$3,500 wasted with United First Financial, per Dave Ramsey
I’ve had lots of comments on my thread here about United First Financial and Dave Ramsey. Dave is an absolute expert on credit issues, and he hates UFF. He says it’s a complete waste of money. (Of course, I agree.)
As usual, he’s accused of not knowing what he’s talking about because he hasn’t been to one of the UFF cult meetings. The fact is that he’s very savvy about this.
You waste $3,500 for a piece of software that claims to have magical powers in getting your mortgage paid off early. The truth is that any consumer can pay off their mortgage for free (assuming their mortgage allows pre-payment) and all they have to do is spend less than they make, and put their extra money toward their mortgage. You can save $20,000 on your mortgage, and I show you how here (and for free!).
A woman called into Dave Ramsey’s show to tell him how wrong he is about UFF. It’s so agonizing to listen to this woman spouting marketing scripts for the program, and sounding completely uneducated about mortgages. (Transcript below.) And she’s a UFF agent! She’s supposed to know what she’s talking about, but instead she proves my point that most of these agents are clueless. And she doesn’t even know that the company has a multi-level marketing structure!
Take a listen to this call at Dave Ramsey’s site.
He predicts the company will be out of business in two years, and all those people who paid $3,500 will be out of luck. (That’s because you don’t actually GET any software for your money. You just get access to the software on their servers.) I happen to think Dave is right. A lot of MLMs can carry on their schemes for years. But I don’t think this one will survive long.
UFF has such a huge one-time investment that I think many consumers will do research before buying. I can only hope this is the case, although someone I used to respect as an expert on credit matters supposedly did 2 weeks worth of research on UFF and thinks it’s fabulous. Duh! So anyone can be fooled by UFF.
However, if enough consumers take the time to fully research this and don’t fall for the marketing scripts and fluff pieces out there about United First Financial, I think the company will go away in two years or less. Selling consumers a one-time, $3,500 item, is going to be a difficult to do in the long run, especially with people like Dave Ramsey (and me!) helping to educate consumers and preventing them from wasting their money!
Dave: “51 minutes after the hour, Rhonda is in Moblie. Hey Rhonda, what’s up?”
Rhonda: [chuckles]
Dave: “Rhonda, how are you?”
Rhonda: “I’m fine how are you?”
Dave: “Good, how can I help?”
Rhonda: “Um, I’m just a bit curious here. Um, I know that you teach, um, the principal of paying off your mortgage and being debt free..”
Dave: “I do.”
Rhonda: “..and that’s what everybody needs to be.”
Dave: “Mm heh”
Rhonda: “Um, but I’ve also heard you blast the United First Financial program and I just am wondering ..”
Dave: “I just finished blasting them”
Rhonda: “I know.. I heard you and I think you’re incorrect sir. And I just want to know, has anybody ever shown you how this works? Because it is not a ‘magical’ software, it is mathematical..”
Dave: “It’s useless.”
Rhonda: “..not magical.”
Rhonda: “And it is helping homeowners, in this country, save their homes from going into foreclosure..”
Dave: “No it’s not.”
Rhonda: “Yes it is.”
Dave: “Oh, that’s bull.”
Rhonda: “Well, okay. Is Earnst & Young reputable to you?”
Dave: “Baby doll..Earnst & Young hasn’t got anything to do with this.”
Rhonda: “Earnst & Young has named the company Entrepreneur of the Year”
Dave: “Basically, software does not keep people’s homes out of foreclosure.”
Dave: “Listen .. listen .. I know you’re caught in the multilevel cult thing..”
Rhonda: “It is not multilevel..”
Dave: “Yes it is!”
Rhonda: “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Dave: “Absolutely I do!”
Rhonda: “You do not know what you’re talking about.”
Dave: “Lady, you got .. do you not recruit people to go into your business?”
Rhonda: “Absolutely not!”
Dave: “You don’t recruit a soul to go into your business?”
Rhonda: “No. I do not recruit anyone. I show .. a software product ..”
Dave: “You’re business does..United First Financial recruits people .. they recruit .. they have hierarchies.”
Rhonda: “No they don’t Dave. You don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you, I challenge you..”
Dave: “I challenge you. I’ve been all through your website. It’s exactly what you say you do.”
