Written by Ben Tejes
Updated Apr 27th, 2023
Did you get an email and a e-signature agreement from Consumer Legal Group because your accounts was transferred to them from Litigation Practice Group? Are you now getting calls from 212-920-1247 and are wondering why consumer legal group is calling you?
You found out about who you got transferred to from a welcome email, most likely. Also, if it would be more helpful to get up to date information, please consider calling me at (833) 272-3631.
First, let's cover what is Consumer Legal Group.
What is Consumer Legal Group?
Consumer Legal Group appears to offer a similar service to Litigation Practice Group, known as a debt validation. With a debt validation firm, the company would send out
debt validation letters to your creditors to force the creditors to validate the debt.
The challenge with this is 2 fold:
1. If it's a valid debt, it's easy for a creditor to validate the debt.
2. If it's not a valid debt, you could also send debt validation letters by yourself without paying up to 40% of the debt amount in a monthly payment.
When researching Consumer Legal Group, one thing stood out to me is that Consumer Legal Group seems to have been a company much longer than companies like
Phoenix Law, which may have been formed just to take Litigation Practice Group. For example,
Consumer Legal Group has a review from back In December 2022, which we will discuss more in the reviews section below.
Thats said, when checking Wayback machine (a website that shows changes in websites), the first major changes began in March, 2023, similar to the other firms LPG transferred individuals to.
Why Is Consumer Legal Group calling you?
Consumer Legal Group may be calling you for a variety of reasons, but it's possible that they are calling you because your accounts was transferred and you have not yet signed the e-signature retainer agreement. That said, before you sign the retainer agreement, you may want to understand what has been happening with Litigation Practice Group, including the bankruptcy and the lawsuit.
Also, your welcome email may tell you that CLG will be doing more than Litigation Practice Group did in terms of being more aggressive with creditors. That said, you may want to take a look at the results thus far to determine whether you want to continue with any debt validation company.
Did Litigation Practice Group Share Your Bank Account Details Without Your Permission?
If you got the welcome email and the e-signature agreement, you may want to confirm that Litigation Practice Group didn't automatically share bank account details without your permission.
Also, it's important to understand what your original agreement you have with Litigation Practice Group.
Understand the COST of debt validation
Let's say you enrolled $20,000 in unsecured debt with LPG and were paying them $350 per month for 36 months to resolve your debt.
Now Consumer Legal Group states that it's going to be taking over your account at the same monthly rate that LPG charges.
Are you ONLY paying for a service that sends validation mailers to your creditors? For example, why would you need to pay any entity $350 per month to send a mailer?
This is why it may be helpful to confirm every single service Consumer Legal Group will do for you and whether it's worth you money to pay for that service.
Also, if helpful, please consider reading our article covering what
debt validation (or debt invalidation as LPG may have called it) actually is.
Consumer Legal Group Reviews
Unlike some of the other entities Litigation Practice Group referred individuals to, Consumer Legal Group actually has reviews.
Now, it's unclear whether these individuals understand the extent of what happened to Litigation Practice Group via the bankruptcy and the lawsuit, but it's an interesting distinction.
BBB
Per BBB, Consumer Legal Group maintains a D rating with 2 complaints in the last 12 months. BBB states that the company was started on 5/18/2022, and that the BBB file was opened on 11/3/2022.
In addition, it appears that Consumer Legal Group is not yet accredited with the BBB.
TrustPilot
That said, another individual stated that she did not have a pleasant experience trying to cancel the program, after changing her mind.
Ultimately, it does appear that Consumer Legal Group has gone through additional steps to onboard individuals into their debt validation program. For example, it appears that they may have sent an e-signature agreement to sign up for their program, instead of just transferring your account with just an email, providing your bank account details to another entity.
Your Options
Here are a few different options that you may have.
- Understand every single task that Consumer Legal Group actually does for you for your monthly payment. Calculate how much value that is actually bring you. For example, with debt relief, your accounts actually get RESOLVED and settled, so money is sent to an escrow bank account that is used to settle the accounts. With debt validation, you may just be paying for the service of sending mailers and then if you are sued having an attorney represent you. One individual we spoke had stated that there are no funds available to settle accounts because that's not what your funds are going to each month. People did not understand that.
- If you'd like to cancel, you may be able to do so by contacting them via email by support@consumerlegalgroup.org or by phone: (212) 920-1247. You may have to speak with an individual before canceling your account, but it maybe a simpler process than Litigation Practice Group cancellatio
- Please contact me at 833-273-3631 or use the form below if we can help address some of your most pressing questions.
