Debt Freedom Canada - are they a scam?

[JoeyMBA]

Just wanted to add my experience here.
My husband came to me about 2 years ago and said that i should sit down and listen to a representative from Debt Freedom Canada.
I looked online and saw all these companies like Total Debt Freedom, Freedom Relieft, etc. A lot of pages said scam.
Finally my husband convinced to me to sit down with the rep.
I was extremely skeptical and had no interest of anything they had to offer.
HOWEVER, after he came and sat with us I was left completely in shock.
He brought back our program and was able to do a lot.
He saved us over $500,000 of unnecessary interest.
He put $971 a month back into our pockets that we can now use to have a great retirement.
AND we are getting out of our mortgage and DEBT 18.5 years sooner.
The one thing i loved about this company is that they put our needs and goals first and didn't try to pitch a product to us.

Thank you Debt Freedom Canada!!!

In summary: You and your husband's combined IQ is slightly above that of an infantile ******.

The DFC rep could of been shaking a bag of jelly beans while pointing out the window to a strategically placed kitten and you would of signed over all of your assets including your house.

If you're going to make fake testimonials, at least make them believable.

[MissLooLoo]

Well this is what I know. They are a good company. Compensation is based on the products placed, but don't let that scare you. I have told many a client that they need to leave what they currently have (regarding life insurance for example) in place, because it is what is financially best for them. Our primary focus is debt, we have different solutions for different people. I have several clients who receive an analysis and help with their situation, and they don't pay a fee. Yes, people could come on here and read advice for free, but that doesn't help get them out of the cycle they are in.

[MissLooLoo]

Let's see what the web page has:

- vague promises
- demands fee up front with no guarantee of results
- amount of the fee isn't shown (i.e. leaves it up to agents to try to milk as much as possible)
- mumbo-jumbo about "debt ELIMINATION!!" as if there's any way to do it besides paying it off.

So "what do these guys do"? My best guess is they overcharge for getting people to refinance their debt. But who knows for sure, they're doing their best to obscure.

We do not require a fee upfront, many of our clients do not pay a fee. There are no vague promises, oddly enough, everyone's situation is different, the information you see there is a result of averages. There is nothing obscure about it.

[MissLooLoo]

It's not a scam per say. But nothing worth paying money for. I know of companies that charge people to attend seminars where they explain the smith maneuverer. For people who didn't know about it, they probably got their money's worth if they implemented it. But the information is freely available and not exactly rocket science.

This company in particular I have no experience with.

There is never a fee to attend our information sessions. Most clients don't even pay a few for services. It completely depends on what the client situation is.

[MissLooLoo]

It's a debt-consolidation company, with extraordinarily high rates, the last resort for those in over their heads. Not a scam, just the last stop for some before bankruptcy.

It is absolutely not the last stop before bankruptcy. I am not sure where you are getting your rate information. Debt Freedom isn't a lender. We deal with the major financial institutions in Canada, so any rates given, are posted from the bank. If someone has bad credit, then yes, their rate is higher. Most people, if they have any sense, obtain help before it gets too bad.

hope this helps clear up some of the mis-information.

[amylast123]

I have been reading a lot on this site about Debt Freedom Financial and About John Podlewski. I have to say that having been with the company for over 5 years and now no longer a part of it, what we tried to do for the families was pretty good, not complete but pretty good.
John came from Primerica and stole their concepts and the software they use to produce the FNA they show. Then tried to claim it as his own, if you have seen a Primerica FNA you have seen a debt Freedom FNA WORD FOR WORD! The worst part about this man is he built Debt Freedom to get money from the reps, he now currently owes $2,000,000 in DEBENTURE money back to the past sales reps that were with the company and have all left because of the abuse John Podlewski inflicts mentally on everyone.
John Podlewski is nothing more than a selfish bully that makes money by scamming people with his lies and hype.
Now John Podlewski is closing Debt Freedom and re opening under the name "Priority One Financial" He has done this by using a guy named John Dunlop a former founder of Debt Freedom to help him because he knows that all the DEBENTURE holders are going to take legal action.
John Podlewski Debt Freedom John Podlewski Priority One Financial, it won't matter, either way this guy will do whatever he can to steel his reps hard earned money by selling a big pipe dream and then telling you that you need to sacrifice to get what you want, give up time with everyone around you and do whatever it takes to make him an override.
John Podlewski Scam John Podlewski Priority One Financial Burlington Ontario John Podlewski made people take out loans for his DEBENTURE and promised the Company was going public in 18 month, he said Desjardins Financial was Investing Millions into Debt Freedom, had he not said all those things people would have never bought a DEBENTURE with him, they would never have put second mortgages on their homes for 50k and none would have supported such a risky investment.
None of what John Podlewski promised ever came to light, and Desjardins never had plans to invest in Debt Freedom. So now his way out is to shut the name down and re open under Priority One Financial

