, worried, and confused, I called FDR immediately. Despite my best efforts, FDR would not give me a clear answer as to what amount was actually owed on the XXXX XXXX account. I requested from FDR a copy of my settlement agreement with XXXX XXXX. ( Until XXXX XXXX suggested this action, I wasnt even aware that I was even entitled to see it. As of the writing of this letter, I am STILL awaiting the settlement agreement from FDRa full 4 weeks later. ) Incredibly frustrated and worried at this point, I did my own accounting and resigned myself to paying the remaining XXXX XXXX debt on my own. I paid the balances {$1400.00} in full on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Undoubtedly, FDRs neglect and mishandling of my XXXX XXXX account has eliminated any chance of my qualifying for a lower home mortgage interest rate. Perhaps most distressing of all, FDR has now mysteriously deleted the XXXX XXXX accounts from my client dashboard. Again, I am left in the dark as to my own financial information. 

Unsettled Account XXXX XXXX At this point I felt that FDR was at best : uncommunicative, and at worst : outright deceptive. I simply didnt want to take any more chances with my credit by relying on FDR, which was clearly not making the settlements it had promised. So, I paid off my last remaining enrolled debt ( to XXXX XXXX ) last week. The XXXX balance was {$1400.00}. 

My Efforts to Resolve Issues FDR Miscommunications Over the course of the last several weeks, I have contacted FDR many times, often several times per day, attempting to resolve these issues. I have tried to communicate with various departments ( to whom I am constantly transferred ), but never get a straight answer. I have repeatedly asked for clarification. I have requested written payment breakdowns. 

The entire process was positively infuriating and I felt as if I was trapped in an endless cycle of misinformation. Then I finally spoke to someone at FDR who looked at my account and acknowledged how bizarre my payment history looked. In fact, FDR still had me scheduled to graduate the program in XX/XX/XXXX. I was slated to make 7 more monthly payments of {$800.00}. (!!! ) My Efforts to Resolve Issues XXXX XXXX XXXX Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, FDR gave me a phone number for XXXX XXXX, which would be able to provide me with a breakdown of all my payments, fees, dates, creditors, etc. After weeks of asking, this was the first time I received their contact information. 

Thus began the next chapter of the nightmare. I called XXXX XXXX and the representative sent me my entire account via .pdf. But as I was viewing the file, I immediately noticed errors the statement omitted an entire month of time and charged for future dates. I called XXXX XXXX again the next day and I asked again for my complete and accurate account. 

So, I ended up painstakingly reviewing the 32 page .pdf they sent me, line-by-line. It is worth noting that I had to convert their file into an XXXX spreadsheet on my own. In no way did FDR or XXXX make this easy or accessible for me. In fact, it felt as though they were actively obstructing my efforts to get information, to complete my payment obligations, and to exit the FDR program. 

Surprise Fees It was this slow and painful review process that made aware of the barrage of additional fees that have been applied to my account. Until then, I was completely unaware of the additional fees that I had been subject to. 

The list below shows a variety of SEPARATE FEES from the XXXX breakdown ( none of this information was available to me on the FDR dashboard ). 

1.Account Setup Fee ( {$790.00} ) 2.BOOK- ACH Payment fee ( {$51.00} ) 3.ACH-ACH Payment Fee ( {$15.00} ) 4.Book-Check Payment ( 2day ) fee ( {$80.00} ) 5.ACH-Check Payment ( 2 Day ) fee ( {$60.00} ) 6.ACH-Monthly Service Fee ( {$150.00} ) 7.BOOK-Monthly Service Fee ( {$150.00} ) 8. BOOK-NLLG Monthly Service Fee ( {$250.00} ) 9. ACH- NLLG Monthly Service Fee ( {$260.00} ) 10.Payments made to United Collections Bureau that I was unaware of ( {$600.00} ) 11. BOOK- Phone Payment ( {$66.00} ) 12. ACH- Phone Payment Fee ( {$54.00} ) 13. BOOK Settlement Fee ( {$5300.00} ) 14. ACH- Settlement ( {$4400.00} ) 15. PHONE Payment to creditor XXXX XXXX FAILED on XX/XX/XXXX ( {$250.00} ) 16. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( FDR ) deposited {$760.00} to my bank account with no explanation as to how they came up with this number. 

Because I do not work for XXXX or FDR, these internal acronyms and codes did NOT clarify the fees for me. Again, I called FDR to ask for an explanation about the fees. I even asked where in my original ( XXXX ) contract the fees were disclosed and authorized. 

Contract Review FDR then sent me my original ( 19 page ) contract, though they did not reference any particular provisions to assist me. I was left to comb through the contract unaided. So, I reviewed the contract line-by-line, even searching for FDRs specific key-words, only to confirm what I suspected and fearedthere was NO CLEAR EXPLANATION of the fees I had supposedly agreed to. 

Further Obfuscation Further inquiry with FDR resulted in another goose-chase for me when I sought explanation for those fees including the XXXX acronym. I was informed that XXXX fees were paid to a law firm that I was unaware of. However, when I contacted that law firm I was informed they did not have record of my program/account. It was suggested that I try to contact YET ANOTHER law firm instead. 



FDRs Refusal to Cease Withdrawals/ Termination from Program Out of desperation ( and fearing that I had been scammed out of thousands of dollars ), I requested that FDR cease all monthly withdrawals from my account. I was told they could not do that. This is baffling to me. 

To add insult to injury, NONE of my previously enrolled accounts are now visible on my FDR dashboard -- because FDR terminated me from the program after I told them I paid off my 2 remaining debts and they knew I was waiting for both settlement letters to arrive in the mail.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation