ComplaintsforCredit and Debt Management Institute Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  10/25/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  While listening to WVON, a radio station in ******* (Dec 2020), I heard a gentleman by the name of ********************************** talk about credit repair or debt filtration. He spoke to the host for 30 minutes on how you can increase your credit score and achieve perfect credit within months. He stated that his company was able to increase your credit score to greater than 700, or a perfect status within ************************************** as he stated he would refund your money 100%. The name of his company is Credit Debt Management Institute, of ******, **. The host responded in awe and said really. ****************** responded yes, in fact he asked her listeners to call in, and he would take the worst credit scenario and perform the work for free. A female listener called in and said that her credit scores were in the 300s. ****************** stated, Ill take your case. After that I called his office and left several messages for weeks. After 8 weeks, an Asian lady finally returned my call, apologized for not returning my messages and stated that it was because the company had moved. I gave her my information, and she informed me that I should expect a call back from ******************, or one of his staff. Well, 2 more months passed and finally someone called me back in April. I requested to speak to ******************, because of all the mishaps. Meanwhile, ***************** decided to run a segment on WVON for 13 weeks on finances and achieving perfect credit from Mar 2021 May 2021. I signed up with ******************, (May 2021), and his company to increase my credit score to either 700 (or above) or achieve a perfect status (as he claimed), within 90 days. He informed me that it would cost $2,500 for a basic package, and if you had a foreclosure, student loans, repossessions, etc. that would cost more, because he has a team of lawyers who works specifically on those cases. He also told me that he would reduce my fee because of the mishaps that I experienced with his company. So, my fee was reduced t

  Business response

  10/25/2021

  My name is ************************************ and I am the *** of CDMI.  I regret receiving any complaints from our clients as we are leaders in our industry and have one of the best records of customer satisfaction.  I remember this client well because her and her husband started complaining even before they were clients.  I instructed my staff not to take them as clients because some people are never satisfied.  This client had extensive credit issues.  I gave them a huge discount to help them resolve their numerous issues.  I never ever promise anyone that I can repair their credit in 90 days or less. Although this happens in a lot of cases we never promise this because clients can be very unreasonable. I can say that it takes 3 - 6 months on average.  We never charge an upfront fee, we escrow all payments until the work is competed.  This client showed a lot of progress then quit the program and charged back her credit card 100%.  We sometimes have issues were clients use our service then chargeback their credit cards so that they can get our services for free.  We offer a refund to every client and that is why our complaint volume is so exceptionally low.   They will receive 100% refund only if no work was done on their file only.  It would not make sense to offer a 100% refund after restoring someone's credit.  However if the file is not complete and the client cancels their file or ask for a refund we will simply charge them for the works that was completed as dictated by their contract and refund them the difference.  In this case the client had a small balance which it is our policy to send them to collections and file litigation if the debt is not paid.   It is very disappointing for us as a company to be forced to this type of remedy because we struggle so hard to give everyone perfect credit.  This client canceled their file and their credit access so we have no true accounting of their process.  We are not a credit repair company.  We offer administrative and legal remedies that work.  We have paralegals and attorneys who put in numerous hours to resolve the clients issues.  This work is front loaded and sometimes the result don't show on the report for months.  When a client cancels prematurely or closes our access to their credit it is usually because they are trying to hide the work that we have done so that they don't get billed.  We are always interested in amiable resolution as is the case here, however, if forced we reserve the right to take legal action plus damages.

  Customer response

  10/29/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  MESSAGE FROM BUSINESS: (This is a reply to *********** Response) # ********
  
  My name is ************************************ and I am the *** of CDMI.  I regret receiving any complaints from our clients as we are leaders in our industry and have one of the best records of customer satisfaction.  I remember this client well because her and her husband started complaining even before they were clients.  It was never the fact that we were complaining. The fact was that we called him in December, to find out about the program. No one actually got back to us until Feb. 2021. We had made up our mind not to use his company, because of the unprofessionalism that he (and his company), constantly showed. A lady apologized, because she said that their office was moving, and that was the cause of the nearly 3 month delay.
  