Well I will tell you this, I am a DEBENTURE holder of Debt Freedom and I just want to warn anyone who is considering joining or doing business with this man!
John Podlewski cannot be trusted and hopefully his lies will get him a spot in a cell, or at least stop him from conducting business in the Financial Services Industry.

[Needstospeak]

amylast123 I worked there for a number of years and am too a debenture holder. The company is no longer DEBT FREEDOM CANADA IT IS P1 FINANCIAL. As we all know he has changed the name and closed the doors of DFC in order not to have to pay us back our DEBENTURES. DFC is the exact same company as Primerica. John Podlewski actual states that his pile is higher then most people - ya pile of crap. Just people are aware John does not have a thing. All of his assets are frozen waiting for the divorce to be completed. The private school his children are in are sending arrear letters wanting payment. His truck is leased, his home was rented (he has since moved since he could not afford the rent). DFC moved from 5500 South Service Road to North Service Road in Burling and yet have moved back prior to the lease being completed. That was a DFC lease now wasn't it????? John talks a big game. I recieved the first year financial statments and it actually shows the profit the DFC made from the Gala in Niagara Falls. Now MissLooLoo I know you are not a debenture holder and you have never seen the financial statements or you would have realized that actual amount that you are paying monthly is now going into his pocket since he has taken off on the leases he had. For those who are thinking about working there PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look around. Check out the renewal income from the insurance you could be making and the trailers on the investments. DFC does not pay well in comparsion to any other financial company out there. DO NOT INVEST IN THE DEBENTURES!!!!!!! DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND SHOP AROUND.

[VMSHappy333]

Hi Everyone,

Since this very old blog is still going on.... I wanted to add an update. I want to be clear when I posted my first post, I was a new DFC client and was in the process of becoming a new rep. What I posted was not out and out dishonest, it was what we were presented with and I was very excited - hind sight is certainly 20/20. There were several "glossed" over details of our money saving program and the company was very good at spinning the results in their favour......the corporate brain washing that they provided (I certainly am ashamed to say that I allowed myself to be taken with the views, the promise of debt elimination and being wildly successful with DFC.) Was second to none - but it was just that - corporate brainwashing.

I spent about a year and a half in the company and went through the suggested training and became a licensed agent because "that's when I would make the big bucks" (yeah right). I was told I had to spend money to make money by purchasing all of the marketing material and attending super Saturdays and the annual Gala, and when I said I didn't have the money my ESD suggested I use a credit card!!!!!!!!! By the time I pulled my head out the deep dark depths... My adventure with DFC cost us a pretty penny. I certainly learned a lot about financial planning, and insurance but for the amount of debt we ended up with I could have quit my job and went back to university full time. My husband and I returned to our regular bank, and ended up doing a real debt elimination plan - that did not cost us $3,000 in fees to do. But we were back at square one and in a worse position than when we allowed DFC to provide us with a financial needs analysis and "fix" our financial future.

Anyhow, if anyone is still entertaining this company I would advise you to learn from my costly mistake and run the other way (fast fast fast). Meet with your bank manager and tell them what you are looking for - they want your business and they will work with you to keep it. DFC is not a company you ever want to get wrapped up with.

I hope this is helpful.

[Happyperson123]

Hi Everyone: I worked for this company for a number of years as well and I too am a DEBENTURE holder, John Podlewski and the other so called owners at the time (Gary Horner, Jeff Ley, John Dunlop) had no problem promoting debentures to us, in fact John Podlewski managed to get people that didnt have paid income coming into their home to take a LOAN and purchase debentures. This company had a good thing at one time and did good things for families, the problem is that John makes all the money. Not only does he keep most of the money but he treats people poorly, most of us have left the company due to this reason. What kept people there was the fact we did invest and the loyalty we had to our fellow colleagues - they are good people. We spent any earnings we did have on supplies, rent, supposed proprietary software, meetings etc.. at the end of the day it was not profitable to represent this company and all of Johns "ideas" were just pipe dreams and never came to be. He beleives that he will be the next Primerica, this will never happen. In the entire time I was there he didnt recruit one person for me, even though I brought him several - if he is the MASTER RECRUITER then he should of had more people coming than leaving. How I totally bought into this is beyond me now!

