After going on disability I was unable to pay a couple debts to credit card companies. I signed up online to have debt solution companies contact me and subscribed to HALO Debt Solutions' services. The totaled my debt and charged me a percentage based on that. The plan was for me to save a set amount every month from which they would take their fee in reducing amounts. They provided me with a plan showing the amounts I owed reduced by 50% and the way my account would grow. The plan was after a year I would pay off the first and smaller debt and two years after pay off the second so that I was to be debt free in 3 years. They sent me cease and desist letters to send to my creditors to have the creditors contact them to negotiate a settlement on my behalf. I also provided them with a limited power of attorney and a hardship letter explaining my situation. I was also advised to not talk to any creditors that called me because it was just a harassment tactic. My contract with them began in Feb. 2010 until I cancelled it in Sept. 2010 and demanded a refund of the $1300.00 they took which I still have not received. What did they do? Nothing! I spoke to my creditors several times and none had been contacted by HALO. I received a court summons and was sued by one and even after they knew I was being taken to court, HALO did not contact anyone. They sent me an email saying if I could get a settlement in court that was suitable to accept it. After the Court date came and went -disability payments are not garnishable and a judge cannot order someone to pay an unsecured debt from disability- HALO never bothered to contact me to see how things went. A few weeks after i sent them a letter saying I wanted to cancel their services they actually contacted me with a settlement offer that was double plus several thousand dollars more than the original debt amount! They led me to believe they were going to work actively on my behalf and explain to my creditors that I was in a hardship situation and negotiate a settlement for a lesser amount and show I had a plan in place to do it. This was supposed to stop the phone calls and give me hope there was going to be an end to my problems. My first flare up with them came after I learned they had not contacted anybody. They changed their story to "Well, the debt has to go to collections first so we know who to negotiate with." One debt did go to collections and they still didn't contact the agency. The other debt was handled internally by that company and as recently as last month HALO has still not contacted them. Before I went to court and was in another session with them asking what I was paying them for I was asked by my representative if I wanted them to contact the collection agency and try to negotiate something for me. I could not believe it! Of course I said yes, but they didn't. During my time with them I was switched to 4 different representatives. The only time they paid attention to me was when I was angry about their inaction and wanted to cancel my account and get my money back. I wish I had a dollar for all the promises to call people and to call me that were never made. Every time I called at them to ask what was going on I learned some new bit of information that was never mentioned when I first signed up. A biggie was settlement offers are only good for 30 to 90 days and the savings plan they had me doing was essentially pointless and meant nothing to the creditors. I also learned that HALO knew I would be served a summons and have to appear in court but led me to believe at the beginning their efforts on my behalf would avert the entire summons and court thing. I went to court and my name was in the paper for being sued, all things I was promised would not happen. If that wasn't bad enough, I learned I would have to repeat the entire process for each creditor! When I went to court HALO didn't even provide an overview of what to expect or what to say. Their advice on what to fill out in response to the original summons was not only wrong but wasted the court's time. The judge was amazed at the treatment and advice HALO had given me so didn't hold things against me. In court, I basically went up against a collection agency lawyer on my own. Speaking to the lawyer after the hearing we had a frank discussion during which he told me that had I never heard of HALO or talked to them, every single thing would have played out exactly as it did. They did nothing for me other than take over a thousand dollars with a thousand and more still due. I got zero in return. The lawyer said the debt settlement industry is unregulated so can operate as they see fit. I would suggest anybody using one of these services make sure they ask questions and ask again.

On January 5, 2009 I began working for Halo Debt Solutions as a debt consultant. This is a commissioned base job, the more people I can help get out of debt the more I got paid...so I thought.

Very early on I knew it was not what I expected. There were very little rules and absolutely no oversight of the debt consultants. At my previous company my calls were recorded and we would review them for accuracy and honesty, at the very minimum once a week. Halo has no script...you write your own...so you never know what you will hear come out of a consultants mouth.

Even though the consultants have little oversight, they are extremely less successful than the other debt solution company I worked for, this I cannot explain. What this mean though, is that they have opportunity to help more people than they are helping.

I immediately decided this was not for me. I began to look for other work. During this time I enrolled as few clients as I possibly could because Halo did not instill the confidence in me that they would help my clients. I was right.

One of the first clients I enrolled in the program, never received her welcome package. This was to be received approximately two days before the start date. Two months into the program and several hundreds of dollars the client had still not received her welcome kit. I had put multiple notes in the system for the client to be contacted by her account representative, only two messages were left. I spoke with my client again and she stated she would like to cancel and a refund. I transferred her to Kemarie Mcminn, who sent her to someone else, they processed the cancellation but refused her a refund. They done absolutely 0 work for her, kept her money, and then charged back the commission they paid to me for her enrollment. They stole from the client and their employee.

I began feverishly looking for another opportunity. I found one, took a three-day vacation, and Brett Russell fired me via voicemail. I guess while I was on vacation he found information about me planning to leave when I returned. When they fired me, it was the day before payday. They refused to give me my check. I worked for two weeks without pay, they also will not pay me the commission due on others I have enrolled.

I plan to make it my mission to tell people the truth about Halo, not one management person has an ounce of integrity.If you are enrolled with Halo, I urge you to cancel.

I'm a client of Halo Debt Solutions and have been for a year and a half. I have paid them over $10k in fees (last payment was Dec. 08). Now I cannot get anyone to email or call me back. They are also liars. They claim they had a settlement offer, and when I emailed them back to ask a few more questions my "debt negotiator" never returned any of my several emails or phone calls. I can't even get my rep that I have been working with to call or email me back. So, I've contacted the attorney's office that is working on my debt and I'm negotiating with them directly. Ya, what my so-called negotiator is supposed to be doing. That is a total joke. And, she had my credit card balance incorrect too. It was $3k more than what it really is. HHHMMM - I find tha quite interesting. Even when I emailed them to let them know I contacted the attorney's office directly, I never rec'd an email or a phone call back. But then again, why should they? They have my $10k in fees. All I can say is they are a bunch of thieves.

ANYONE LOOKING TO GO WITH A DEBT NEGOTIATION COMPANY - DO NOT CHOOSE HALO DEBT SOLUTIONS!!! Seriously!!

I signed up for the debt solution process through Halo Debt Solutions a little over a month ago. Since signing up I have had over $4, 000 withdrawn from my bank account and not one creditor contacted by Halo Debt Solutions. In other words I am suppose to lay out over $12, 000. BEFORE they do anything. The Attorney Generals office in my state are telling me that this sends a HUGE red flag up and they want to know more about Halo Debt Solutions. I have e-mailed Halo Debt Solutions, at the request of the Attorney General's office to see what they have done so far. After (2) e-mails there has been no reply!!! (Another red flag)

My bank has promised me that the money will come back to me! This story is not unusual. Credit solution companies make everything look great on paper, almost become your BEST friend with promises, but they will not begin doing anything if at all until they have taken thousands of dollars of your hard earned money.

I call on Halo Debt Solutions to refund my money immediately and appoligize for not contacting any of my creditors as of yet. For anyone seeking relief from debt, my advice is to lay out a budget for yourself and begin to talk to all of your creditors. They will work out a good plan for you. One of my credit card companies immediately offered to settle with me for 50 cents on the dollar of what I owed. I think that is because I contacted them, told them my story, and told them what I could afford to pay. I will soon begin doing the same with all of my creditors. Do your homework! Call the BBB of your area, contact your states' Attorney General to see if the company has complaints against them, and do not be in a rush. Search the internet and you will find what you need to make a better decision!!!

Richard T.