WARNING: money stolen from my bank account !!!!

[herdhunter]

To make a long story short, my wife and I were going to do a debt consolidation (dang credit cards) through a financial service center out of California called FreshStart America. We did an online app and they sent us papers to sign. We never signed the papers and contacted them by phone and via e-mail and told them we were no longer interested. They somehow accessed our bank account last night and STOLE $200 out of our account. As we all know, Christmas is right around the corner and it's the middle of the month when the bulk of our bills (approximately $1200) is due right now. We had checks sent out and some of them will now bounce, so it may only be $200.00 but it is going to snowball. BEWARE of internet business FRAUD!!!! We learned the hard way. I will now be contacting a lawyer, attorney gen office, and whoever else i need to contact in order to make sure it doesn't happen to somebody else. It may cost me more money (lawyer fees) in the long run, but I will not tolerate being taken advantage of.

[jackalope]

Sorry to hear about this, especially around christmas time. That's really awful for people to do this kind of thing.

[Dented]

should always check with the BBB first.

[burniegoeasily]

Sorry to hear that, have you reported them yet.?

[Wolf killer]

There is no legal way they can take money out of your account without your consent. If you did not consent to this? Your bank is at fault. Your money is protected by the FDIC.

GET A LAWYER ON YOUR BANKS ARSE A.S.A.P.[:@] With the pressure of a good lawyer you can clear this matter up in a couple of hours.

Good Luck,

WK

[Charlie P]

Isn't he going to pay his lawyer more then $200?

If he gave them account info and it was done over the internet how would his bank know who it was accessing his account?

[Cougar Mag]

I recently asked for and received my credit reports from Experien, Trans-Union and Equifax for free. One of the most common themes that each company mentions is if your credit score is low and/or you are trying to fix it is to NOT use a company such as the one in this topic.

Sorry this happened to you herdhunter.

[Dented]

why did you even give them bank account info BEFORE you signed the paperwork??????? That should say something right there! How did they get the $$$ outta your account BEFORE you signed the papers????? Dont blame the company, they had to get your account info some somewhere! I bet if you read the fine print you will find out that you are out 200 bucks!

[tardfarmer]

They somehow accessed our bank account last night and STOLE $200 out of our account

You do realize that a great amount of banking and accounting work is being done in India/China and even Nigeria these days.

This is why identity theft is at an all time high.

god bless outsourcing.

[JoeA]

One of my homebrewing buds is a financial planner. He told me to NEVER contact a debt service company adveritsed in major media. They are all owned or strongly connected with the major credit card companies. Merely conacting some of them will alert the card companies.
There is a lot of good advice available in your local library or at a book store.(but remember to pay with cash, understand?)