DEBT FREEDOM CANADA is preparing to go bankrupt, he has opened a new company called PRIORITY ONE FINANCIAL GROUP INC. in Burlington Ontrario. He told the people that remined with DFC that they were just rebranding, since then he advised that DFC was preparing to go bankrupt. Apparently this is not the first time he has been bankrupt, how he can keep a license and open another financial company is beyond my knowledge. He has told any DEBT FREEDOM CANADA representatives that if they stick with him he will honour their debentures and the rest of us are screwed!! Which is just another one of his lies, he will never honour anything.

If you are applying to any of the opportunities PRIORITY ONE FINANCIAL GROUP INC. in burlington is offering or jobs they have posted - DO NOT GO THERE!!! It will be the worst decision of your career. The expectations are impossible and you will never have a life or make any money. You would be better off working at Tim Hortons, you will make more money then you will with his business plan.

If you are truly interested in a career in this industry, interview an MGA, you will earn more money and be treated with respect, this is a very rewarding career and I am extremely happy to have left DFC. My regret is I should have done it earlier. Please be aware that John Podlewski will say that all of us are bitter and we didnt sacrafice enough or we are just loosers, this is why we couldnt make it. Perhaps this would be the case if one of us was unhappy, however as you can see many people have had issues and the casue seems to be JOHN PODLEWSKI - NEVER beleive anything that comes out of his mouth it is all lies and BS.

He deserves to go bankrupt and have nothing, he never was a multi multi millionaire etc... if he had money he wouldnt have needed ours to grow his company. It wasnt to give back to his people as he says - it was becasue he needed the money to keep the company going. My pile was always bigger than his, he is just a great manipulator. If your reading this John I am handing you a spoon for my pile - hope it tastes good!! (people that have worked with JP will understand the Pile theory) I dont know what happened to him as a child to make him the way he is, but something terrible must have. He is evil and he knows it. RUN BEFORE YOU EVER DEAL WITH THIS PERSON OR PRIORITY ONE FINANCIAL GROUP INC. in burlington ontario.

[grant]

the corporate brain washing that they provided (I certainly am ashamed to say that I allowed myself to be taken with the views, the promise of debt elimination and being wildly successful with DFC.) Was second to none - but it was just that - corporate brainwashing.

Sorry to hear you had to learn things the hard way. Hopefully your experience saves other people.

You are a great example of why i loathe MLM style financial planning. They make these pie-in-the-sky promises because the goal is to constantly suck in new victims and take advantage of them- not to actually train skilled, enthusiastic staff that will maintain long-term relationships with their clients.

[behonest]

A Must Read!!!

People write whatever they feel and others believe it and add to it without looking at things logically. You may not agree with anything that I am about to write and I don’t think any of you will but you should read it.

Almost all comments are made by former reps. Hardly a client complaint. If any client would complain, it would be due to the pressure a rep may have put on them. In every business, there are people who really care about their clients and ones who just want to make a buck. The latter are the ones that could get complaints but that has nothing to do with the company they work with.

These former reps believe they were promised the world and they didn’t get it. Promoting the company is something a president is supposed to do. I agree that sometimes there are some over exaggerations but we are all adults and realistically everything that was said could be achieved. You know, 1% of the world is wealthier than 99%. Just like in financial services in general, there are some that are doing extremely well and others that just get by. It’s too bad that most of the people that join the company are part of the 99% that will never get to the 1% because they would rather waste their time finding faults in others instead of working.

They claim that they had to pay fees, well, all the fees were disclosed in advance of them signing the agreement. They also promoted the company to others and had others sign the agreements as well. Most recruited everyone and anyone, which is one thing I do not agree with as this is the reason for the complaints, the wrong people were recruited. The only way to make money is hard work. Many of the reps that joined the company paid their fees, showed up for meetings and didn’t do any business. How can you blame that on the company? If you went to work and just sat there and did nothing, they would eventually fire you, would you then write negative comments about the company? Some of you probably would.

