Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/14/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I saw that someone else had a similar issue with this company. The same problem actually. When I signed up I was promised something different then what is actually happening, and I feel this company is actually stealing money for fees instead of paying the creditors' that they promised they would settle. And I have come to find out there is monthly payment plans, which they claim to have come up with a settlement with the creditors which was the exact same payment plan I had before the program. I was assured this program would help reduce the debt, and so far it hasn't. Instead they reduced the debt with the creditors but paid themselves the difference for a fee. It equals the amount to what the debt was that I owed to the credit company. THis is stealing money. I was told the fees would only be collected at the end once all debts were settled and paid off. And it was not nearly the amount they are collecting each month. It is a crazy amount they are taking, and paying the creditors' very little. This is putting me in a worse situation, and causing me to actually potentially now go into bankruptcy, lose my house, go to court with the creditors, issue with my credit which wasn't a problem before starting this problem. I have incurred more debt too. $700 per month of fees to Madison Monroe instead of the creditor and $1500 the first few weeks I started to Madison Monroe I have almost paid $6500 of fees. I could have had a debt paid off by now. At this time I would like half of those fees returned, since they haven't done anything on behalf except put me in a worse situation. Let me out of this program. $6500 worth of fees for nothing being paid off as right now, and nothing really settled. I mean a reduction of a payment from $4200 to $2500 but a fee to them for $950 is really not a savings! I need this rectified as soon as possible. This program is a scam. Madison will say it isn't but it is. The calculations prove it and the fee payments too.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/29/2025

  We spoke with Ms. ******* she was stressed and going through a difficult time the day she filed the complaint. We did a full accounting review off all her payments to the program and where every single ***** has gone. We also encouraged Ms. ****** to have her Attorney and Accountant get involved as we believe in true transparency when it comes to our clients.

  In conclusion, Ms. ****** apologized once she realized we were paying her creditors and not stealing her money. ******** is happy and is still an active client of ours and we look forward to having her complete the program in the near future. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/23/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I hired this company in November 2023 to take on some debt that incurred. They did not settle a debt for me until Dec 11 but they set up payment arrangements with this debt and paid the creditor $25.71 and to 2 fees on this settlement, without my knowledge of $60 and $502.12.They settled my account for $1148.71 the original balance was $2444.06.I questioned the fact that they did not settle this account because setting up a payment arrangement that is completed until July **** is not a settlement. The fees are astronomical and should not be allowed.Also the fact that I mailed them a letter overnight stopping all transactions out of my account and they still processed fees and payments. I let the payment processor company know also and they told me MMA had to cancel the payments and they did process them after the fact. They can not charge a fee on an account that has not been paid.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/25/2024

  They still took payments and fees out of my account after it was closed. They blame each other for this. Madison Monroe and associates knew my account was closed with them and Global and they still proceeded to remove money.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/25/2024

  We spoke to **** multiple times in January in order to address her concerns. She was upset because we settled an account and collected our earned fee. While **** made it clear that she understood our fee and that we had earned it, as we are Performance Based and do not collect any fees until after we settle an account, she wanted us to pay off the account in full 1st, and then collect a fee. We cannot wait until we pay off an account to collect a fee, as it stands, we do not collect ANY fees upfront, no consultation fee, no enrollment fee, nothing. We work for free until the client gets results. In December, a month after enrolling in our program we received a good offer on one of her accounts and we entered into a payment arrangement with them. In less than 1 month we had already settled an account for **** and saved her $1,295.35. 

  With regard to how we collect our fee after a settlement has been agreed upon, what is there to stop a client from pulling their funds before we collect our fee once an account is settled? what protection do we have? we have no choice but to process our fee once we send the 1st payment to a creditor, which we did. We did not use all the clients' funds in order to leave more money in her account to settle her other accounts. We cannot always pay off the accounts in Lump Sum payments, because clients have different amounts of debts and creditors. A lot of times we need to settle multiple accounts at a time and drag out the payments, especially in this economy where clients cannot afford much monthly. 

