This message board has helped me tremendously in the past but unfortunately I did get scammed last year. The company is called Owen Financial Services and they "offer" to help with credit card debt reduction. After you pay their one time fee of $595 (DUH) they will call all your credit cards and negotiate to reduce their interest for you. Ours was to be down to 6% for the life of the card. Throughout the process I was to receive a monthly written report with the status of each card including a monthly phone call from a rep. Well, long story short that of course didn't happen. NOTHING happened besides them taking my money. After numerous phone calls to find out what the heck is going on I filed a complained with the NY BBB and here is what they found out:


Re: Owen Financial Services
116 W Service Rd. Suite 209
Champlain, NY 12919

Thank you for contacting the Better Business Bureau regarding your complaint with the above mentioned company. The company you complained about is one of dozens of companies using mail drop addresses in Upstate New York to market in the United States. To the best of our knowledge, this firm is located in Canada.

The majority of the complaints we receive on these Canadian firms involve consumers being misled into believing that they will be approved for a special product if they pay an up-front fee. The BBB has never heard of a consumer having a positive relationship with one of these companies. Consumers that pay the associated fee never receive the promised materials and most do not receive a refund for the paid fee.

The Better Business Bureau advises consumers who have been victims of these companies to file a dispute with their financial institution immediately in order to possibly recoup their losses.

The BBB will send a copy of your complaint to the company at the end of the month. Copies of your complaint will be forwarded to the New York State Attorney General, the US Postal Service Mail Fraud Division and the Canadian Competition Bureau. To obtain a refund, you may want to dispute the charge with your banking institution.

If any of you get a phone call, telling you that they can reduce the interest rates on your cards DON'T DO IT. ITS A SCAM!!!. Don't trust any of them.