Consumer Mediation Services, Inc.
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I have been scammed. I contacted a company, Consumer Mediation Services (CMS), in 6/2009 b/c they said they could help me get rid of student loan debt. Upon talking to Cam Sawyer, Dept Counselor, he said they could get rid of credit card dept as well. I paid $2995 + another $950 to get started. Now my credit is ruined and I owe several thousand more on my credit cards and student loans than when I started the program. To date I have no proof that they have done anything. I live in Florida but the company is in California, and they did business with me through the internet and mail. Please read below on how CMS says they can get you dept free in 12 -18 months with no negatives on your credit:

Hello, and welcome to the overview for the CMS plan. CMS stands for Consumer Mediation Services, and we are excited to offer what we believe is the safest and most effective debt relief process available today. In the last seven + years, this process has helped people to offset thousands of accounts, to the tune of millions of dollars. And just so we are clear, we work for YOU! We do not work for your creditors, your bank or your credit card company. This is not bankruptcy, debt consolidation, debt reduction, refinancing or some payment plan that can drag on for years and years. These other processes can easily last from 7-10 years, leaving you with a scarred credit rating for just as long.
What we do is simple, yet very effective. We actually assume the debt, so it is no longer your debt - it is ours, and we deal with the whole thing. You just hand it off to us and we do the rest. Any unsecured debt can go into the process: major credit cards, signature loans, store/gas cards, business/personal, even student loans!
After you pay your fee and submit your paperwork, you provide us with enough money to make one more minimum payment on each account that is still with the original creditor, plus $43 dollars per account that we are doing for you. These are one time payments. If you are current on your payments, you just provide us with the minimum payment you would have sent to your creditor, plus the $43. If a minimum payment is less than $50 you need to bump it up to $50 so we can show a substantial payment, but if you are behind on payments and the creditor is asking for double or triple the normal minimum, you don’t have to provide the whole thing - we only need 2% of the balance, which will put it back down to about what the minimum used to be. So for an example, if you have a balance of $10,000 on an account, you would need to provide roughly $200 for a minimum payment plus $43, for a total of about $243. Again, this is a one -time payment. We will use the minimum payment to assume the account, and use the $43 for consideration payments for 3-5 months past that. These minimum payments need to be sent to us within two months of filling out your paperwork and sending the process fee. If an account is with a collection agency and no longer with the original creditor, you don't need to provide the minimum payment or the $43. We will still work on the account and offset the debt, but we use slightly different methods that don't require those payments.
We focus mainly on Contract Law. Here's how it happens: You're probably already aware that in the contract you have with your credit cards, there is a clause that says they can basically change the terms and conditions whenever they want to - right? Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. What we'll do is assume the debt with their permission, and change the terms and conditions so they're good for us, rather than being good for the credit card.
After you have paid your fee and filled out the paperwork, when you get a credit card statement, let's say it's from XYZ Bank, take out any ads, but leave in the whole statement and the return envelope. Instead of making out a check to XYZ Bank for the minimum payment, you make it out to us for the minimum payment + $43. Slip that into the letter they sent you, then put the whole thing in a bigger envelope and send it to us. When we get it, we'll deposit your check made out to us, and we'll write one of our own checks to XYZ Bank for the minimum payment. In that payment envelope, we also include a brand new set of terms and conditions, and on the check for the minimum payment, we put a note that says that if they cash this check, they agree to the new terms and conditions. And they ALWAYS cash the check – we've done this for years with literally thousands and thousands of accounts, and we have never had a national or regional bank send the check back to us. I'm sure at one time or another you've gotten a check in the mail, probably out of the blue, for $10 or $20, that on the back where you endorse it there's fine print that says if you cash this check then you are agreeing to enroll in that company's credit repair program or credit protection program or whatever their service is? This is exactly same thing, except we're doing it to them instead of them doing it to us. Once they cash the check, they have accepted the new terms and conditions.
