TP

Aug 22, 2019

A little long but PLEASE READ

Honestly, unless you're at your most desperate with nothing to lose, don't bother with this company. Here's my story: during a difficult time with an injury my credit balances grew pretty high. Although I've always had an excellent credit score my high balances were dragging me down. My kid was about to graduate and head off to college which is what brought me here. The original person I spoke with told me that I wouldn't qualify for a debt consolidation and Anchor was my best bet. I would be on a payment plan for about 4-1/2yrs and I would be out of debt. They did tell me that the first year my credit would go down, but as I made payments it would quickly go back up because I would be settling debts faster. My one and only concern was my daughter's college education and being able to get loans. I was assured time & time again that this wouldn't affect that process and it would even help because my balances would decrease. What they don't really tell you in the beginning is that the first year or more your payments are solely paying their fees. What they do is ignore the creditors for the first year or so until they've exhausted all their collection efforts and finally settle. They also don't tell you that some DON'T settle. I have been in the program for 2 years. One debt is settled by me making payments for 2 years. This stays on your credit report as deliquent and for the full amount until it is completely paid off. Another creditor, which according to Anchor, is one of their most aggressive, has sued me, sent a sherrif to my house with paperwork exclaiming in front of the whole neighborhood that "it looks like you owe someone money!", put a lien on my house and has tried to garnish my wages. In the profession that I am in, this most definitely would have gotten me fired. After spending countless hours on the phone with Anchor and zero response from the "litigation team", I had to refinance my house to be able to pay them. Which after court costs and 2 yrs of late fees, is a substantially higher amount than I owed to begin with. There has been absolutely no action/response from the "litigation team". They never replied to any of the creditors requests. Yes the customer service on the phone is excellent but that's as far as it goes. They can't do absolutely anything for you but take your information and forward it to someone else who will never get back to you. And the best part? I have been denied student loans so my daughter will not be returning this semester becauseI I am in financial ruin, I had to refinance and start my mortgage all over again and I am not in any better of a situation than I started. All the promises I was made in the beginning were empty promises:( All the great reviews on here about customer service are a little misleading because yeah they're great, but they literally just answer phones (after extremely long hold times). They go over your information, are empathetic to your call, then tell you someone will contact you and no one ever does. I completely regret my decision to approach my debt reduction this way. I think I could've done a better job going straight to the creditors myself.