The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn.
The Federal Trade Commission has announced a $2.4 million settlement with the Integrated Credit Solutions, Flagship Capital Services, Lighthouse Credit Foundation, Mary H. Mecher, J. Steven Mcwhorter, and Jeffrey E. Poorman; and proceedings continue against Daniel M. Melgar. This gang made prerecorded phone calls to practically everybody in the country (including my cell phone!) advertising their "credit counseling services".
The FTC didn't mince words: not only did they make illegal calls, but they didn't provide the promised interest rate deductions, nor lowered interest rates within the promised time, nor provided any financial counseling, nor was their stiff "administrative fee" tax deductable in spite of their claims.
McWorter ran Flagship Mortgage Services, the home equity unit of Republic Bank of St. Petersburg; it marketed home equity loans nationwide as a way for high-risk borrowers to escape credit card dept. Flagship went belly-up in late 1998, and Republic Bank was forced to lay off 340 employees and take a $7.5 million loss. Melcer was Republic Bank's senior VP of mortgage banking. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Not surprisingly, these two lovebirds had to find new work. They took the name Flagship with them, and tried various things until by late
2000 when they had the Flagship/ICS/Lighthouse axis set up, and then they set about harassing people throughout their country with their telemarketing calls starting in 2001.Melcer tries to portray herself about being all sweetness and honesty, supporting Girl Scouts, etc. What she doesn't say is that she had no previous experience with credit counseling or managing non-profits; nor that she invested in Flagship; or that she worked with Flagship to set up the "independent" Lighthouse; or that Flagship paid Lighthouse $65K to get it started. [Source: Massachusetts Attorney General]
-- Mark --