Those terms and conditions, that new contract, is what does the job. That is how we assume the debt. You will also fill out an official form that is notarized and signed by both parties that says we are assuming the debt, so you have something in your hand, but the new contract is what actually switches the debt to us. They'll now start contacting us instead of you. The statements will start coming to us as well. That way you don't have to deal with it. The contract now says that they are not allowed to charge ANY interest rate. It says that the minimum monthly payment is now $10 a month. It says that they are not allowed to charge any late fees, that they are not allowed to put any negatives on your credit report, and that if they ever HAVE put any negatives on your credit report, they have to take them off. So there is term after term that's now in our favor rather than theirs. The new contract also says that if they BREAK any of the terms, they agree to a financial penalty of anywhere from $500 - $2,500 per occurrence. You know how right now if you send a payment late to your credit card company, then they'll charge you a late fee? You're paying a financial penalty because you broke the terms of the contract. Again, this is exactly the same thing except we are giving them a taste of their own medicine. The whole purpose of this procedure is to offset the debt. Because even though they accept the new contract and perform on it, they're going to act as if they are still under the old contract. That first month that we send in the minimum payment, we intentionally send it late. And even though they accept the new contract by cashing the check, when the next statement comes out, it will show that they are asking for more than $10 minimum payment, that they charged a late fee, and they are asking for more than 0% interest. According to the new contract, they just broke the new terms three times on that one statement, and so we are able to apply three penalty fees. For the next several months, we will use that $43 you provided to send them payments of $10 - $15 per month. And I can tell you, every time they send out a new statement, there will be 3 or 4 term violations on there, so those penalty fees are applied over and over. Please, understand that when we take over the account, we are willing and able to pay off the entire debt. You're simply paying us to assume your debt for you. We will continue to make payments month after month, as long as there is a balance. And again, the credit card company agrees to this. But they simply don't follow the contract. When we take over the account, even though it may have a balance of $10,000, after 4-6 months, because they keep breaking the terms of the new contract, they will owe us several thousand dollars. We could go after them for that amount, and who knows – in the future we may, but as of now we don't. That isn't the point. The point is to get rid of the debt, and we use that money they owe us as leverage. We tell them to retire the account or we WILL come after them for that money.
Realize that contract law boils down to the very basics. There are four parts to contract law – the offer, the terms, the acceptance, and performance. We've made an offer of a new contract. The terms and conditions are spelled out right in front of them, and the acceptance is when they cash the check. From that point on, every time they send a statement to us, and every time they accept a payment from us, they are showing performance on the new contract. We also show performance every time we send those minimum payments of $10-$15/month. So we now have a contract that is spelled out, that both parties have accepted, and that both parties have been performing on for months now. Go to any judge or lawyer in the country and they'll tell you that it's pretty cut and dried at that point. It's too late for either one of the parties to come back and say "Wait, I didn't really want that term in there".
The way we used to do this was to provide the clients with all the letters and forms and the client would change their own terms and conditions and so forth with our help and support. What we found was that with about 5-10% of the accounts, the credit card company was bringing a lawsuit against the client. They didn't really have a legal leg to stand on - it was pure intimidation – but even though we would walk someone through what to do, most people didn't want to deal with fighting a lawsuit, even though they were in the right and could expect to win. That's why about four years ago we switched to handling everything for the client and assuming the debt. Now, if the credit card company tries to get intimidating and serve a lawsuit, the lawsuit doesn’t come against you - it comes against us! And it doesn't intimidate us - being in court is what we do! The contract now shows that THEY are the ones that are in violation of the contract, not us. If they sue us with that situation, it's like saying sic'em to a bulldog - not only will we be game for the fight, but we’ll go after them for the money they owe us. The creditors also realize this. So a lawsuit is simply not something you should have to deal with.
Allow about 6-8 months for the debt to be offset. At the end of 12-18 months from when you get started, the debt will be gone and your credit report corrected.

My credit card accounts went into collections and ruined my credit and my student loans have had numerous missed pmts and interest owed. Now they tell me there is nothing they can do about these student loans b/c of the new laws that took effect last March 2010.
I want them to pay for what they have done to me and others around the country!!