We at ScamFraudAlert have observed that there are several complaints against this organization - Family Credit Counseling Corporation. The business practices of this organization is suspect at best and questionable. If you or anyone have been ill treated by this group, we urge you to contact the http://www.bbb.org and the https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.s..._ORG_CODE=PU01 ASAP.

The phone number listed on Family Credit Counseling website is
Call Us at: 1(800) 304-2369

WhoIs Lookup performed by Karen's WhoIs
http://www.karenware.com/

Domain ID89176958-LROR
Domain Name:www.FAMILYCREDITHELP.ORG
Created On:08-Aug-2002 22:40:04 UTC
Last Updated On:01-Jul-2005 13:49:32 UTC
Expiration Date:08-Aug-2007 22:40:04 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Tucows Inc. (R11-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:tuUGMo6VOBWU0hlY

Registrant Name:JAMES ARMSTRONG
Registrant OrganizationEBT SOLUTIONS FOUNDATION, INC
Registrant Street1:4800 N STATE ROAD 7
Registrant Street2:SUITE F112
Registrant City:LAUDERDALE LAKES
Registrant State/Province:FL
Registrant Postal Code:33319
Registrant Country:US

Registrant Phone:+1.954 670 2700
Registrant EmailEBTFOUNDATION@AOL.COM
Admin ID:tuprSDqokuGrUloQ
Admin Name:JAMES ARMSTRONG
Admin OrganizationEBT SOLUTIONS FOUNDATION, INC
Admin Street1:4800 N STATE ROAD 7
Admin Street2:SUITE F112
Admin City:LAUDERDALE LAKES
Admin State/Province:FL
Admin Postal Code:33319
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.954 670 2700
Admin EmailEBTFOUNDATION@AOL.COM

Tech ID:tu3qNntJd7KjpH7A
Tech Name:JAMES ARMSTRONG
Tech OrganizationEBT SOLUTIONS FOUNDATION, INC
Tech Street1:4800 N STATE ROAD 7
Tech Street2:SUITE F112
Tech City:LAUDERDALE LAKES
Tech State/Province:FL
Tech Postal Code:33319
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.954 670 2700

Tech EmailEBTFOUNDATION@AOL.COM
Name Server:NS1.SERVERGOD.COM
Name Server:NS2.SERVERGOD.COM

http://www.familycredithelp.org/charlotte/

__________________

Credit & Debt Services Submitted: 3/20/2006 1:03:36 AM
Modified: 3/20/2006 1:04:00 AM

Family Credit Counseling Corporation ruined credit and ruined lives They rarely paid out money to the banks, when they did it was late. Lauderdale Lakes Florida

Company
Family Credit Counseling Corporation
Address:
4850 N State Rd St G104
Lauderdale Lakes Florida 33319
U.S.A.
Phone Number:
888-845-4027
Fax:


My Fiance and I had an experience similar to the horror stories described over and over again on this wonderful website. Firstly, I would like to say how nice it is to know that we are not alone in this fight, and that we are not just ****ers that got roped into something, but the company is really misleading and dishonest.

In October of 2004 my fiance enrolled in the program after buying a house and realizing that the debt that followed was too much. His credit was near perfect at that point. For an entire year he was told not to worry about the creditors that were calling, they were only trying to scare us to get more money. They called his family, even though they were not listed on any of his credit card contact information. FCCC did not respond to any emails or phone calls, and when reps were spoken to they were rude and repeated the line about the banks trying to scare us.

I moved in one year later and shortly there after a lein was placed on our home, and he was served legal documents for an outstanding balance owed on a personal loan that was supposedly being paid by FCCC. That was the last straw. Sadly, neither he nor I had been examining the statements being that we were/are young and naive. When I did look I realized that after a year of sending $400.00 a month ($4800.00) he owed $1000.00 MORE than when he started, and the balances for each card had increased ten fold.

When FCCC was contacted by phone they said everything had to be by email or fax. We emailed them immediately, went to the bank and placed a stop payment on all transactions through them, and dealt with the banks ourselves. Thankfully my parents were able to help us out as well. However, despite multiple attempts to have us removed from the program, we still get statements every month. For four months there have been zero balances on all the cards and yet they still report that thousands are owed.

We too got ****ered into the set up fees, adn $25 a month fees. They rarely paid out money to the banks, when they did it was late. There were never any contracts set into place like they claimed in the statements they sent. There was never any negotiation, the interest rates were never reduced, most of the banks were never even contacted. His credit (soon to be mine when we marry) dropped 200 points, and is now listed as poor.

Something has to be done to stop these people. I have contacted the Connecticut Attorney Generals office, I am going to email the BBB,, but from reading these reports that doesnt seem to do much. I'm also going to contact a private attorney to see if we have a chance at getting some justice. I am definately interested in any class action law suit, please just let me know. I have all the paperwork to back up everything as well.

