You can cancel Alleviate Financial Solutions at any time, and the company is not allowed to penalize you for leaving. Federal law requires that your dedicated account funds be returned within seven business days of your request. To cancel cleanly, you need to do three things in order: stop the automatic bank drafts, send a written cancellation notice, and separately request the return of the money sitting in your dedicated account.
Your Right to Cancel Under Federal Law
The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule at 16 CFR 310.4(a)(5) governs debt relief companies like Alleviate. Two parts of that rule matter when you cancel. First, the company cannot charge a settlement fee unless it has actually settled one of your debts and you have made at least one payment under that settlement. Second, you own the money in your dedicated account at all times, and you can withdraw from the program whenever you want. The administrator must return your balance within seven business days of your request, minus only the fees Alleviate has legitimately earned on settlements already completed.1eCFR. 16 CFR 310.4 – Abusive Telemarketing Acts or Practices
If no debts were settled during your time in the program, Alleviate cannot keep any success fees. Monthly maintenance fees charged by the third-party account administrator for services already provided are a separate matter and are typically nonrefundable.
Stop the Automatic Bank Drafts First
Before you send any cancellation letter, call your bank and revoke authorization for the automatic withdrawals going to Alleviate or its third-party payment processor. This is the most time-sensitive step. Consumer complaints repeatedly describe drafts continuing after cancellation requests, and in at least one case a consumer had to close the checking account entirely to stop them.
Under Regulation E, you can stop a preauthorized electronic fund transfer by notifying your bank at least three business days before the next scheduled withdrawal, and you can do it by phone or in writing.2eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.10 – Preauthorized Transfers If you call, the bank may ask you to confirm in writing within 14 days; if you don’t, an oral stop-payment order expires after that window.3HelpWithMyBank.gov. Can I Stop Payment on a Preauthorized Withdrawal or Automatic Transfer?
Tell the bank you are revoking authorization for all future preauthorized transfers to the payee. Get a confirmation number. Then watch your account around the dates when drafts were previously scheduled. If a withdrawal goes through anyway, call the bank immediately. Regulation E requires them to re-credit it.
Write and Send Your Cancellation Notice
Keep the letter short and specific. Debt settlement companies sometimes treat vague messages as service inquiries rather than cancellation requests, so your intent needs to be unmistakable on the first read.
- Your full legal name as it appears on the account
- Your client ID or account number from your enrollment paperwork or statements
- A direct cancellation statement, for example: “I am terminating my debt settlement agreement with Alleviate Financial Solutions effective immediately and request the return of all funds in my dedicated account.”
- Your current mailing address and phone number
- Your signature and the date
You don’t need to explain why you’re leaving, and you don’t need an attorney to write it. One page is enough. Alleviate’s corporate office is at 4 Park Plaza, Suite 1450, Irvine, California 92614. If your contract specifies a different address or department for cancellation notices, use that one.
Send the letter by USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. The tracking number and signed delivery confirmation protect you if Alleviate later claims it never received the notice. If the client portal has a cancellation option, you can submit there as a backup, but take a screenshot of any confirmation. Don’t rely on the digital submission alone.
You should receive formal confirmation that your account is closed. If nothing arrives within two weeks, follow up in writing and reference your certified mail tracking number. The seven-business-day clock for returning your dedicated account funds runs from the date of your request, so document that date.
Get Your Dedicated Account Funds Back
Your monthly deposits have been sitting in a dedicated account managed by a third-party administrator, often Global Client Solutions or a similar payment processor. Canceling your agreement with Alleviate does not automatically close that account or trigger a refund. You have to ask separately.
The administrator must return your balance within seven business days of your request, minus only fees Alleviate legitimately earned on completed settlements.1eCFR. 16 CFR 310.4 – Abusive Telemarketing Acts or Practices Ask for a final account statement showing every deposit, every fee deducted, and the current balance. Compare it against your own bank records. If fees were deducted for debts that were never actually settled, those charges violate the advance fee ban, and you should dispute them.
Make sure the administrator has current routing and account numbers for the transfer. Funds are typically returned by ACH to the checking account you originally linked at enrollment.
What Happens to Your Unsettled Debts
Canceling doesn’t erase anything you still owe. Debts that weren’t settled during your enrollment remain fully owed, and they’ve almost certainly grown. Debt settlement programs typically tell you to stop paying creditors while they negotiate, so months or years of interest, late fees, and penalties have been accumulating on those balances.
Creditors who haven’t been paid can pursue collection, file lawsuits, or sell your accounts to collectors. Some may have already charged off accounts and sent them to collections during your time in the program. Expect to start hearing from collectors once the program’s communications on your behalf stop.
Your credit has already taken damage from the missed payments, and that history doesn’t disappear because you were enrolled in a settlement program. Negative marks from missed payments stay on your credit reports for up to seven years from the date of delinquency.
Contact each creditor directly as soon as you cancel. Many offer hardship programs with reduced interest rates, lower payments, or deferred arrangements, and you don’t need a third party to ask. Call the number on the back of the card or on your most recent statement and ask for the hardship or account resolution department. Some creditors negotiate more aggressively once they know the alternative is a lengthy collections process.
Taxes on Any Debts That Were Settled
If Alleviate did settle any of your debts before you canceled, the forgiven portion may count as taxable income. When a creditor accepts less than you owed, the difference is canceled debt. If the canceled amount is $600 or more, the creditor is required to send you a Form 1099-C reporting it to you and to the IRS.
The form may not arrive until early the following year, so don’t assume you’re clear just because nothing shows up right away. The IRS expects you to report canceled debt as income for the year the settlement occurred, whether or not you receive a 1099-C.
There is an exception. If you were insolvent at the time of settlement, meaning your total debts exceeded the fair market value of everything you owned, you can exclude some or all of the canceled debt from your income, up to the amount by which you were insolvent. You claim the exclusion by filing IRS Form 982 with your return for the year the debt was discharged.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 982 IRS Publication 4681 has a worksheet for determining whether you qualify.5Internal Revenue Service. Canceled Debts, Foreclosures, Repossessions, and Abandonments Many people in debt settlement programs owe more than they own, so the insolvency exclusion applies more often than you might assume.
If Alleviate Won’t Cooperate
If Alleviate delays your cancellation, keeps drafting payments after you’ve revoked authorization, or doesn’t return your dedicated account balance within seven business days, two federal agencies will take your complaint.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or by phone at (855) 411-2372. Describe what happened, name the company, and attach your cancellation letter, certified mail receipt, and bank statements showing unauthorized withdrawals. The CFPB forwards the complaint directly to the company and requires a response.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
You can also file with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The FTC doesn’t resolve individual disputes, but it uses complaint data to bring enforcement actions against companies that violate the Telemarketing Sales Rule.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Takes Action Against Global Client Solutions for Processing Illegal Debt-Settlement Fees
If significant money is at stake or the company is stonewalling, a consumer protection attorney is worth consulting. Many take these cases on contingency because the TSR and related state consumer protection statutes often allow recovery of attorney’s fees.
Think Twice If You’re Near the Finish Line
Before you send the letter, take stock of where you are. If Alleviate has already settled two or three of your debts and you’re close to the end, walking away means you absorbed the credit damage and paid fees on the settled accounts without finishing the plan. The math sometimes favors staying a few more months.
If you’re canceling because the monthly deposit is unaffordable, ask whether Alleviate can lower the payment or extend the timeline first. It costs nothing to ask, and some programs have more flexibility than their initial terms suggest.