Jean
A Financial Nightmare
I signed up a few years ago with the Royal Legal Group because I realized I was overextended and needed professional help renegotiating my debt with my creditors. I read the few reviews online, and I was desperate. I had a good job and didn't want to claim bankruptcy because I knew I could pay off my debt. I had not been late on any payments on my accounts at that point, but knew I would be by the next month. Royal agreed to negotiate my debt with creditors for a set monthly payment amount. They stated it would take about 6 months to build enough in the account to start negotiations with my creditors, but in a few years I would be out of debt. UPDATE: Almost two years into the program, this was the status of my accounts I placed with them: 1. One account had been negotiated and was paid off by this time. 2. Another account was negotiated and payments were being made. 3. At this point, on two other accounts I was sued because Royal had not negotiated with them. I had to go to court several times. Royal says in their booklet that they handle the courts. They did not. I begged them to help. They just kept telling me to go to court and ask for more time. Mind you, this process is very stressful. It involves several days missed at work and daily long phone calls to Royal. One of these accounts, they did negotiate a deal with after I had been to court three times on it, but then failed to make payments as agreed upon through their payment services group (GCS). Yep. When you use two-day mail on the day before Thanksgiving, the check doesn't get there on Friday. I called them so many times stressing that there was an issue, but they did not do anything. In fact, they waited so long to even investigate that it extended past the 2-day mail record keeping time frame. Meanwhile, the creditor decided to garnish my wages. Again, Royal did NOTHING. I called daily, several times a day. I begged and pleaded for help. I kept getting told (after waiting on hold for 30 minutes + each time) that my situation had been escalated and someone would contact me in 48 hours, that a negotiator would call me back, that a legal team had been engaged, etc. Nope... Didn't happen. I was hung up on over five times after waiting on hold over 30 minutes. 4. The remaining two accounts STILL had not been negotiated. So, almost two years in, and I was in a way worse predicament than I was originally. This was the WORST possible outcome I could have imagined. After my wages were garnished, I realized I could not continue paying Royal, all my other bills, and have 25% of my paycheck go to a garnishment. Plus, with another active lawsuit going on, I didn't trust that Royal/GCS would make the payments on time with that one. Just an FYI, once a person is sued and terms negotiated, if the negotiated terms are not met down to the day of payment, garnishments CAN and WILL happen! To get out of this horrible cycle of debt, I had a friend help me with a loan to get the garnishments stopped and "graduated" from the Royal legal group because they failed me miserably. I asked for the balance of my account. Of course, they paid themselves handsomely again from the final check they cut me. I took over payments on the one account they still were paying on. Worked out affordable terms with the remaining accounts. Royal pocketed almost half the money I gave to them in two years, and I feel they only made my situation 1,000 times worse. Companies like Royal CAN make the situation worse. They promise to negotiate with your creditors and get you lower payments or restructured to your budget. Mind you, each account they negotiate, they pocket 25% of the value of the debt. Plus, they use a payment service provider (Global Client Solutions - GCS) who will gladly take fees and service charges from the account. I wish I had saved myself this entire experience. I felt I didn't have time or experience to deal with my creditors for myself that is why I engaged Royal. I did have a solid income. I knew I could pay my creditors off. I just needed a professional to assist to restructure the terms, so to speak. I feel as though I spent way more time dealing with courts, my company's payroll, Royal, GCS (Royal's payment company), etc. than I EVER would have if I would have just dealt with my creditors directly. This was the worst experience I have ever had with any company I have ever dealt with in my life. And, I am not saying this to be mean. I was never once able to speak to the next level of service or management. After being with Royal for almost two years, I was having my wages garnished, engaged in another active lawsuit, and still had two accounts that were not negotiated. It was an absolute nightmare.