DMB Finacial is a debt relief company that specializes in debt settlement. Their website claims that they are “the leader in debt settlement and debt relief.” The company opened in 2003 and has been operating for 18 years. While this company has a long-standing history, there are recent actions that may call into question whether or not they are a reliable company. If you are considering working with DMB Financial to settle some of your debt, keep reading to learn more about the company before getting started.
There are a few things that you want to keep in mind while researching DMB Financial and reading through their reviews. Here are just a few:
Don’t just look at all of the negative or all of the positive reviews. If this is how you go about researching a company, all you are doing is building a case for the idea you already have about the company. Instead, consider the entire range of reviews — from the very worst to the very best. Only then will you have a full picture of the company.
How long has the company been running? Are they a relatively new company? Or do they have a deep history? New companies can be risky because there is not as much proof of effectiveness. However, longstanding companies can grow so large and automated that there isn’t a lot of reassurance or interaction — leaving you wondering how everything is going. Look into the history of the company to find any red flags that might be there.
When reading through reviews, you can typically figure out at what point the review was written. Sometimes, users will be so excited after their first introduction call with a debt relief company that they will immediately write a glowing review. Obviously, this review is not super helpful in determining whether or not the company actually does everything it promises. Make sure to look for reviews that detail the actual work the company did.
With this in mind, lets get started looking at what users have to say about working with DMB Financial.
Before we move on to individual reviews and reviewing platforms, let's talk about the DMB Financial complaints. For example, when you read the BBB complaints, one individual wrote how the company asked to extend the program by 9 months. It's unclear why the estimate at the beginning was not accurate.
Another individuals stated that the fees was falsely stated as $60 per month instead of 25% of enrolled debt in their complaint.
Secondly, I believe it’s important to make note of one potential red flag. In 2020, DMB Financial had legal action taken against them by CFPB for charging unlawful fees for their debt settlement. They also were accused of inflating these fees without proper notification to their clients. The final claim is that DMB Financial violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule and Consumer Financial Protection Act.
It is important to note that companies are legally not allowed to ask for payment before settling with your creditor. According to Consumer Finance, DMP Financial began asking for (and receiving) payments from clients before settling their client’s debt.
As of August 31, 2021, DMP Financial lost the case (either through court decision or settlement), and was required to refund the clients affected by these practices, stop their illegal practices, and pay a civil penalty.
While this case has been resolved, it is still important to keep in mind when considering working with DMP Financial — especially since it was only recently uncovered. Knowing this, let's take a look at some of the reviews available on review platforms.
DMB Financial may charge ~25% of enrolled debt per the one user's above complaint. 25% of enrolled debt can be quite high, so it may be helpful to compare the costs of other providers and other options.
At Ascend, we believe that debt settlement may be a good option, but it’s only in the context of understanding all of your options and understanding the cost of that option. This is exactly why we built a free debt relief cost comparison calculator so that you are MOST informed.
The customer reviews on BBB are rather high — a 4.83 out of 5 stars. However, the BBB Rating is pretty low — only a C+. DMB Financial’s BBB page has 514 customer reviews. The ratings range from awful to amazing.
Many of the poor reviews claim that they paid consistently into their account, but were never told of any work being done. Others complained of unreasonably high fees for their services. One user specifically claimed that they went into their agreement with DMB Financial being told they were a debt consolidation company, not a debt settlement company. By the time it was evident that he had been led astray, there wasn’t much else he could do other than follow through with what he had already started.
Many positive reviews do speak of the initial, point-of-contact customer service, which isn’t helpful in this case. There are positive reviews, however, that claim DMB Financial was a great company to work with. To get a broader sense, let’s take a look at some other review platforms.
Possibly one of the most viewed review platforms is Google Reviews! DMB Financial’s Google Reviews are similar to their BBB page. They have 4.7 out of 5 stars from an average of 755 reviewers.
There are many positive reviews on Google Reviews that specifically compliment how efficient DMB was at both settling the debt and staying in touch with the client. Many users stated that their experience was as easy as they assume the process of debt settlement could go. These are all very reassuring comments.
The negative reviews on Google were interesting. Many of them complained that they didn’t realize debt settlement would hurt their credit score. Others didn't know that debt settlement starts with intentionally missing payments. While it is likely that DMB may have needed to more explicitly explain the process and consequences, it is equally as likely that the individual did not fully take the time to understand the debt settlement process and ramifications before starting. Overall, Google reviews were pretty reassuring for DMB Financial.
There are many other review platforms that are typically used by debt relief companies. These platforms typically include sites like Facebook and Trust Pilot. It’s interesting to note that they do not have a Trust Pilot account. While this could be due to Trust Pilot being a relatively newer review platform, it has quickly become one of the most used. This can raise questions as to whether or not they have refrained from creating a Trust Pilot profile for fear of bad reviews, or if they had their account taken down after an overwhelming amount of negative reviews came in. Of course, this is speculation, but it is something to consider.
While DMB Financial does have a Facebook page, they have disabled the ability to leave reviews on the page itself. They did recently have some legal issues, and social media can be a critical place. They may have done this as a defense against people angered by the lawsuit. Whatever reason, it can be alarming when a company goes out of its way to make sure reviews are not able to be connected to its social media pages.
The end result is a little conflicting. DMB has had recent legal trouble that led to a multi-million dollar payout to the clients they wronged. Despite this, there are recent and relevant reviews that are glowing. Ultimately, the decision is yours to make! Recent legal trouble may mean that DMB Financial will be on its best behavior. But if you know what to expect when going through the debt settlement process, you will know what to look for! Call Ascend if you want to talk through your options, we’d love to help!
