I thought doing a debt relief program would be the way to go instead of filing Chapter 13 - I should have filed Chapter 13. I made the call to National Debt Relief initially and ended up with Robert Gitmeid, I'm guessing NDR just passes people to other firms. In the beginning, I thought it was great.... Several accounts were settling fairly quick. However, I have had 4 lawsuits, which has been disappointing and stressful. Those accounts were eventually settled, but it was the point that they were filed in the first place. The money you "think" you are going to save...you really are not. Between their fees and the 1099C you receive at the end of the year from each creditor, you are STILL paying just as much if not more. YOU ARE BETTER OFF FILING CHAPTER 13 than going through this nightmare. IT IS NOT WORTH IT! I keep being contacted to send them a notarized POA for one of my creditors that I have ALREADY completed twice before. Gitmeid keeps coming back to me saying I didn't put something on it, when I wrote everything on that piece of paper that I was told. Here it is, the end of October and they are STILL putting me through this crap. They also give you the option after you have been in the program for awhile to be "qualified for a loan" for the remainder of your accounts. If you choose to do this, yes, all of the creditors will be paid off HOWEVER, it is now a "loan" and you will pay 24% interest for another 4 or 5 years. So however long you have been in the debt relief program will feel like you are starting all over again. NEGOITATE WITH YOUR CREDITORS YOURSELF OR FILE CHPATER 13...this was a HUGE mistake that I cannot undo now.

I wish I had been smart enough to have read all the fine print and figured out the final costs before going with this company; had I done so, I would have filed a Chapter 13 through the courts and saved A LOT! By the time Gitmeid figured in their monthly maintenance fees, in addition to their negoti...ation fees, it was definitely not worth it and was way more than I would have paid in fees had I had filed Chapter 13. In addition, filing Chapter 13 would have done no more damage to my credit than this has done. Please read the fine print and figure out the final cost BEFORE you sign up with Gitmeid or any other similar company and do a comparison to a Chapter 13. Not worth it!!!

I used this service and it would take months to reach a settlement. I had to remove several of my accounts and settle them myself. They were great in the beginning, but as I came close to the end the got worse and worse. On my last account they never sent an agreement to negotiate so I received a set...tlement offer. I sent it to them on the 15 of dec and nothing happened. I followed up several times and still nothing. On the 2nd of Jan the sent the letter to authorize. On the 8th they said that the letter was out of date and needed a new one. But never bothered to contact me in any way. They promised to expedite almost one month prior but didn’t even bother to follow up. But they kept charging monthly fees. If you are in no hurry or don’t worry to resolve quickly I’m sure they are ok. But if you plan to pay off quickly they are absolutely terrible. I would suggest another service for sure that can at least follow up. There were a lot of fees not disclosed up front. So be warned!