Rhonda: “No, it helps people ..”
Dave: “No, no, no .. you recruit people ..”
Rhonda: “No, I do not recruit anybody .. all I do .. is share this with people .. and, then whenever they get on the program ..”
Dave: “.. to sell. Well, maybe you didn’t, but the business model is.”
Rhonda: “.. and see how much, how fast that they’re paying off their mortgage ..”
Dave: “It’s not paying off their mortgage, they are.”
Rhonda: “Of course they are. I mean ..”
Dave: “Do you know how they’re doing it?”
Rhonda: “.. the program doesn’t do anything except analyze ..”
Dave: “.. cause them to manage their money”
Rhonda: “.. your set of numbers, because everybody’s numbers are different. It simply calculates, because our brains cannot do that fast enough ..”
Dave: “Oh, we can’t use our brains..”
Rhonda: “.. and it tells you when is the most opportune time to utilize your money, not the bank’s money, but your money .. that equity is the homeowner’s money ..”
Dave: “Wait a minute .. stop a second ..”
Rhonda: “.. and if they’ve got equity in their home ..”
Dave: “.. stop a second ..”
Rhonda: “.. why can’t they use it whenever a, uh, state of the art ..”
Dave: “State of the art?”
Rhonda: “.. state of the art, computer program says, “Okay, Mr Ramsey, if you transfer this amount of money right now, straight to principal, you’re gonna save 7.6 years ..””
Dave: “Did you know that’s a lie?”
Rhonda: “I don’t think you can do that in your head ..”
Dave: “Did you know that that’s a lie?”
Rhonda: “No it is not.”
Dave: “Yes it is darling. The way a Fannie Mae mortgage works ..”
Rhonda: “Are you calling me a liar?”
Dave: “Yes I am.”
Rhonda: “Well, then you’re a liar .. you’re telling Americans ..”
Dave: “I’m just saying that a Fannie Mae mortgage, and FHA mortgage and a VA mortgage ..”
Rhonda: “.. that this is a rip-off ..”
Dave: “If you’ll listen a second lady, a Fannie Mae mortgage and a VA mortgage does not apply anything instantaneously based on .. based on a piece of computer software. The way you save on interest is once a month. They will not apply principal more than once a month. And there’s not a magical date that’s instantaneous ..”
Rhonda: “I know .. that’s why this program was invented.”
Dave: “That’s a lie.”
Rhonda: “No it’s not.”
Dave: “That’s a lie. That’s the way the mortgages work.”
Rhonda: [inaudible]
Dave: “I’ve been in the business for thirty years lady ..”
Rhonda: “Well, I’ve been a realtor for about twelve ..”
Dave: “.. You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. You’ve joined a multilevel, you believed everything they told you.”
Rhonda: “And I just know people get into debt. I think that you’re objection to it is that..”
Dave: “$3500 wasted ..”
Rhonda: “.. you’re not making money off of it.”
Dave: “.. is my objection to it. It’s $3500 wasted.”
Rhonda: “No it’s not.”
Dave: “You don’t get anything for the $3500.”
Rhonda: “It is a personalized computer program ..”
Dave: “Whoopee “
Rhonda: “.. that will get you out of debt.”
Dave: “No it won’t ..”
Rhonda: “Yes it does .. it works!”
Dave: “You get you out of debt by living on less than you make.”
Rhonda: “No sir, it’s not about how much you make.”
Dave: “Yes it is.”
Rhonda: “It’s the fact that I don’t really think you understand how it works.”
Dave: “I absolutely understand how it works. I’ve been through the whole thing in detail.”
Rhonda: “You couldn’t and then get on the air and tell Americans, “oh that’s a rip-off””
Dave: “[chuckles] It is a total scam.”
Rhonda: “This company is .. is .. it’s only been around two years.”
Dave: “It’s a total scam.”
Rhonda: “No it is not.”
Dave: “It’ll be gone in two more years.”
Rhonda: “And for all of the American listeners go to u1st.com and .. I had hoped that I would get somewhere with you, because I’ve listened to you for several years, and I like you, okay? But, I do wonder, has anybody ever really shown you how this works?”
Dave: “Well, no, I haven’t attended your multilevel meeting I can promise you that ..”
