ComplaintsforCambridge Credit Counseling Corporation

• Initial Complaint

  12/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I signed up with Cambrige Credit Counseling in August 2023 to help manage 3 accounts - a personal loan with **** *** and 2 credit cards with ********** On the 22nd of each month, Cambridge deducts $483 from my checking account and disburses to these 3 companies with a fee added for Cambridge.For the November 2023 payment, the funds were not received by either **** credit card. $146 and $49 were deducted from my checking account, plus the $32 fee but it was never received by ********** I contacted **** and they said that haven't received anything from Cambridge since 11/1/2023. I contacted Cambridge, but they only said that it's on their radar and have provided me with no further communication or resolution. I wish to have the $146 and $49 that was deducted from me sent back to me, including the $32 fee I paid Cambridge, since it was never applied to the **** credit cards per the contract I signed and nothing is being done about it.

  

  Business response

  12/13/2023

  Cambridge received this complaint after we had already replied to ******************** with the results of our inquiry about the payments not posting to her **** account.

  ******* enrolled in Cambridges Debt Management Program on August 22, 2023 and has made four payments. She included three creditors: ********, and two **** cards (previously called ****).

  On 12/7/23, we received an email from ******** advising us that she was still receiving collection letters in connection with her **** account. She asked if there was anything we could do to stop the letters.
  On 12/11/23, we replied to her email.
  Yesterday, 12/12/23, at approximately 11:15am, ******* called into our Customer Care Department letting us know that **** had not received the payments that we sent on 11/28/23. Our representative entered a work request for us to contact **** to investigate.  ******************** called back again at approximately 12:18pm saying she had contacted **** and they told her they hadnt received a payment from Cambridge since 11/1/23 (which we had promptly disbursed to **** on 10/27/23). ******* said she would like us to call her after we spoke with *****
  We called ********* and spoke with a representative named Ella. She advised us that payments received by **** are currently taking about 2 weeks to post. A work request was then entered into her account for a representative to contact ******************** and advise her of this information.  Due to increased call volume that afternoon,we were unable to immediately call her back with this information and it was pending for us to call her today.
  At 7:27 am today we received an email from ******* stating:
  My payment is usually posted by the 10th of every month for both **** accounts. However, this month, nothing was posted at all for December although Cambridge stated a physical check was mailed out on 11/28. Now my account states that I owe $360 instead of the $146 agreed upon payment. Please see screenshot below. I called **** and was told nothing was received from Cambridge since 11/1. I called Cambridge twice and the representatives took notes and stated that "it's on their radar". When will this be resolved? My payment was deducted from my account on 11/22 and not applied to either **** account. I have a payment set to withdraw next week on 12/21 and I do not want it to withdraw unless I know that this has been rectified. Thank you.
  At 9:37am today we replied to ******** email:
                  Hello,
  We did place a call to ****/**** and spoke with Ella, who stated that payments are taking longer (2 weeks) to post and should reflect on your next billing statement.  Due to holidays/weekends this is not uncommon and does not affect the program status.  Thank you for your patience.
  At 9:47am today, we received this BBB complaint stating that we have not responded to her about the **** accounts nor worked on the accounts, which is certainly not the case. This is a payment-posting issue that **** is having and is not a result of Cambridge either paying late or not paying at all. As noted above, all funds debited from ******** account have been promptly disbursed to **** on her behalf, so there is nothing to refund. **** will post ******** payments once they resolve their issues.  Because we received this complaint, we called **** back again at 10:35am and spoke with their representative, *****, who again confirmed that they are behind in posting payments received. 
  After receiving this complaint, we did receive ******** response to the email that we sent her prior to the complaint at 12:48pm.  She replied to that stating:
                  Hello,
  Can you put a stop payment on the check and refund me the $49 and $146 for each **** card? I'll just pay it on the **** portal myself.
  Moving forward, is there any way to submit payment to **** other than a paper check? At least three weeks after Cambridge pulls from my account is not reasonable.
  Can I remain on the plan and just make electronic payments on the **** site myself since it's instant?
  
  At 1:25pm, we responded to this email stating:
                  Good afternoon,
  We can stop checks when they go 45 days without clearing so it is too early for us to stop them at this time.  We can only send payments to them in the manner that they advise us that we can, so mailing them is their policy. 
  We dont disburse payments three weeks after we pull the payment, they are disbursed 6 days after your due date with us every month. We believe this is just a payment posting issue that they are having this month.  We do not think this will be every month based on the previous history of how quickly they do cash the checks that we send.  They are aware of the situation and are working on it.
  You can stay on our program, remove those accounts, and handle them on your own if you wish. Whenever you remove an account, they may stop extending the benefits of the program like the reduced interest rate.
  We did receive your BBB complaint that you filed against us and will be responding to that shortly as well.  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
  
  Considering this information, we are respectfully requesting that ******* rescind this complaint and that it not be held against Cambridge as we have acted in good faith and in accordance with the terms of her Service Agreement with us.  We will continue contacting **** until we confirm that these payments are posted accordingly and that her accounts were not negatively affected due to their delay.

  
  

  Customer response

  12/13/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

  Please understand that because I did not receive information from Cambridge regarding contact with **** beforehand, I had to move forward with a complaint. All I can see on my end is that payment was withdrawn from my checking account by ********************** and had not posted after almost 3 weeks. I hope my payments get posted soon, but for now I will have to continue to wait. Thank you, BBB.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Customer response

  12/14/2023

  Hello,

  I have attached my credit score notification from 12/14. It went down 92 points since the payment I made to Cambridge to my **** account never posted, which still has not been resolved. The second screenshot is the payment I made to the 2nd **** card on my own since this was also not posted.

  I am still awaiting the refund of the $49 and $146 deducted from my checking account from Cambridge on 11/22 that was never posted. However, they stated that they cannot stop payment on the check until 45 days of issuance, although **** states it was never received.

  This credit counseling agency has made my financial wellbeing much worse.

• Initial Complaint

  01/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In Nov I signed up for this service. I signed the paper work got all started. They took out 2 payments of 181 on my account already for the 2 creditors the service made agreements with. Turns out the agreement was not met with one of the creditors and they went ahead and took out this months payment. So, I have paid a total of 322 in payments this month. I want my 181 back for this month and I will make the payments myself.

  

  Business response

  01/21/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2022/01/10) */ Contact Name and Title: **** ******** Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX Contact Email: *********@cambridgecredit.org Ms. ******* called our office this morning at 11:00am, stating that she was upset with the program and felt like it was a scam because one of her creditors, ****** had declined the payment proposal we had made on her behalf and continued drafting payments directly from her account. We advised Ms. ******* that ***** had declined our payment proposal only because her account was previously enrolled on Avant's internal program, and she hadn't made us aware of this. Ms. ******* requested that we cancel her debt management program. I reached out to Ms. ******* and advised her that I would stop the check that we had sent to ***** and send her a refund via overnight mail on Friday 1/14/22. I also agreed to refund a total of $36.22, which represents the two monthly fees that she had paid to Cambridge so far. The other creditor that Ms. ******* included in her debt management program had already accepted our payment proposal, so we agreed to keep the program going with that creditor but without any monthly fees. Ms. ******* agreed via email, indicating that once the BBB received our response, she would cancel her complaint since the matter has already been resolved. Should you need any further information or additional documentation, please do not hesitate to contact me. Consumer Response /* (2000, 8, 2022/01/11) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Yes, I accept the offer. However, the debt process should not be started until the creditor accepts the program.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