Refunds for Hess Kennedy Debt Settlement Scam Fall Short
January 20th, 2010 by Kenneth Long
Hess Kennedy served as a reminder that debt settlement companies hold very large amounts of their customers’ cash. It also showed us that sometimes that cash is siphoned off or spent by company executives rather than being used for promised settlements. In the end, customers received only a 25% refund of their deposits after a court appointed receiver shut down the company.
Refund checks began going out December 30, 2009 and most customers whose claims were approved received their refunds by the second week of January. Refunds were far less than what people were hoping for.
It is a real shame that these families were victimized in their time of need by a company that misrepresented its capabilities. These families were promised savings of well over 50% on their debt. Instead, they lost 75% or more of their deposits due to fraud.
From a consumer protection perspective, I really feel for these families. I know that they have been robbed in the worst way, and that many of these families will not be able to recover from this financial blow anytime soon.
One difficult part is watching customers believe the outrageous claims made by Hess Kennedy and other debt settlement companies. The claims they make are often in violation of several state and federal laws.
However, the most difficult part of this entire situation is knowing that these families could have avoided the loss if they had simply checked the reputation of Hess Kennedy before signing a contract. If they had, they would notice that Hess Kennedy had an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau.
I can promise you that if you choose to do business with a firm that has an “F” BBB rating, you are playing with fire. It is the government’s job to protect you from rogue companies, and they reacted by shutting down the Hess Kennedy and issuing refunds. However, tens of thousands of customers were still victimized. It is your responsibility to protect yourself, because government protections are not enough.
Therefore, please let the pain of these victims serve as a reminder to verify the claims of any company prior to doing business with them. For one, making sure the company is a bona fide charity is one helpful step. Most importantly though, see what their rating is with the Better Business Bureau. I personally shy away from any company with less than an “A-” rating.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Consumer Protection, Debt Settlement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Hi just reading your comment about doing some checking on our own to protect our selves. well i did i went thru “the achievable” they were in good standing with the bbb, they set everything up for me. so what am i suppossed to do???? i thought i had covered my ass but i guess i was wrong but that should not have cost me more than my original debt!!!!!!!!!! and now i must claim the remainder of the cancellation on my taxes!!! talk about being screwed!! if anyone out there can help please contact me………
April 20th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
My husband who is disabled signed up for Hess Kennedy thinking that it was a debt settlement company. First I attempted to file a dispute with our bank but was able to get only one payment back. Chase bank sued my husband for the total of over 6,000 and said he would be taken to court and had to pay their court costs. I paid Chase with my little retirement money to avoid damaging our credit. I understand that Chase forgave those with balances on their card after they received money from their lawsuit with Hess Kennedy. The receiver for Hess Kennedy said Chase did not get the full amount due them. I wonder if there is going to be a class action lawsuit against Chase for some reunibursement for the money demanded. Legally I do not think they could have taken money from Social Security checks. We got one small check from Hess Kennedy and they said there was not enough to pay more than one fourth, hoping can pay more later. I called the recovery dept. to see about this of course they did not have any information. What can those who were threatened and paid do?
June 4th, 2010 at 8:08 am
My husband who is disabled signed up for Hess Kennedy thinking that it was a debt settlement company. First I attempted to file a dispute with our bank but was able to get only one payment back. Chase bank sued my husband for the total of over 6,000 and said he would be taken to court and had to pay their court costs. I paid Chase with my little retirement money to avoid damaging our credit. I understand that Chase forgave those with balances on their card after they received money from their lawsuit with Hess Kennedy. The receiver for Hess Kennedy said Chase did not get the full amount due them. I wonder if there is going to be a class action lawsuit against Chase for some reunibursement for the money demanded. Legally I do not think they could have taken money from Social Security checks. We got one small check from Hess Kennedy and they said there was not enough to pay more than one fourth, hoping can pay more later. I called the recovery dept. to see about this of course they did not have any information. What can those who were threatened and paid do?
June 4th, 2010 at 8:57 am
Dear Amy:
Your situation is unfortunate. Hess Kennedy was a debt settlement company, and it had an even worse record than the already bleak success rate maintained by most of the debt settlement industry. Credit counseling would have likely been a better option. I know it is tough sometimes when rogue companies make false representations. It can make it hard to know where to turn.
Since you already paid, your situation is likely resolved. I cannot provide legal advice in regards to your situation. What I can say is that legal action at this point may be expensive and a longshot.
Thank you for sharing your experience. By you providing evidence of your traumatic treatment by a debt settlement company, it might make other potential victims think twice before signing with one of those rogue companies.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I worked for Hess Kennedy and saw settlements done. I worked in the settlement department and got settlements done as well. Credit card companies should also hold some of the blame for not working with companies like ours. As I can remember being told that someone having amnesia for 3 months and depleting most of his savings was not enough of a hardship to reduce his bill. In some avenues, our hands were tied. It was not set out to be a scam. Every day that I went to work, I went to help people.
August 10th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
WOW really you “helped” people every day @ hess kennedy FYI i work for one of the larger creditors if not the largest in the country and we had a special DO NOT WORK THESE ACCOUNTS file set aside just for hess kennedy because thier game was to try and entrap us into minor violations of the law to then sue us knowing it is cheaper to discharge the debt to avoid suit, then to fight it and WIN!(even though we would have), the goverment got wind of your game and you are no longer in buisness =)…….companies like hess kennedy are the ones who ruin it for the rest of the industry that does buisness properly………i could like 100+ debt settlement companies we happily work with, your was the one we were told(more so then any other) to not work with………….you were a small fish in a big pond and never saw what was really going on…….think about all the shady stuff banks bill collectors and EVERY other buisness in the country does to make money they are all still in buisness! you have to be REALLY bad to the feds to shut you down