Rhonda: “We don’t have multilevel meetings.”
Dave: “.. but we’ve been through every piece of the detail that you’re company will put out. Listen, the simple fact is this, when you buy $3500 worth of software, you still have to live on less than you make in order to apply principal, is that correct?”
Rhonda: “That would be correct in any situation of course.”
Dave: “Okay, so .. why does the software help?”
Rhonda: “Because you get to be your bank. You get to use your money, and you get to stop paying all the interest .. when you buy .. when you get a mortgage you know that the first year on a thirty-year traditional $100,000 mortgage, you’re paying 580% interest. They’re not paying 6%.”
Dave: “That is not true.”
Rhonda: “It is true.”
Dave: “You do not pay 580% the first year.”
Rhonda: “I’ve learned this from my real estate business.”
Dave: “You don’t know how to do math lady.”
Rhonda: “Oh .. okay, okay ..”
Dave: “It’s a simple amortization schedule. Now, an amortization schedule is based on simple interest. Anybody that’s got a finance degree can understand this.”
Rhonda: “This is .. no ..”
Dave: “You don’t even have to have a finance degree to understand it.”
Rhonda: “I have been a realtor with Remax for 10 years okay, and I know what I’m talking about.”
Dave: “No you don’t. I hope to God nobody buys a house from you if you think that 580% interest is what somebody gets charged in the first thirty years.”
Rhonda: “In the first year of the mortgage ..”
Dave: “In the first year of the mortgage the interest rate is five .. the effective yield is 580%?”
Rhonda: “They don’t pay anything towards principal, what $5 a payment goes to to principal?”
Dave: “Do you know why?”
Rhonda: “This is about canceling the interest ..”
Dave: “Do you not know how an amortization schedule works and you’ve been a realtor for eight years?”
Rhonda: “I do know how an amortization schedule works, yes ..”
Dave: “How does it work?”
Rhonda: “It shows you how much interest you’re paying out ..”
Dave: “It shows you how much .. and how much”
Rhonda: “.. and when it ..”
Dave: “And how much of the interest, in the first payment of 360 payments on a thirty year .. how is the interest calculated in the first payment?”
Rhonda: “It is compounded interest ..”
Dave: “No, it is not compounded ..”
Rhonda: ” Yes it is.”
Dave: “It is calculated in amortization schedule on a simple interest basis, that’s how an amortization schedule is developed. You take the .. you take the”
Rhonda: “I’m not .. I just wanted to know ..”
Dave: “.. let me tell you how it works. Let me explain to you how it works.”
Rhonda: “.. if you really knew what u1st was ..”
Dave: “Listen, you need to go back and do the math, ’cause here’s how it works ..”
Rhonda: “No .. I would like for you to ..”
Dave: “You take the interest rate and divide it by twelve .. do what?”
Rhonda: “I would like for you to look at the program again.”
Dave: “I don’t need to look at it again. It’s a total scam.”
Rhonda: “Okay ..”
Dave: “It’s a waste of $3500 of the consumers good money.”
Rhonda: “No, it’s the best $3500 ever spent. If you save $80,000 ..”
Dave: “You save $80,000 ..”
Rhonda: “.. by saving interest ..”
Dave: “.. by getting out of debt early. Lady, you are thick. You are truly thick. You need to get out of the multilevel cult and use your brain again. When you tell people 580% interest in the first year, it really shows your ignorance. It’s really sad. That puts this hour of The Dave Ramsey Show in the books.”
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but you are not entitled to making up your own facts. Here is my bottom line: I will save $185,457 in interest by purchasing the United First Money Merge software that cost $3500 and yes I did include the software in the interest saved portion. Keep your spreadsheets as I have no use for them. Takes about 15 minute a month. Not interested in wheter or not it is MLM as I did my due diligence in researching the product. Talked to both my CPA and financial advisor. Both agreed the concept is valid and the prodcut will do as advertised. Whether I could do this on my own was not even a concern. My time is to precious. I could walk to work but I drive. Saves me time but cost me money. blah.blah.blah. I can assure you it is not a scam!
Craig – you hit a great point. The use of the tern ‘black box’ is very appropriate and due its nature, agents really don’t understand how it works either.
