Consumer complaint received 2024-12-22 00:00:00
Product: Debt or credit management — Debt settlement
Issue: Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing — 
Company: Consumer Legal Group, P.C.
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
XXXX IS A SAAVY SCAM To be clear, I already see the loophole this organization uses. It is consumer legal group. They have a website and a phone number and it feels very legitimate when you read the actual document that you sign they specify they dont help with credit repair or debt settlement. They are a debt invalidation group. But I have just reached out to an account that I gave them 17 months ago and they have not made contact with them once. I signed up with this company in XXXX of XXXX for an 18 month term, and they have not notified me once about any action they have taken to communicate with any of my creditors. They have said they would negotiate etc, but have never let me know how any conversation went if they took place. They have become strident in conversation over the last couple months to just use the word invalidate not, repair/ settle etc But then, when talking to XXXX XXXX she will say but it is your debt right and we will probably have to do a settlement with your account when they say they dont do settlements or credit repair ..thats when red flag started flying because the actual service they provide has become increasingly unclear except to faithfully debit my checking account. 
I learned standing in court by myself from my creditors attorney that XXXX did reach out once and that was good to know, but thats a pretty crazy place to find out and from opposing counsel! 
I have two court cases going on right now which I was denied an attorney to go with me for, and that is in the agreement that an attorney will be provided if necessary. I felt very foolish standing there, unable to even give the judge an attorneys name. After the fact when I gave XXXX an account of the experience and asked that they still would not provide me an attorneys name. They say they fight to invalidate the debt but pretty much just let it go to court and then try to negotiate a lower amount. That is what they say, but they have not negotiated anything on my behalf and my program with them ends next month. 
The biggest issue is how they got my business by calling me what they said on the phone does not match what was in the agreement. They said 98 % of the clients they work with have their debts resolved at the end of their agreement term and their credit is better than when they started. It actually ended up doing the opposite for me. I will have completed payments with them ( if I continued ) before even going to trial, and my credit is worse than when I started. 
Its misleading its inconsistent and I have confirmed with one of my accounts that they have made ZERO contact in 17 months, so they have just collected a pretty large monthly payment from me for a year and a half, and judging by the one star reviews on the XXXX XXXX XXXX and their website a lot of people have had the same experience, definitely more than the 2 % they claim they cant help. 
I submitted this claim because I saw there was a similar sounding name related to mortgages consumer finance law group that had a settlement XX/XX/XXXX for almost {$12.00} XXXX because they did not deliver services promised to customers. This feels like a very similar situation and deserves a full investigation. They also say you have to resolve whatever you have with them within six months of filing a complaint. Its hard to file a complaint when you have very little information from them. Our communication was basically me calling them and them sending me reminders of when they were going to charge my account. I also continue to forward my financial documents to them that they requested and I would just get an email saying thank you its been uploaded to your account. I have an account Im supposed to be able to view online, but I dont know how to access it. I have requested that information. They provided a username and password when I signed up, but that doesnt work. It doesnt even match the type of prompt its looking for. This entire company is just a misleading way to take advantage of desperate people. I never missed a payment on my credit account until they advised me too, and now I am in a bigger mess than when I started with them. 

I requested they stopped billing me in XXXX because I was very distressed I would not have an attorney going with me to my first court appearance. In XXXX XXXX XXXX said she would process my request but also seemed vague as well, which is a common tactic. 
Im just disappointed, not only did they not invalidate ANY of my debt, not go to court, and not improve my credit, but also happily took almost {$6000.00} of my money to do nothing and run my credit into the ground. I dont think anyone would knowingly pay for that service and probably their five star reviews are people at the beginning or middle of the program who think they are actually being helped.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation