Timberline FinancialReviews of timberlinefinancial.com

Three years ago, I had A LOT of outstanding debt, mostly accumulated during a nasty divorce from my first wife. After researching my options, I decided to use a debt resolution company rather than filing for bankruptcy and eventually chose to use Timberline's service. Within six months of a 3-year plan, I already regretted that choice. The advisor I worked with to set up my account assured me that he would be my "guy". Any questions or concerns and all I would have to do is reach out to this person (I have forgotten his name...) and my guy would take care of it. About four months into the plan, I had some questions and emailed my guy. No response. After waiting a couple days, I called my guy and left a voicemail. Again no response. After about a week of emails and voicemails with no response, I called the general customer service number and found out that my guy was no longer with Timberline. Apparently, no one at the company was seeing this person's emails or checking his voicemail. Really??? So I tried getting my questions answered via customer service for the remainder of the plan. This worked about 5% of the time. The other 95% of the time, the customer service rep would tell me they could not access the information or did not know the answer. In which case, I was always told the CS rep would forward my question(s) to an advisor who would get back to me within 48 hours. Never happened. I don't mean it rarely happened; I truly mean that 100% of the time that I was told an advisor would get back to me, I did NOT receive a follow up phone call or email. The only times that I got more than just the extremely basic information that the CS reps have access to were when an advisor was actually available at the time of the call. On EVERY OCCASION, this was only achieved after multiple calls at all different times of the day (quite an achievement when I work full time). After 2+ years of on time payments, I was advised that the final outstanding account was being settled but there was a catch. Since Timberline had waited so long to attempt to settle this account, many late fees and so much interest had been added to the balance. Because the balance had ballooned so dramatically, the settlement was significantly higher than they had anticipated. So much so that they would need an additional $2,000.00 to pay the settlement and complete the plan!! I was told that I could either pay a significantly higher amount each month or I could extend the length of the plan by months to cover this extra amount. My wife and I chose to pay the higher amount and finish the plan in the original timeframe. Fast forward to now... 1 final payment outstanding and we will be done with this plan. We thought that was the end of the drama but NO!! We decided to buy a new boat and the bank needed some info from Timberline verifying that we are done after that 1 outstanding payment and a list of the accounts that are included in the plan, which (shocker!!) the CS rep was able to send to me. The bank asked us why one of the accounts is listed as Offer Cancelled rather than Payment Plan Active. We thought it was because that account was sent to a collection agency but I went back to Timberline for clarification. That's when Timberline responded that one of the payments made by their third-party agent was late and, therefore, sent back. (REMEMBER, all payments from us to Timberline were ON TIME.) Since that payment was returned, the offer was cancelled... TWO YEARS AGO. Why are we just finding out now? Because Timberline doesn't monitor whether their agent is doing their job properly so THEY DIDN'T KNOW! Wait, WHAT?!? So how much was the settlement for that debt? $5,200. But the agent's records show the collection agency was sent $5,750 so why isn't this debt settled?? Answer from Timberline advisor: I don't know but it will take 5-7 BUSINESS DAYS to re-negotiate the settlement. Seriously??? We need this issue resolved NOW. So I tried to get it resolved myself. Call the original creditor and told to call Collection Agency 1. Call CA1 and told that they show we paid $5,750 and should be all set but it was transferred to CA2. CA2 will have to issue the Release so call CA2. Call CA2 and told that a payment was missed so the offer was cancelled and there is nothing they can do so call the original creditor. I finally talked CA1 into recalling the debt from CA2 so they could issue the release. CA1 sent to Timberline and I received it this morning. The ONLY reason for the second star is that it now looks like the remaining accounts in the plan will be paid off and the debts released by the end of this month.

Rep was extremely helpful in handling my situation. Took the time to verify things for me and got it straightened out properly.

Patti was very responsive and answered every question I had. She was extremely helpful - and personable! Robert Gallego with Versara-not as impressed. I was told that Timberline has to change out their phone number ever so offer so it isn't recognizable. When I asked what type of interest Versara charges, I never got a clear answer. When I got my denial letter, do to "missed payment's "with Timberline. What a total waste of time, he never bothered to look at my account. Very shady!!! However, I love Patti!!!! :)

I have been very pleased with Timberline during the past four years. Everyone that I have spoken with has been very helpful and I really appreciate everything.

We are honestly no different than a lot of other hard working people. One thing leads to another and before you know it you are in over your head and no way out. Time cuts at work, lost wages, Covid hit. We tried our best to keep up but you simply cannot. We are very appreciative of Timberline Financial stepping in to help when we needed it the most. They have been a true blessing. I would highly recommend them. Thank you Timberline!!

I Received some positive information that I needed on where we were at for my account.

Quick service! Pleasant conversation!

I want to say that Mr. Xavier was patient, understanding, and professional to my needs for information regarding my account. Hope I can continue to speak with him when I call for the status regarding negotiations of my accounts in your program.