I continue to be ammused at how the agents will say that one can’t/won’t do this on their own. Can’t? Well, it’s not tough, not rocket science. Won’t? Well, why does paying $3500 make them any more likely to send all their money to their mortgage?
Joe
Robert – I regret to inform you that you could have saved $20k more without the software AND I could save you much time as well. You say you’ll spend 15 minutes a month with the MMA. Do it my way, and you’ll spend ONE MINUTE OR LESS each month. Quite a savings of your valuable time, isn’t it?
Robert is no doubt in complete denial of the facts that are presented in this board and several other sites.
He has no clue that the HELOC shuffle (or maybe he is using a credit card doh!) is hardly saving any money at all.
Instead it is the huge pre payments that the software is telling him to make that creates in his own words $185,457 savings.
Robert, this is something anyone can do for free, using almost no time at all each month, and in all cases doing it yourself saves several THOUSANDS more in interest.. Doing it youself does not require a spreadsheet or even a HELOC or credit card. Just quickly figure out what you can afford and send it to the mortgage.
You might want to have a HELOC for emergencies so that you can send the most amount of money from your paycheck towards your mortgage without worrying about an emergency.
It’s been my experience that people do not like to admit when they made a foolish error or in Roberts case, scammed.
Its like you paid $3500 for an abacus when you already had a calculator. Quite embarrassing indeed. I have found that people that actually go online to defend this software are agents themselves. I would not be surprised if Robert is on here trying to scam someone out of $3500.
Robert, you say the MMA costs you $3500 now, plus 15 minutes per month, and saves you $185,000.
You could have saved over $200,000 and spent less than 1 minute per month prepaying your mortgage yourself.
You paid more, will save less, and spend more time, with the MMA.
A minute? Does it take that long to write a check that has the balance of your monthly cash flow as added principal toward the monthly payment? Seems you have to write that check or set up that payment anyway.
The 15 claim from Robert is bogus. MMA suggests you consult it each time you spend any money. One agent proudly suggests that if “you see steak on sale, you should email or text message the software to see if this is a good time to make the purchase and how it will impact your budget.” This seems to me that the MMA software is a tax on one’s time measured in hours per month.
And I have never seen a positive from from a non-agent. Never.
Joe
Hey! I said one minute OR LESS.
Craig,
I never said to rely solely on faith to pay your mortgage. I’m not quite sure where you got that from. I simply said the bible offers answers to life’s questions. You still have to apply logic and common sense, especially to finances. My logic and common sense are based on how God wants us to do it. So is Dave Ramsey’s. God and Dave Ramsey…I like my team.
Here’s the thing about whether or not UFF is a scam. The process they sell works. No one is denying that. The scam is they are convincing people to pay $3500 for a process anyone can do basically for free. The biggest supporters are either UFF agents or people who paid $3500 and are trying to justify their lack of judgment.
As for Ernst & Young, the award was for Entrepreneur of the Year. This award is based on profit, not morality. UFF is selling $2 software for $3500. Anyone with a soul looks at that with disgust. E&Y looks at it and thinks BRILLIANT! E&Y may have good intentions but are severely misguided on this one.
I’m happy for you and your…um…team.
Would that be a 3-man team, or a 5-man team? You know, God being the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and all. Who plays goal?
RF – The agents website make claims which are false. They claim savings from the HELOC shuffle beyond what is mathematically possible, the savings that HELOC use can provide is not enough to even pay for the program. They claim in bold font that one simply cannot do this on one’s own. Also not true. They claim that significant savings comes from the precise timing of fund transfers. Tinkering with a spreadsheet I can show that the difference between an extra $1000/mo vs $3000 per quarter is insignificant. One agent’s site claims that with zero extra income, one can cut 2 years off their mortgage just by HELOC and CC use. More lies.
It’s easy to discover one site after the next selling this product and sift through the claims they make that simply aren’t true. Not sure how else you define ‘scam’.
Joe
Good point, Joe. I guess the scam goes a lot deeper than I gave them credit for.
Craig, I love you brother. I will continue to pray for you. I wish you well.