  I instructed my staff not to take them as clients because some people are never satisfied.  This client had extensive credit issues. He didnt instruct his staff to not take our case. As a matter of fact, he got on the phone (with his staff present), to see what they could do to bring us on as clients. That was because I told him that I was just about to call the ***** ***** **** (WVON **** AM), which he advertised on for 12 weeks.
  I gave them a huge discount to help them resolve their numerous issues. He only gave me and my husband a $500 discount, because we said that we were going to call the ***** ***** ****,and let her (and her listeners know, that ****************** lied). The reason that we reached out to him in the first place, is because that was the basis of what he was advertising on the radio. If we didnt have credit issues, we wouldnt have had a reason to call him in the first place.  I never ever promise anyone that I can repair their credit in 90 days or less. Although this happens in a lot of cases we never promise this because clients can be very unreasonable. I can say that it takes 3 - 6 months on average. On the Dec. 30, 2020 broadcast (as well as other broadcasts that WVON recorded, and are on ********* ****************** states that he can get anybody to perfect credit, in 90 days or less. He also asked Perri Small for one of her listeners with the worst credit, to call in. He would get that person to a 700 credit score in 90 days or less. A lady called in with a 300+ credit score. He accepted her as a client, and told her, that he will have her at a 700 credit score in 90 days or less that was without even reviewing her credit file. 
  

  We never charge an upfront fee, we escrow all payments until the work is competed. He states that they never charged an upfront fee. They will not even start your case, until you pay them upfront. As a matter of fact, we paid them $3,250 upfront. Without ever doing anything to increase our credit, he had the nerve to call me and ask for a payment. I told him to call ******* (my husband), to ask for the payment.  He never called him. He prefaced this by stating that he would personally handle our file, from this point on. We had 4-6 different representatives handling our file, since June 2021. He has a high turnover rate within his company. Each one of the representatives all stated that they would give us a biweekly update. They never did! ****************** also stated on the ***** ***** ****, that he would give all of his clients a copy of their Lexus Nexus report. They never did this either! This client showed a lot of progress then quit the program and charged back her credit card 100%. We only showed progress on our file, because of what we did. Me and my husband followed the recommendations of the IdentityQ Simulator (which tells you what you can do to increase your credit score).

  We followed their recommendations, and paid all of our credit card debt below the 30% threshold. The next month our scored increased. It was nothing that they did. As a matter of fact, ********** Mortgage was reporting negative information on my report since July 2021. If he was working on my file, he would have caught that. His company also lost our paperwork. He stated that one of his workers (********), stated that we told them to cancel the program. This was erroneous, because we had just signed the papers through DocUSign. They lost the paperwork, because they are highly unorganized. sometimes have issues were clients use our service then chargeback their credit cards so that they can get our services for free.  We offer a refund to every client and that is why our complaint volume is so exceptionally low.   They will receive 100% refund only if no work was done on their file only.  It would not make sense to offer a 100% refund after restoring someone's credit. They never restored (or attempted to restore), our credit. No letters were ever sent out, except the letters that we sent out,which we have copies of.  However if the file is not complete and the client cancels their file or ask for a refund we will simply charge them for the works that was completed as dictated by their contract and refund them the difference. We charged back the credit card because no work was ever done on our file, for the months that they had our file, and had received the upfront payment from us. We should not have had to pay them a service fee, for work that they never performed.  In this case the client had a small balance which it is our policy to send them to collections and file litigation if the debt is not paid.   It is very disappointing for us as a company to be forced to this type of remedy because we struggle so hard to give everyone perfect credit. 

  This client canceled their file and their credit access so we have no true accounting of their process.  We are not a credit repair company.  We offer administrative and legal remedies that work.  We have paralegals and attorneys who put in numerous hours to resolve the clients issues.  This work is front loaded and sometimes the result don't show on the report for months.  When a client cancels prematurely or closes our access to their credit it is usually because they are trying to hide the work that we have done so that they don't get billed. We are always interested in amiable resolution as is the case here, however, if forced we reserve the right to take legal action plus damages.
  

  *** *************** is messy, highly unorganized,will lose your paperwork, and compromise your personal identity. To sum all of this up: ****************** (and his staff), talk a good game! They always OVER-PROMISE and GROSSLY UNDER-DELIVER, on their goods and services. We have already been in contact with our attorney to *** them for false advertising,and punitive damages. I HAVE PICTURES AND RECORDINGS AS PROOF! I WAS UNABLE TO UPLOAD THE *** FILE, BUT IF NEEDED, I WILL.
  

