I used Persels & Associates for over 2 years and actually enjoyed my assigned attorney.  Late last year, 2013, I moved from South Carolina to Washington for a new employment opportunity.  Once I arrived I began changing my address with various companies and, upon contacting P&A, they informed me they are NOT licensed in the state of Washington.  In less than 24 hours they had closed my account and terminated access to all online documents related to their services.  I was almost finished paying off my debt and, after all the contingencies fees I paid them over the course of the years, they wouldn't even supply me with my remaining debt amount or updated credit/collection agencies information.  I asked for it because I need to contact these companies in order to pick up where P&A left off.  He told me to pull my credit report for that, wished me a nice day, and that was it.  So, they may practice law ethically and effectively but, according to them, they are not licensed in Washington state so, maybe 49 states.  They screwed me in the end.

Are you sure you're not a shill?

(Spoilers: you are.)

I loved Persels and Associates. They were great and handled everything smoothly. Are you sure you guys read the fine print and followed instructions carefully?

Your company took weeks to return my phone calls, and than said they did not know what was going on with my acct. after a whole year went by.  The Bank discharged my cc debt. a year ago and your online info for my acct still read it was with the collection company that took the acct. not the bank that discharged it.  In the mean time your company still took monthly payments and fees that add up to 550.00 in fees which I am demanding back.  Either way you look at it I was not informed the acct was dicharged and if persels was aware of this they knew the acct was discharged and there would be no money acct to settle, and if persels wasent aware of the acct being discharged that proves no one was working or even looking at this acct.  YOU OWE ME MY 550.00 dollars back.. What kind of law firm are you?? Your not and if you are your a poor excuse for one FRAUD.   I requested copies of everything in my persels file and onlinefile sent to me so I can compare it with what I printed off and give it to my legal help to get my money back from your company.   I have never had to deal with such a unprofessional company in my life.  AND YOU CHARGE TOP DOLLAR FOR WHAT???????? THIS IS THE TRUTH YOU WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE A PRO THAN ACT LIKE ONE AND CLEAN UP YOU BUSINESS AND FLY STRAIGHT.

You are wrong.  They are one and the same.  Just purchased by another party.  Entity restructuring...

I can't speak for Persels in general, but my wife is an attorney working with them and she is VERY devoted to her clients.  She honestly works very hard to achieve the best results possible for them and is most assuredly not a scammer.  Again, I can't speak for the firm, but I can guarantee you that if you took a poll of my wife's clients--many of whom have completed the program and settled their debt at substantial discounts, you would find a very different opinion than you are spinning.

I have just received a letter that someone is suing them. I was going to use them but decided not to. Good thing I didn't.

I know your post is two years old, but do you know of anyone seeking to file a class action suit against Persels & Associates?  They're given me the runaround for quite some time and I'm searching for a way out of my agreement with them and want to end this mess!  Please e-mail me at AUin1998@gmail.com

Scott L. Ruther and Ruther and Associates is in Kansas.  The postings her are for a different law firm than that one.  Be careful bc that would really be defamation or slander.

they are PERCELS AND ASSOCIATES,they are Debt Settlement Company

Is first time we looked for help  from Care One  Persells is an awful comp and going to court tomorrow and being suid now by a creditor  They made everything worse Froze our accounts and now have late bills and bounced check Worse part is they take money but dont help Is worse our credit has ever been and dont know what will happen tomorrow  Anyone else been sued

I am the "whistleblower" on the investigation's of Scott L. Ruther, of Ruther and Associates, LLC.  I would like to suggest that you contact the "proper authorities" with your conplaint's.  I turned this case into the Criminal Investigation Division, of the Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City Service Center, 333 West Pershing Rd.,
Kansas City, Missouri.  You may contact:  Special Agent Adam Jobes, at the Bannister Bank Building, IRS, Criminal Investigation, Second Floor, Kansas City, Missouri.  You may contact:  Special Agent Mr. Randall Praisewater, Mission State Bank Building, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investgation, Mission, Kansas.

No, "rich", they won't. I called a credit card company with whom I was at the limit AND CURRENT, to tell them that I couldn't afford the new payment amount, and asked them to stop or at least lower the interest, and reduce the payment. They said that even though I'm more than $12,000 UNDER the average income for my area (Lafayette, IN), they couldn't help me because I made too much money that wasn't used for other expenses.

I am a debt collector. I am sorry if you have these people and will call you stupid! This is a number to Persels & Assc. I called someone to help their client settle a debt in my office. The rep and I agreed on 50% settlement. I gave a due date and my client never got their money. I called a few days later and someone else answered and said no notes showed this account was to be settled. So I ended call very confused since people should always note an account, especially a debt. I got a call again from the first person I worked with and she serioulsy told me her co worker lied about not seeing a settlement so that she could get credit. I just called today and talked to another person who felt ok to tell me they fight for accounts and that is why some accounts never get paid. What the F***! Co workers fighting for s*** that they are suppose to resolve. Crazy.

this is why people get f****d. because they feel so f****d up they allow others to f*** em. come on guys we have perfect tab water in MOST states so why do we buy bottled water. then we have no money and in debt so we decide to pay a business to then have them pay our debts. what??!!!! are you serious. dont be afraid to call your cc and student loan companies. do it yourself. persels $ assc along with everyother debt company is bogus. and please dont rely on BBB ratings. BBB is not government funded and yes they accept private donations from companies, and yes they give those good ratings...duh!!!! anyways no call from this number lol

Any company that calls themselves "Debt Management" is trouble I know several people that gave these companies all their money and they never paid anybody. If you need help go to consumer credit conselors

How do you go about getting a dispute form from your bank ?  I have been ripped off for 9 months by Persels & Associates. I would love to have my money back so I can give it to my creditors.