While this is only my second post to this blog the disinformation provided by a few of you is ridiculous. First and foremost, in my experience, the United First agent never said that I could not do this on my own. In fact, I was doing some form of this own my own with results less than desirable. You also mention that, your results doing it your way, is better. You are basing your opinion on assumptions and not the facts of my particular situation of which you have no idea. The bottom line is that you are being intellectually dishonest. I did my due diligence and spoke with both a CPA and my financial planner both of which agreed that the money merge program is a valid concept. Furthermore, I checked with the Better Business Bureau and the states Attorney General in my state and United First has an unblemished record and no “scam” claims as you suggest. I use the system as a tool I implement to pay down my mortgage in an accelerated fashion in order to be debt free. There are numerous stategies one could implement, CMG, Equity Genie, extra payments etc…to pay off you mortgage and I choose the money merge account and am 100% satisfied with the program, the software and the support.
This will be the last time I post here due to the fact that I suspect the detractors of this particular program have a hidden agenda. This blog drives traffic to various websites and can be utilized for the purposes of SEO and keeps the blog near the top of the search results in google when you type money merge account in order to find unbiased, objective opinions which the internet in general and this blog in particular is not a good source for anyway.
The FACTS of my situation are that I will pay off my mortgage and save six figures in interest payments on my mortgage. Not bad for a $3500 program. Whether it works for you is dependent upon your situation. Don’t believe the so called “experts” here. They don’t know the facts of your situation and are basing there “expert” advise on assumptions and you know the saying when one assumes.
Robert – I’m sorry that you’re still confused about how the Money Merge program works. The FACT is that the program works simply based upon PREPAYMENT OF YOUR MORTGAGE. You do not have to pay $3,500 to a company like UFF to be able to prepay your mortgage. You can do so, for free, and on your own. No matter WHAT your situation is, I can show you how to save more money than UFF will help you save. And I will offer to do it FOR FREE FOR YOU. Send me your UFF proposal and I will send back to you the simple (and did I mention free?) instructions to save more money than UFF will help you save.
I realize that to the average consumer, it might sound too easy. That’s because it is. UFF gets people to believe that the magic money shuffle is responsible for their savings, and no human can replicate (or do better than) it.
That’s a complete lie, and I’m willing to show you how and why. I know you won’t take me up on this offer, because by now, you have a vested interest in believing that UFF and the MMA are going to work. You would feel awfully silly if you believed you had thrown your $3,500 down the drain. Sadly, that’s exactly what you did.
Robert – I base my assumptions on math. I started with an open mind and asked how much the helloc shuffle could possibly gain. Well, in the most extreme case, it somehow takes your average monthly checking balance and creates a return of your mortgage rate on that ballance. So in the example offering a $5000 monthly flow, it would appear the extreme is $5000*6% = $300/yr. Now what the kind agents do is tell you that when you send that $5000 in on day one, that you’ve magically saved $23,000 in future interest, and knocked two years off your mortgage. That may be, but you still owe $5000, now at 8% (in their example).
If you feel better believing that you can’t do this on your own, fine. If having software direct you to handle your finances helps you sleep better, that’s great. And to be clear, I’ve run into honest agents who tell the truth, that some people are so innumerate, and undisciplined, that without the prompting of MMA, they’d do nothing. They agree with me that MMA does nothing that one can’t do on their own. And they are the exception. Most agents believe their own tales. Take Tracy or me up on the offer. Mine is a spreadsheet that shows the $23,000 clear as day. For that matter, it shows that $3500 paid on day 1 will save you $16,600 in interest, for a total savings of over $20K, and 18 months on the mortgage.
By the way, as far as ulterior motives go – my blog is of general interest, and, aside from some Amazon adds, I have nothing to sell. I’ve sent out the sheet to dozens of people, most of which write back to say thanks for saving me $3500. I tell them to donate $350 to their local shelter or house of worship. A 10% cut for good.
Joe
Robert said: “The FACTS of my situation are that I will pay off my mortgage and save six figures in interest payments on my mortgage. Not bad for a $3500 program.”
You have a classic confusion of the UFF program. The UFF software does not save you anything, it costs you. Paying $3500 for something that you can easily do yourself using less time with better results is a waste of money.
Robert also said:
“Whether it works for you is dependent upon your situation. Don’t believe the so called “experts” here. They don’t know the facts of your situation and are basing there “expert” advise on assumptions and you know the saying when one assumes.”
