Where to begin... initially this sounded like a good idea and a way to pay off creditors and get out of debt. However, there are several things wrong with their approach:
1) They only want a certain amount of debt load... not too high, not too low. They shoot for a "target amount" which might leave much of your debt outside of their program. They just say "we will include it later when the first debts are paid".
2) When they figure the monthly amount you will be paying, please BE AWARE that a HUGE chunk of it goes to the agency, and NOT your creditors. For them to be "non-profit" yet rake in all this income from payments is misleading. Every dollar of my payment should be going to my creditors FIRST. They can take their payment out LAST if they are truly interested in helping reduce/eliminate debt.
2a) This money you pay does not go to creditors right away. It goes to a new account that is created for you first, where it sits until the company decides how and when to pay any of your creditors from this account. They make sure to take the money for CLA first though!
3) They ask for your bank information, for "auto debit" purposes. I'm sorry, but no. It's MY bank account and anytime anyone asks for permission to go into your bank account at any time, for any reason, to debit/credit anything... um, no. This is 2016 and there are tons of other ways to arrange payments.
4) When I tried to quit, after stalling and not putting any money into the "fund"... they were AGGRESSIVE and refused to let me quit. This is AFTER they already have my bank info (oops)! They tell me "the lawyers have already put in a lot of work on your behalf, and they need to get paid" as an excuse to not let me quit. I'm sorry, but at this point, none of my creditors were even contacted by CLA and so what kind of "work" were these "lawyers" doing???
And if you tell them you want to stop/quit, you must talk to a salesperson FIRST for that to happen, and they give you nothing but HIGH PRESSURE and excuses to stay in the program.
5) They do allow you to "postpone" payments for very long periods, which I have done in lieu of quitting. The very first payment, however, they IGNORED my request to postpone and they took the money out anyway, which resulted in an overdraft and several $35 fees from Wells Fargo (10 of them to be exact) as banks now take out money in whatever order works to their advantage... and generates the most fees for the bank.
6) Stay away. A HUGE CHUNK of your $$$$ goes to this company instead of your debts. They do NOT let you quit, and engage in SEVERE PRESSURE tactics to get you to stay in their little program. Non-profit? lol, well they sure don't act like they are in it for anything but the money, and helping you out their reason for getting so much of your money.
Consumers Legal Aid Reviews
Where to begin... initially this sounded like a good idea and a way to pay off creditors and get out of debt. However, there are several things wrong with their approach:
1) They only want a certain amount of debt load... not too high, not too low. They shoot for a "target amount" which might leave much of your debt outside of their program. They just say "we will include it later when the first debts are paid".
2) When they figure the monthly amount you will be paying, please BE AWARE that a HUGE chunk of it goes to the agency, and NOT your creditors. For them to be "non-profit" yet rake in all this income from payments is misleading. Every dollar of my payment should be going to my creditors FIRST. They can take their payment out LAST if they are truly interested in helping reduce/eliminate debt.
2a) This money you pay does not go to creditors right away. It goes to a new account that is created for you first, where it sits until the company decides how and when to pay any of your creditors from this account. They make sure to take the money for CLA first though!
3) They ask for your bank information, for "auto debit" purposes. I'm sorry, but no. It's MY bank account and anytime anyone asks for permission to go into your bank account at any time, for any reason, to debit/credit anything... um, no. This is 2016 and there are tons of other ways to arrange payments.
4) When I tried to quit, after stalling and not putting any money into the "fund"... they were AGGRESSIVE and refused to let me quit. This is AFTER they already have my bank info (oops)! They tell me "the lawyers have already put in a lot of work on your behalf, and they need to get paid" as an excuse to not let me quit. I'm sorry, but at this point, none of my creditors were even contacted by CLA and so what kind of "work" were these "lawyers" doing???
And if you tell them you want to stop/quit, you must talk to a salesperson FIRST for that to happen, and they give you nothing but HIGH PRESSURE and excuses to stay in the program.
5) They do allow you to "postpone" payments for very long periods, which I have done in lieu of quitting. The very first payment, however, they IGNORED my request to postpone and they took the money out anyway, which resulted in an overdraft and several $35 fees from Wells Fargo (10 of them to be exact) as banks now take out money in whatever order works to their advantage... and generates the most fees for the bank.
6) Stay away. A HUGE CHUNK of your $$$$ goes to this company instead of your debts. They do NOT let you quit, and engage in SEVERE PRESSURE tactics to get you to stay in their little program. Non-profit? lol, well they sure don't act like they are in it for anything but the money, and helping you out their reason for getting so much of your money.