GHS Solutions
GHS Solutions is a debt consolidation and settlement company based in Florida. They’ve been in existence since 2006, and, depending on which source you want to believe, are either a premiere company or one that you need to watch out for.
At a certain point, when you’re reviewing debt collection companies, you start looking at their websites for something different. GHS Solutions site, once again, has a page that has the same exact information most other debt consolidation companies have, in the same order using the same words in talking about the five options they believe every person has. When you keep seeing the same thing over and over, it instantly makes you suspect, whether it’s justified or not.
If they accept you, there is a set up fee of 15%, with no monthly fee, settlement fee, or processing fee. They do keep the first four payments to pay their fee, which is different than most companies, which take the first three. They tell people that they average between 40 and 70% of a reduction, which is interesting since I haven’t seen any other site do that. I also haven’t seen any other site show how much someone might have owed, and what the payment was that they actually made. There’s no way to prove if it’s accurate or not, but it does look impressive seeing it.
First, some downsides. They’ve only been in existence since 2006, but they have numerous complaints against them through the BBB; or do they? One site showed 36 complaints against them, giving them a F rating, while another site, not listing how many complaints, gave them a B rating. I tend to believe the bad rating more, mainly because there are numerous complaints against GHS Solutions online. Some complaints stated that the company said they’d talk to creditors and prevent them from getting phone calls and from being sued; that seems to not have happened. Other people said it was in the contract that you might get sued. That’s something a potential client should be told up front, whether it’s in the contract or not.
GHS Solutions does have some credible organizations that they’re a member of. One of those organizations is the United States Organization for Bankruptcy Alternatives (USOBA). They are also a member of the Association of Settlement Companies, and the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators. This means they’ve at least tried to do some positive things.
In the end, GHS Solutions may or may not be the company for you. Three years really isn’t enough time to be able to do a full evaluation on a company, but if you don’t feel safe, find someone else to help you.
I joined ghs three years ago and all they did was take my money and only settled one of my depts, which I had to do all the negotiating since they could not talk to the creditor directly. My other accounts still are still un settled. They quit sending paper statements each month showing how much of your monthly payment went to your savings account to pay off the debts, and how much they were taking out for their fee. After about two years, all but $9.00 (fee the bank charged to have my account) went to my account. Then, they sent notice that they were no longer sending paper notices. I could go online to get the statements. I went online to set up my password and such. They were to send me my password to my email account, then I could sign back in and see my statements. They never sent me a password, and in the mean time starting charging be $29.99 monthly fee on top of the bank charge which is now $10 month, so now I am being charged $39.99 a month without any warning or notice sent to me. I called customer service regarding my password they were to send to me. Customer service was very sorry and they would give this to their manager and someone would be in touch with me between 24 to 72 hours. After the 72 hours and not hearing from them I called customer service again and got a different person which gave me a password righ over the phone. I then signed in only to find these extra charges ($29.99) that they started charging me after the paper statemenst were stopped.
In the mean time I sent them updated information on my creditors and they did absolutely nothing. I then cancelled and I told them I wanted the extra money they were charging be behind my back after the paper statements stopped. They said that they cannot do that.
This company is not honest and trustworthy to say the least.
Thank you
Bill Eddy