I have been searching for ONE situation where the United First Financial software actually saves enough to cover the high fee, UFF agents have yet to post ONE.
Most of you sound like nerds who spend all of their time with spreadsheets, while most of us are busy professionals who simply like the convenience of the software, having an organized and current financial dashboard in a very easy to use format with a strategic payoff that only requires point and click with the mouse.
Most of us are not nerds, want to have a life and want to save thousands in interest. Yes, anyone can do this on their own, but this is very very easy to use. I like having everything in one place….it is worth $3500.
Funny, you don’t see much negative commentary from those who are customers like myself. I know friends and family on it and they are all collectively thrilled with it….doctors, nurse administrators, engineers, etc. Once they are set up, they love all that it has to offer.
Deborah – You spend more time with this silly software than you would with a spreadsheet. If your time is so valuable, then the do-it-yourself method is best. And it will save you more money.
Deborah, on behalf of any nerds who might be frequenting the board I thank you for the ad hominem attack. It so often does come down to name calling when logic fails. As Craig Repied to another confused agent “Anyone can beat the MMA in 10 seconds every month: income – expenses = prepayment.”
You see, MMA or any spreadsheet for that matter, adds no value, none. Either provides a tracking tool where one can obsessively go each night to figure out if they are a day closer to their mortgage payoff, but that’s it. A child will grow no faster for the fact that her parents stand her against the side of a door every night and measure her height. You’re a busy professional? I hope it’s in the arts or literature, because if it’s in the scientific field, you just failed mathematics, third grade math at that. I assure you there is no engineer with a BSxx who will find value in this product, and in my dictionary of logical fallacies, this one is called “Ad Verecundiam”, the citing of some authority to ‘prove’ the truth or merit of that which is false.
By the way, Deb, how many have you sold, you speak like an agent, not a happy user.
“Using the banks money” – We started out by taking out a loan called a mortgage, using the bank’s money. Now that it’s time to pay the loan back, we need to get the money from somewhere. Usually, it comes out of our paycheck. But MMA claims that if we use a HELOC, we are not using our money anymore, we are using the bank’s money. But, wait, we started all this by using the bank’s money to take out a mortgage and now we have to pay it back. So that means if we use the bank’s money by taking a loan out of the HELOC, we have to pay that back, too. So all we did was postpone having to pay the bank back by using the HELOC money to pay the mortgage. We still have to pay the HELOC back. Where is that money going to come from? Out of our paycheck. So why should we spend $3500 on MMA to play a money shell game with a HELOC?
“Interest cancellation” – MMA claims that by loading up the HELOC and running our paychecks through the HELOC, we reduce the balance so much that we save lots of money that way, and that alone is worth $3500. OK, so how much can we save? Well, let’s assume our mortgage rate is 6%. That means each month, we are charged 1/2% on our mortgage balance, the whole balance. But if we are using interest cancellation, the most that we can save is whatever our monthly salary is. So, if we bring home $5,000, the largest HELOC balance we can offset is $5,000. How much will that save? $5,000 times 1/2% is $25. That’s $25 per month or $300 per year. So MMA wants you to spend $3500 upfront to save $300 per year. Do you know how much interest you would save if you just put $3500 towards your 6% mortgage? OVER $4,000.
“Factorial math” – MMA claims no one except a computer can figure out the best possible way to pay all your bills and debts because of all the possible combinations. LIES. There is only one SIMPLE BEST way to pay off all your debts. You pay off the highest interest debt first and work your way down using a DEBT SNOWBALL. It only needs addition and subtraction.
Well, I’m coming in here a bit late, I want to thank whoever way up there that did the transcript of the Dave Ramsey show.
A couple of things I’ve noticed, and I’d like to comment on:
- First, thanks to JoeTaxpayer for the spreadsheet – I got a copy of that, and it’s nice. It’s also free. You can get it over here:
http://www.joetaxpayer.com/money-merge-account-links
- Second, I don’t think the MLM bashing is really necessary, nor does it lend credence to the rest of your comments. Likewise with the anti-religous references. It’s unnecessary alienation of people who would otherwise listen to the good advice you’re offering. There are a lot of reputable MLM companies and products, and a lot of good people working in them. Religion by itself is a great thing – but using it to deceive others is not. It’s like guns – guns don’t kill people, the bullets in them do. Don’t add noise to your message. If people ask you about MMA and UFirst, and the first thing you do is spout off about MLMs, then a lot of people are going to stop listening.
