Consumer complaint received 2016-03-21
Product: Other financial service — Debt settlement
Issue: Disclosures — 
Company: Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Midwest, Inc. (OR)

Re : Debt Management Program Discrepancies XXXX, XXXX : Move to a different city was made. XXXX XXXX license process taking several months to complete for employment, this was the initial challenge and why we reached out to XXXX. We wanted to make arrangements to either defer a payment or discuss an alternate plan. 
XXXX, XXXX : Called XXXX, their answer was to give XXXX XXXX credit counseling phone numbers and told her to call one of them. See attachment # XXXX. 
XXXX chose Consumer Credit Counseling Services and made an appointment for a phone interview immediately to remedy financial situation in order to keep in good standing with XXXX. 
Although we were under the impression the counseling interview would have been conducted with a representative from Consumer Credit Counseling Services, the original number XXXX called to set the interview ; XXXX XXXX from Apprisen provided the one and a half hour phone interview. XXXX felt very confident that this would help keep us current with XXXX. 
Upon completion of the phone interview, we received a contract from Apprisen which was fully executed. This was made in good conscience to keep in good standing with XXXX. 
XXXX, XXXX : We did not review our credit report, thinking all was in good standing with XXXX XXXX ; until we sought a lender for a pre approval to purchase a home. We were quite surprised to discover all XXXX bureaus were reporting a challenging credit score due to the delinquent payments reflecting on our XXXX XXXX! The loan officer suggested a dispute to the bureaus. 
XXXX, XXXX : Met with a Manager at our local Credit Union, we felt we could trust her opinion and were looking for advice to help increase our credit scores. She told us to dispute XXXX 's credit rating. 
XXXX, XXXX : We met with a certified housing counselor which helped in the steps of this dispute. 
We are professionals that have a good understanding of contractual negotiations. We wanted to be proactive in taking care of our challenge in a period of time we knew would be less income for our family household. We did exactly what XXXX XXXX told us to do, in selecting a Debt management Program ; Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Upon the counseling session conducted by Apprisen, we understood this company would negotiate a lower payment, and possibly a lower interest rate with XXXX. We were pleased with this process. Our dispute is this : After negotiating with XXXX, Apprisen received a letter that stated XXXX would not accept the initial payment amount originally negotiated. ( Please see attachment # XXXX ) from Apprisen with this information. At this juncture, we would have had no idea that we needed to make a payment to stay current with XXXX in XXXX, or we would have done so. We understood after signing contract in XXXX with Apprisen ; all was good. As a result of further negotiations between XXXX and XXXX, a payment was not made in XXXX. Both accounts are reflecting late payments ; one late payment history reflects all the way to XXXX. In the Apprisen contract under Other Provisions, # XXXX ; it states Apprisen has the right to look at our credit report to assess the information to better access my financial situation and increase its ability to assist us in the liquidation of our debt. This was never done. Had it been, the late payments reflecting with XXXX would have shown up and corrected. 
We have disputed our credit report be updated with the following : 1. XXXX # XXXX be updated to reflect no late payments. 
2. XXXX # XXXX be updated to reflect no late payments. 
This is an official complaint regarding the practices of the debt management program, Apprisen. Our concern is that our credit suffered for many months due to one payment being m