DEBT RELIEF OF AMERICA IN DALLAS, TX

I signed up with Debt Relief of America in Dallas, Texas on October 17, 2006 in order to assist me with my credit card debt. I saw an infomercial of theirs on TV how they can assist in helping to resolve credit card debt. My monthly payments on the cards I have were $200 plus a month. I could no longer make the minimum payments on the seven cards I had. When I contacted DRA in September, 2006, they said they could assist me with my debt. There were to be a monthly deduction of $656.78 from my checking account for 36 consecutive months. DRA charged an administrative fee of 10% of total credit card debt, so my fee was $3900.00. My credit card debt was $39,000.00 plus, it was very close to $40,000.00.

I signed a POA with DRA concerning my credit card debt. I was told that the creditors would be calling, but just to ignore the calls, they would take care of everything. I received notices from collection agency's informing me that the account(s) had been turned over to them for collection. I also received a judgement concerning the card I had for Discover in the amt of $9,000 plus dollars. Whenever I received notices of any kind, I would fax them to DRA. Their response to me was always the same "Don't worry about it, we will take care of it".

I wrote a letter to DRA letting them know how displeased I was with their service. I informed them that I am sorry I ever became involved with them. If I had it to do over again, I would not. I never told them to stop taking the 656.78 from account, only expressing my total dissatisfaction with their service. I could not send my creditors monthly payments and still have DRA take monthly deductions. I was told by DRA not to send my creditors anything, because if I did, that would mess up the work or negotiation they were going to do on my behalf. Whenever my creditors called me seeking payments I would refer them to DRA. All this company had to say was "there is not enough money in the account". I thought that they would represent me in some way, by letting the collector(s) know that they were in the process of resolving the issue with my account(s).

I am not one to pay much attention to checking account statements, just as long as I know that I have sufficient funds in the account. I noticed in August, however, that my checking account balance was significantly higher than it was suppose to be. That is when I realized that DRA had stopped taking the monthly payments from my account. They stopped taking the payments when they had received their administrative fee in full, that was in March. I guess their procedure is, once they receive their administrative fee, forget the rest.

I contacted DRA August 15 and spoke with a representative. I was calling for several reasons. First, I wanted to know why had the payments stopped and let them know that I was going to be unemployed as October because the company was shutting down their home equity division of which I am a part. Also, since they had stopped taking the payments, and they never negotiated not one account me, I wanted the $3900 they had taken from account returned to me. The only thing this company did for me was to cause my credit to be really messed up. When I spoke with the Representative of DRA concerning the payments, she checked my account and replied "Oops, someone dropped the ball on this one".

Debt Relief of America address is 12201 Merit Drive Suite 620, Dallas, Texas 75251. Their tool free phone number is 800-242-2747 -- my account ID number is 162704. The only time I ever spoke with anyone from DRA was when I called them with a question. No one from that company ever contacted me with a progress report or anything. I can understand now why they did not contact me, there was no progress report to be given except "we now have your money and thank you".

I contacted the Better Business Bureau of Dallas, Texas and found out that DRA is not a member. So far, they have 91 complaints against them and none have been resolved. This company needs to be exposed for the ripoff artists they are. They refuse to refund any of the money they have withdrawn from my account even though they have done absolutely nothing for me except take my money.

My phone number is 216-541-0087 and my address is 11211 Hazeldell Drive, Cleveland, OH 44108-1516. I will be greatly appreciated if this could be looked into and they are exposed to prevent them from taking advantage of people.