- Third, I also am looking for that ONE example of where an MMA will save someone money over a simple spreadsheet, like what JoeTaxpayer has offered for us. A lot of agents have passed through here – and NOBODY has the example?
- Fourth, every example with MMA that I’ve seen uses a HELOC – but what if (for whatever reason) you cannot get one? I know I’m splitting hairs here (because theoretically the HELOC adds nothing, so therefore its loss takes nothing away) but what is the agents’ response if you say, “Sorry, I can’t get a HELOC”?
- Fifth – does anybody have an example of an MMA analysis where it DOES NOT pay off the highest interest rate debt first? Mathematically, I would suspect that ALONE would totally mess up their claims of great savings. If MMA paid off a lower interest rate debt (let’s say it’s a credit card) first, then it would be mathematically easy to beat MMA with a simple spreadsheet.
I’ve never found a “reputable” MLM company. They all do the same thing: churn recruits by selling them false hope based on deceitful data.
Bill,
Can you give me an example of a reputable MLM?
I spent a hundred dollars on the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Package about 5 years ago and spent 12 weeks in classes at our church – it was wonderful material and I could tell you the whole Financial Peace Program in 90 seconds and save everyone a 100 bucks and 12 weeks of their life. A few years later, to my own fault, I admit I did not follow Dave’s advice, I was further in debt. I saw the MMA, spent a couple of weeks checking it out and purchased it. All I can say is that I love the program and I am $30,000 closer to being out of debt and will be totally out of debt in 11 years, instead of 25 years. Now, you may say – you could do this on your own, I really don’t think so and maybe I’m not savvy enough, but no plan has actually worked for me except this one. Maybe I’m like the fat guy who hires a personal trainer to get in shape, can I do that on my own, I guess – eat less and exercise, but if a personal trainer brings success or a MMA brings me success, why bash it. I’d think Dave would be happy for anyone who is doing that he preaches – getting out of debt. He should champion U-First, if it’s working for people, be happy. Financial Peace did not work for me or for any other the other 30 people who attended for 12 weeks, none of them did the program, it had a 100% failure rate. I’m not bashing Dave, I blame us, but why beat up something that is working for so many people? That seems odd to me.
Paying down your debt requires a behavioral change for most. The program doesn’t cause the behavioral change, you do. No matter what program it is, you have to make the choice to change your behavior. You’re saying that it took $3500 flushed down the toilet for you to change your behavior. You could have changed your behavior for free. Seems like a waste of $3500 to me. And no, Dave does not approve of MMA for the very reasons cited in this article.
As of June 2010, UFF is all but out of business. They had their last round of lay offs at the home office just yesterday and are now down to about 8 people running both the client and agent support lines. Thats down from around 70 a year ago. All of their last ditch efforts to boost sales have failed and the next round of lay offs in a couple of months from now will be when the company closes. The MMA was a great product, but poor management, questionable business practices and just plain stupidity from the owners have got UFF to where it is today. As the company began to slide, and more and more of us were laid off, the owners continued to spend thousands of dollars on creature comforts for themselves around the office. It was sad to see. I felt like I worked for some Wall Street, big bank executives who lived in some fantasy land and refused to change their life style while all of the “little people” around them were being laid off, or having their hours cut, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised to be standing next to one of them in the line at the unemployment office soon.
Former UFF support – I’m sorry for your loss, but most of us here believed the product to be a scam and are glad if it’s gone.
I wish you well. If you dealt with customers, you likely have a marketable skill, and I hope you find work soon.
Joe
Former UFF support, I too am sorry to see you out of work. The goal of the “naysayers” has always been the protection of those who may not realize that the UFirst MMA was a scam. Unfortunately, you worked for scammers, and you never had a “great product” in the MMA. It was always a clunky and less-than-useless piece of software that could never live up to the marketing hype. In a nutshell, that’s why you’re out of work – it was never a legitimate product in the first place.
I hope you find meaningful employment in a non-MLM related industry soon.
Regards,
Craig