The whole thing makes me so angry. I myself have 3 jobs, my fiance has 4. We work countless hours a week giving back to the community and trying to help people, and volunteer doing the same. We're good people (granted I'm biast haha) with college degrees. We, like everyone else didnt deserve this. Try to remember that what goes around comes around. Mr. Armstrong, I hope you rot in hell.

Jennifer
Watertown, Connecticut
U.S.A.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff182138.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/results....&submit=Search

__________________

Somehow, I never cease to be amazed by comments from credit counseling customers. Yes, these organizations often have slick sales pitches and make implicated promises that are often beyond their control.

First of all, if you are contacting credit counseling expecting a miracle fix, you are wasting your time. Most of these organizations accept far more accounts than they can effectively manage. They are acting as third parties dealing with a creditor, which you can more effectively deal with yourself in most cases.

Keep in mind, a creditor has one priority - collecting the money you owe him. They could care less if you have 10 other creditors, your mortgage is in default or your children are hungry. You owe the money, and you have contacted credit counseling - an organization that only acts as a third party collector on their behalf. Credit counseling indirectly costs them money - whether it be the small percentage on your debt they "contribute" to the organization from your payments or the money they lose lowering your interest and wiping out penalties if they agree to do this at all.

The most important fact you must remember is your ORIGINAL cardholder agreement REMAINS in force despite credit counseling. Any agreement on your account between the credit counseling agency and the creditor is a gentleman's agreement and is NOT BINDING on the creditor. Thus the credit counselor will call this a "proposal". They credit counselor has NO authority legal or otherwise over the creditor and the creditor has NO obligation to accept, honor or continue to honor any proposal from the credit counselor.

The problem with late payments usually arises from the credit counselor not from delayed posting by the creditor. Most agencies will debit your bank account and despite receiving the money within 48 hours will "HOLD" your money for 7-14 days for imaginary "processing" time. In reality two things are occurring in this instance:

1. The organization is holding your money in their financial account as they are accruing interest from the bank.

2. The organization is NOT sending individual payments on each account viat check or electronically to the creditor - Most creditors will not accept payments this way as the cost of processing is increased for them. In most cases the credit counselor is sending multiple payments in one transaction with each account number and amount of payment listed. This can occur as infrequently as once per month with some creditors. What is important to note is that the payment date scheduled for these payments is consistent DESPITE YOUR DUE DATE WITH THE CREDITOR.

The creditor will continue to process the payment in the normal manner - i.e. if your agreement indicates the creditor has 5 days to process your payment they will take 5 days - you will continue to fall behind - example:

Your payment due to Creditor - $100.00 on the 5th.
Credit counselour sends bulk payment on the 1st.
5 days to process your payment, payment posts on the 6th.
Your account assuming no interest which is unlikely:

Payment Received: $100.00
Payment Due: $100.00
Late Fee: $ 35.00
Amount posted to principle: $ 65.00

In many cases since the full payment to principle was not received you will receive another late fee unless another payment is received before the billing cycle closes. The credit counseling arrangement can eventually work to pay this off as your payment to the agency never decreases. As you pay smaller creditors off their payment is "redistributed" to the remaining creditors allowing higher and higher payments progressively until you are posting to principle and not fees. Remember a creditor charging fees will always pay the fees first - it is in their interest as fees are pure profit.

There is very little a credit counselor can do that you cannot do yourself unless you are severely in debt and there is no way out. The can manage to have a small percentage of creditors stop calling you, but you can also block unknown numbers on your phone accomplishing much the same. In roughly 25% of the cases they can have your interest reduced and fees stopped. In no case can their proposal supercede your cardholder agreement - thus one mistake on their part or one missed payment on yours and the interest is usually increased to the maximum and in some cases applied retroactively.

I strongly suggest anyone considering this to look at other options. First of all TALK to your creditors and try to work things out - don't be insistent on your exact desires - NEGOTIATE - get confirmation in writing of anything agreed - and comply with any terms of payment. Get a second job apply ALL of this money to your debt. Make a list of your creditors and the amount you owe each one. If your total payments a month are $500.00 - make an effort to increase what you pay by 10%. Pay off the smaller creditors FIRST and apply the money you were paying to these to the larger ones - increasing them from the highest interest to the lowest. You can become debt free if you are disciplined and work hard.

If you are in such dire financial straits you cannot meet monthly minimums then credit counseling will not help - you need to consider bankruptcy.

If you have considered either of these options you need to stop using credit PERIOD. If something is worth having it is worth saving for. With the exception of large purchases like a car or home credit is not a viable option for the middle class in America.