Some are upset about the debenture. This really gets me wondering. You were financial advisors. If you make a decision based on hype and don’t do your due diligence, I am concerned for your clients. All of these people are about making fast money. They heard a lot of good things which were probably true or were probably in the works but I would never invest in something without anything solid. I was with the company at the time of the debentures and I didn’t get involved. When I hear that some mortgaged their homes to get in, WOW, and then they call John a criminal. If he put a gun to your head, had you sign the papers and mortgage your home to pay for it, then yes, I would agree, but come on, grown adults who called themselves financial advisors made stupid decisions and the worst part is after putting money in debentures, a number of the key people in the company left thinking the grass was greener on the other side and took over 100 people with them and after making a huge cut to the company’s force, wanted their money back. Now I am no rocket scientist, but if you invest in a company and then shrink its business drastically, how can you expect your investment back.

There were many changes made after the mass exodus. Everyone in the company has the same contract. There are no longer different contract levels and only serious advisors are being approached. If others want to work, they are given the opportunity, but are being asked to leave if they are not doing any business. If they wish to stay after that, it is their own fault that they continue to pay fees and not make any money. The people that are working are making money and I can speak for myself in that I have made more money than I have spent since being with the company. Even saying that, I am not satisfied with what I am making right now, but I am completely responsible for that. When you work in a commission job, real estate, car sales, etc, you can only get paid when you work and only you can be blamed if you cannot close or worse if you are not even seeing potential clients. I, too, have heard the promises and don’t see things materializing but I do not believe that to be the intention. They are plans that get delayed and many of them had to be due to the mass exodus. Certain things cannot be done without the work force to support them. Regardless of this, I haven’t sat back waiting for things to happen. I keep working and helping more people.

One person mentioned that a client who posted their savings and benefits here had a low IQ. Well, the majority of people are struggling with what we help people with and it is because they were never taught. A lot of them have worked with banks and other advisors before and they are still in their situation. A proactive solution that looks after the basic financial needs as we do is important and does make a difference to people and the fee is justified in that if they hadn’t seen us, even with their prior advisors and banks, they were not getting ahead. The fee doesn’t even come out of their pocket. For the clients, I have had, there was never an issue. Some have mentioned that we only have high rates of interest. Just so you know, all my clients have had rates from 2.20%-3.39%. I would not call this high. If you can get lower, let me know. Some people who have really bad credit cannot qualify for this but what they do qualify for is competitive with what they can get elsewhere.

The last thing I have to say is that when I first saw this company, I also saw these comments on this site but I didn’t let it bother me as I will never make my decision based on someone else. I refuse to compare myself to someone who is unsuccessful at something. And I would tell potential clients the same. See what we have to say and do before making a decision based on what you read on this site. You do not want to sacrifice what may be done for you because of the information of others who were not truly motivated to work in the client’s best interest. Another thing to consider is that many of the people now posting on this were the same people that were defending the company against prior attacks. I do not have a problem with the people but do not agree with how they express their disappointments and the fact that they were not able to be successful. The people who have stayed with the company are not the same money hungry ‘get rich quick’ minded people as the one’s who have left. They are truly motivated to help consumers. I don’t think it is fair that people make untrue statements because they have a personal vendetta against John. They are not thinking about the innocent people they are hurting. Not only the business for the current associates but the potential benefits their clients could be experiencing.

[spyder83]

Sounds like by definition not a "scam", but charges you for services you could get free elsewhere, I.e. non profits.

If people who work for this company need to sign up on RFD to defend/promote their company in 4 super long posts that are vague and don't provide numbers/fees, this would make me even more concerned...

[dougboswell]

I am curious how clients with financial problems are getting rates of 2.2 - 3.39% especially after it was mentioned in a previous post that this company deals with the major banks. I am looking forward to behonest's answer.

[spike1128]

Gosh. I sure love reading these threads. First it's Amway ripe off over priced crap scam. Then WFG ripe off crap scam. Now this DFC crap scam.

It's so funny, especially the one with the two income. They got dual income but fail to save up any money and need someone's help to guild them. They really need their heads reexamined if you can't save a dime with dual income. Then again, you can have friends sign them up on "Till debt do us part", then make that 5000 dollars the show is giving out.

[grant]

I am not satisfied with what I am making right now, but I am completely responsible for that.

I'm honestly curious:

- what license(s) do you currently hold, if any?
- what products do you typically sell?
- what do you think is holding you back from making an amount you are satisfied with?

thanks !