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  Customer response

  11/28/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:  I do not accept his response, and I am not the first client, that has complained about his services (or lack thereof). I have researched complaints against his company. Without surprise, he has multiple complaints (on the BBB site, in addition to bad ****** reviews). Some of his past clients have the same complaint as I do. He over-promises, and under-delivers. CDMI is a highly un-organized, grossly negligent company, that over-charges for services (that they promise you) but refuse to perform. CDMI (or ******************), requires large upfront fees, and will refuse to start the process,until a huge down payment has been given to them. After the down payment has been paid, he assigns your case to (at least), 4-5 people. This compromises all your personal information. Although he and his staff promise to contact you bi-weekly with updates, they never do. However, they will call you to ask you if you would be willing to send them another payment (even though they havent performed any work on your file).
  

  I have recordings from the radio station (WVON ****AM, which is public record), of his lies (and repeated promises), to get you to a perfect credit score in 90 days, no matter what your current credit score is. He asked the talk show host to have one of her (on-air) listeners,who had the worst credit score, to call in. ****************** guaranteed that he would get them to perfect credit within 90 days. According to the talk show host, he has helped her, and one of her friends. Of course, he is going to do that, because if he lies to the host (or any of her friends/family, etc.), it will expose him and his company(s). Then people would know about his companys fraudulent claims, that he has made time and time again on the radio station.****************** treats this like it is a game. He brags about going up against the best lawyers there are, or the algorithms (and programs), that he created. He is constantly name dropping (or shall I say scenario dropping), about different pastors and congregations that he has helped. Thats because that is his target audience (churches, and black people in disadvantaged-or middle-class areas).
  ****************** is good at the bait and switchtactic. When he comes on the show, he will say what he will talk about, on that show. However, he never talks about it, because he brags about what he could do, or (seemingly), has done for others. Then before ending the show, he will say to tune in next week as he talks about (what he was supposed to talk about on this show). This is a filibuster tactic to string you along, so you can call his office. It is against the law, to charge for credit repair (which is why he now calls it debt filtration), before the work that they promised, is completed.****************** is in direct violation of that law. ****************** talks a good game (and is very knowledgeable about the credit industry). Thats why he has changed the name of his company, and renamed (or re-packaged), a few of his strategies, to make it look as if he isnt a credit repair company. He brags about how 2 of the leading credit repair companies are now being sued. Thus, he doesnt identify his company(s) as credit repair company(s). Nevertheless, there is so much confusion within their organization, that nothing gets done. He also told me, that he paid a lot of money to bring in a former ****************** HR Executive, to manage his company, because they were growing so fast (although I think it is because his employees are leaving his company so fast). She may (or may not), still work there since the last time that we talked to them. When I asked for her specifically, she never returned any of my calls. CDMI has a revolving door, of reps that they assign to your case, randomly.
  

  As far as trolling his company, I am not a troll.I am appalled that he has lowered himself to name calling (especially since he calls himself a professional). His company is anything but professional. As a matter of fact, he has a weekly program which airs on WVON ****AM on Saturdays.For the first 15 minutes of his programs there is static, reverberation,echoes, technical difficulties, and serious on-air dysfunction, that isnt corrected until someone calls in to inform him of it. See, even the air waves cant take his lies. This doesnt happen on any other show, but his.
  

  My resolution is (based on the ***** and the FTC),that by law, he was not supposed to receive any money prior to rendering services. I do not want him contacting me, or my husband again. To date, we do not owe him any money! His company did not perform any services (especially what was promised to us). I have already talked to our attorneys. Based on *** ******** previous comments, they are ready to defend any of his payment demand letters that he stated that he would send, as well as any of his normal collection methodologies. If that happens, we will then countersue him for false advertising. Since he likes to quote scriptures (on-air), I have a scripture for him. He will be snared by the words of his own mouth. I have several recordings of him stating (and at times guaranteeing), what he (and his company) can do, and in what time frame they can accomplish all of this. When you advertise a service, and collect money for those services, then over-promise, and under-deliver (or in this case, dont deliver anything at all), it is FALSE ADVERTISING! The law makes this totally clear. It has been nearly a year, since we first contacted them, and nothing has changed with our credit reports (except for the letters that I sent out, and the hard work that I did on my own credit file).  I want ***************** (and his affiliates), to keep his confused, unprofessional,unorganized, and ghetto-fabulous organization, from contacting us again.
  

   

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business response

  12/07/2021

  I regret that the client choose this path.  Our attorneys will be filing a summons and complaint on Friday for this client for theft of service, fraud and defamation of character. Tell us why here...

*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. ↩