PORTLAND, Ore. -- Lisa Thompson is a waitress with two kids who often times hangs up the phone when a telemarketer calls.

But that didn’t happen last week, when she found herself talking to a sales woman for “Clear Financial Solutions,” a debt-relief company based out of Orlando, Fla.

“I gave them the time of day because I had it,” she said. “The saleswoman told me that she works with credit card companies and that they can negotiate with my creditors to get me a lower interest rate.”

Before she knew it, she was giving her credit card number to the company for a $895 charge.

After the exchange, she contacted her credit card company and received some news she didn’t particularly want to hear.

“They told me they had never heard of the company and that I could’ve negotiated a lower interest rate myself. I felt stupid,” Thompson said.

So she called “Clear Financial Solutions” back and demanded her money back.

You’d think she had learned her lesson.  She didn’t.

“(The salesman) told me that he would give me a $400 credit to my account and that he would be my personal financial advisor for life,” Thompson said.

Days later, she checked her account. There was no credit. All she saw was a charge for $895.

Wells Fargo credit specialist Erick Smith would have reacted to the phone call differently.

“I would say, how did you get my phone number and who are you? And who do you work for and how do I get removed from your list?” he said.

Smith says all you need to do is pick up the phone and call your credit card company.

“We’re willing to help people if they are able to reach out and let us know,” Smith said. “Banks want to keep and retain their customers.”

KGW tried to call the phone number “Clear Financial Services” gave our victim, and we were told we had reached “Card Services.”

So we went to the Florida Attorney Generals Office and we were told the fraud hotline has received 210 calls, 209 e-mails, and 143 letters complaining about “Card Services.”

The AG’s office said they’ve had five complaints against “Clear Financial Solutions,” including a letter from a man who claims to be an employee.

“I am working for a company that breaks federal laws everyday. We supposedly offer low interest rates and we use a (Voice over Internet Protocol) system that makes our numbers undetectable. We are told to lie on the phone by not giving out phone numbers or our real names,” the employee wrote to the attorney general.

As for Lisa Thompson, she is disputing the $895 and hopes that this ordeal will soon be over.

“Hopefully it will be a bad dream and it will be over.”

Here are some companies that can help with credit counseling and debt consolidation:

- National Foundation for Credit Counseling

- Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies

- Take Charge America Money Management Inc.

- Handsonbanking.com