Scott Ruther goes to prison.
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/02/22/daily23.html

I CALLED MY BANK AND FILED A " DISPUTE  FORM " --- THEY'LL GET MY MONEY BACK  I HAVE USED THEM FOR THIS PROBLEM BEFORE THE BANK IS VERY GOOD AT THIS ..
YOU  SHOULD CONTACT  YOUR BANK .AND GET THEM TO " DISPUTE IT " .

i work for a creditor as a debt collector, from my experience the first intial paymetns taht clients pay to a debt consolidator / debt settlement company is their fees, this guarentees that their company gets paid first and debts later. Id strongly reccommend anyone going through financial ahrdshipt aht is getting collection calls to take 1 hour of their day, call them back and see what they can do. Ive worked for many US banks, and I can tell you for a fact taht if your account has not charged off, they will do eveyrthing within reasonable limits to help you, including lowering your interest, freezing your account balance and settle (for the same amount they would offer a debt settlement company). Dont be scared of speaking with your creditors/collectors. There are laws in place that protect consumers from abuse and harassment. i do my job effectively and fairly, If a collector dose call your house and insults you, harasses you, abuses you etc. tell them they are breaking the FDCPA and the the FTC will be notified.
I ahve no reason to harass my clients, it doesnt bother me if they pay their bills are not. i get paid to help my clients if they are open to it.

TAKE IT FROM ME, THESE CREDIT COUNSELING COMPANIES ARE THIEVES. I WORK ON CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS FOR A MAJOR MAJOR BANK!  THE IDEA IS TO TAKE YOUR MONEY, THEN LET THE ACCOUNT CHARGE OFF, THEN PROPOSE TO SETTLE THE ACCOUNT FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR, WHILE THE CORPORATE SLOBS ENJOY YOUR $$$

Whatever.....this is the response your "supposed" to give in order to defend the company you work for. You said "none of the people on this blog" have any idea what your company does...however, they have each identifed situations where they feel they were ripped off......so its prety ecident what you guys do. Maybe one or two bad reviews can be brushed of, but when there are SO many identical claims.....YOUR COMPANY needs to explain...not anyone else.

IS THAT A JOKE , HONESTLY I JUST ENROLLED W CAREONE THEN THEY REFERED ME TO PERSELS I HAVE BEEN WORRIE IF SOMETHING LIKE THAT MIGHT HAPPEND JUST BECAUSE  I DONT TRUST ANYONE W MY MONEY WHAT DO YOU THINK I SHOULD DO ....

I don't live in Georgia but I'm currently seeking an attorney in Louisiana to file a lawsuit against Persels & Associates.

My wife had a stroke and to make a long story short we got into financial straits using too many credit cards to keep our heads above water. So we ended up unable to make even minimum payments, then comes late fees, overlimit fees, etc etc. We heard about CareOne on TV, went to their website, filled out the questionnaire and a rep called us. Turned out the amount the questionnaire said we would pay for debt management didn't include fees, so we were not financially able to handle that, we were transferred to Persels. Anyway, 7 months and 3200.00 later were were sued by 3 creditors in one months time. An attorney for Persels said if we sent more money in they would settle for us to keep us out of court. One debt was 1067.00 and we asked if they could settle that one using some of the 3200.00 we sent them. No, because all but 102.00 of that were fees and we only had 102.00 in our "escrow" account. FEES! For what?? Don't you have to perform a service to justify fees?? Well, we cancelled with them and they sent our 102.00 back to us, and told us to declare bankruptcy. We are in far worse shape now than we were then and may have to file bankruptcy though we are trying desperatly not to. They take advantage of desperate people and it is a tough lesson learned, believe me. Don't go there. We could have used that hard earned money we sent to them and probably would have paid the debts down enough to stay out of court.

Well here's some more crap from Persels. Right before we cancelled them, they told my husband they had paid off one of his credit cards. Well he just got served with court papers from that creditor. Guess what???!!!! Persels didnot pay them, WHAT A SHOCK!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I would have researched Persels before my husband and myself signed up with them. He has been paying them over $300 a month for the last 14 months. He is currently being sued by 2 of the creditors. Persels doesn't help in resolving the suit, they help you file an answer. Basicaslly all it says is " Yes I refused to pay this debt". What!!!!!! Why has he been paying Persels?????? The creditors say they have not even been contacted by Persels, with the exception of a cease & desist letter. Now we have to file for bankruptcy. It's so upsetting, you think you are doing the right thing by paying Persels to negotiate your debt. When in all actuality they are just ripping you off. We have paid them atleast $5,000.00 with no results. Thanks for posting the numbers and websites to file a complaint.

Neil,

I am a bill collector and I'm not here to slander you but I'll tell you this, we've been trying to contact your company with no response for almost 4 months regarding a mutual client and your lack of response is pushing us to litigate as we have less than 1 year to do so because of the stats in your clients state. We've worked with many settlement companies, some are beneficial, others get their clients sued because they just don't respond and/or do not properly communicate with their client's the status of the file. This is the 1st time we've dealt with your company and again, I can't slander you or praise you. I can only say you do not respond.

Here's were you want to go to get your issue resolved....          

File a Consumer Complaint
If you are a Maryland consumer and have a dispute with a business, or if you live in another state and your dispute involves a transaction that occurred in Maryland, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Division.        
How to Contact the Attorney General's Office
//////
Main telephone number
(410) 576-6300 or 1 (888) 743-0023 toll-free in Maryland
TDD: (410) 576-6372
/////
Mailing address
Office of the Attorney General
200 St. Paul Place
Baltimore, MD 21202
////
    

Consumer Hotline:
(410) 528-8662
1 (888) 743-0023 toll-free

Moron lawyer, many brave people including some of our founding fathers published anonymously to prevent illegal harassment like BS lawsuits!