  With regard to **** stating that we took payments and fees from her account, the facts are as follows; we had a settlement payment set to go out to the creditor on the 22nd of January, the payment must be received in their office by the 30th, in order to give ample time for the payment to arrive and clear we send the payments with time. We never seen a client complain because we are doing our job, would it not be worse if the payment arrived late, and the creditor voids the settlement?  

  ****'s letter to cancel the program was received on January 23rd, no fees or payments were taken after the fact, those are erroneous statements made by her. We closed out her account and wished her nothing but the best going forward. 

  We wish things could have worked out, unfortunately they did not. 

   

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/26/2024

  First off this account was closed and you were informed to stop ALL transactions on this account on the 18th of January. You still took fees on the 22cond of January.

  You still took out payments and fee after the fact 

  Also no you are not *********** take half of my account balance before settling an account in full. You did not save me $1200 dollars you took that in your $560 in fees.

  You never included me in this settlement plan you just approved it and paid the creditor $27 dollars took your $560 dollars and told me I had to pay $160 a week or my arrangement would be canceled. 

  No I do not agree with the companies reasoning behind still processing payments and fees and taking such an enormous fee for a payment arrangement that would have taken me another six months to pay off.

  I was putting $150 dollars a week in this account. You and Global took a whole months worth of payments for your fees. Over $700 dollars in fees for paying a company $27 dollars.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/30/2024

  Client refused to follow the proper cancelation procedures, she wanted to create her own cancelation documents and that is not legal. Client was in an active settlement; we were not going to void the settlement until client filled out the proper paperwork to hold us harmless for voiding the settlement in place.  

  We honestly do not even know why the client is upset, at the end of the day, we settled her account and were making all the payments necessary. It should not matter how much we send a creditor on the 1st payment, that is a negotiation between us and the creditor. All the client had to do was continue making her normal payments to the program and we would have finished that settlement and settled other accounts at the same time. The client seems to want to dictate how we should do business. We never asked the client for extra funds or asked her to pay the settlement on her own. We had been working on her accounts for free since November. The fee that was collected on 1 specific account was earned as we negotiated the balance and sent the 1st payment to the creditor, it just so happens that with this specific creditor we are able to send a small 1st payment in order to allow us to collect the fee. There have been times when we have to drag out the fee in order to settle other accounts, every scenario is different, at the end of the day all that should matter is that the clients' accounts are being negotiated, how they are being paid should not matter as long as it does not affect the client financially, which in this case it did not.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/31/2024

  I reject MMA responses to this issue as I sent an email on January 17th/18th **** to close and stop ALL transactions associated with these accounts. I also sent a overnight letter and informed them of that also. They still proceeded to pay creditors and take fees out of my account. I closed these accounts because of bad business practices and taking advantage of the situation that I was already in, when I closed the account ALL transactions like I requested should have been haulted.

  I go back to the initial complaint that you set up a payment arrangements when I told you through email that I wanted to be a part of all transactions, you set up payment arrangements with a company without talking to me first then you paid the creditor $27 dollars took $560 upfront in fees then sent me a letter telling me not to be late on my weekly payments or payment arrangements would be canceled. You are more worried about getting your fee then helping clients get out of debt. I still require my fees that you collected to be returned as you failed to complete the settlement.

   

   

  Business Response

  Date: 02/07/2024

  Madison Monroe & Associates will refund the client the $163.00 that was paid to her creditor for the January Settlement Payment. This is not money that Madison Monroe & Associates has, as the creditor cashed the check and will not return the funds as the client owes the money. That being said, we need to put an end to the back and forth and we can agree to disagree. 

  Madison Monroe & Associates did not charge the client any up front fees and certainly did not charge the client any fees in January. The fees **** is complaining about was the payment to her creditor fee and the trust account monthly fee, those were charged by a third party. 

  We wish **** nothing but the best going forward and hopefully she can eliminate her debts in the near future. 

  A check in the amount of $163.00 will be mailed to ****'s home address on file. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/07/2024

   
  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.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************