Recourse for loan modification scam?

Hi kristiebrand,

As you have canceled the contract, the company should have returned the money to you. You can once again call up the company and check when they will be returning the money to you. If you do not get a satisfactory answer from them, you should immediately contact an attorney and discuss the case with him. The attorney will be the best person to guide you.

Thanks

Thank you Mr. Hogg.

Unfortunately I've made dozens of calls to the company RMR Group - rmrhope.com and sent 2 certified letters. The company even tried to cash a check after I cancelled the contract but my bank caught it in time.

Since I am in Ohio and the company is in California I did a google search and came up with loan fraud recovery site. The email came from a place called safeloannetwork. An attorney contacted me just a little while ago and of course I now how trust issues. He works on contingency.

How in the world will I know if he is for real?

I am just sick over this whole thing. I'm a fairly intellegent person and feel quite stupid right now.

Welcome Guest,

It's really difficult to tell whether the attorney is for real or not. In my opinion, it would be better if you can contact an attorney on your own and check out his/her credentials and then let him/her handle your case.

If you feel you have been a victim, contact loanfraudrecovery. org or call 800-991-6504 to speak with an attorney for free.

i don't know why you'd necessarily trust a lawyer who contacted you out of the blue.

i truly think you need legal representation, but the most efficient way to find a good attorney is probably to get a referral from someone you know and feel you can trust. if you have an attorney of your own, you ought to go there first. if you lack an attorney, check with a trusted friend or loved one who has experience to see if you can get a proper referral.

you've been ripped off, and this is an epidemic in this country. there are loads of scam artists who perpetrate in the name of "loan modification" and all they do is take your money and run.

by all means go after your money quickly. call your state attorney general; call the california attorney general. bogus businesses like this must be shut down!

outspoken and opinionated is precisely what is needed in this time. today's edition of USA Today describes what is happening in CA these days, but the problem is widespread, as we can see on this website. Thousands - nay, millions - of folk are affected by the economic woes we are encountering, and i am thoroughly in agreement with the above post. i've stated it myself continually - never should anyone have to pay upfront to a firm to help modify a mortgage. not only can a person act on his own, there are plenty of non-profit agencies (urban league, etc.) that will assist.
thank you for your "obnoxious lawyer's totally biased opinion." plain talk will never hurt.

Hi KristieBrand,

I went through a similar situation and just called the loanfraudrecovery.org number I saw in this discussion and talked to one of the attorneys. It seemed pretty legit and i'm going to see if they can get my money back from a loan mod company also in CA. I paid $1000 to FLM and then they wanted me to pay more. they wasted 3 months of my time so now i'm late and in a worse sitiuation. I'm going to see if the attorney can get me more for damages since they kinda screwed me. I would have been better off doing it myself. I'll let you know how it goes!

Mel

Just to continue my thoughts (rant?)... there are plenty of FREE AND GOOD government or non-profits out there doing loan modifications. Do your homework on the Internet and find the one in your state. If you want to pay an attorney, go to your state bar web site and look up that attorney. After you make sure the attorney's record is good, Google his or her name and the name of the firm. Find out what people are saying. Again, this is your home we are talking about. This is no time to be lazy or careless or act out of desperation.
- Paul J. Molinaro, Esq.

paul, i am enjoying looking at your website at the moment. please continue to rant, because from what i can see there, yours is a voice in the desert that is worth hearing.

if you have sufficient time and energy to expend, please consider adding your name as one of our regular contributors. there's a minimal dollar incentive to do so - not enough to persuade someone i don't suppose - but that's nowhere near the benefit you'll receive by the assistance you're able to provide to those with serious problems who post on here day by day.

i applaud your stance and i'll be happy to suggest that posters consult with you if they reside in california and are in need of quality service. if there comes a time that you'd like to query me, please feel free.

My firm has been litigating against mortgage companies since opening our doors in 2006. We went from two attorneys and no staff to six attorneys and a whole bunch of staff members (I lost track somewhere in the 30s). As to taking on loan mod scammers, it was the next natural choice. It wasn't a planned business decision. We get calls from people who were scammed and we get two cases for one. We take on the scam loan mod company and we do the loan mod (if it should have been attempted in the first place - sometimes a bankruptcy was the way the client should have gone, and we do that as well). I'll try to stop by and answer some questions (NO LEGAL ADVICE, just general education).
- Paul

(Paul J. Molinaro, Esq.)

paul, you'll want to add a disclaimer to everything you write. there are far too many who will run with what you have to say and claim that it had been dispensed as legal advice.

i am not aware of anyone who's been harmed by their posts on here, but based on some of the gross misconceptions outlined by some of our posters, and (worse) provided by some of our regulars, there's plenty of room for error.

sometimes, you wonder if any of the good advice gets to the middle ear or if it just sticks on the lobe, hanging like dead skin.

boy, there's a quote for you...

Its really interesting with all of these loan modification companies that the majority of the fraudulent are the same people who were involved in the lending and real estate rip-offs. First and very important, do not take any advice from anyone in banking or real estate, loan officers included. You need to check out the credentials of the organization that is doing anything for you first. There are very good companies that will call you and do your loan mod correct. They are in business just like the vast majority of bad ones. The best advice is dont listen to anyone involved in lending and real estate. Eliminating these two will give you a great advantage.

thanks for the impromptu foolishness, gil. you neglected to tell anyone what business you're in, but i suppose that's not necessary, since you clearly would have a distinct advantage over all who are involved in lending and real estate. after all, what would they know about the industry that they've been involved in for so many years?

sorry to say, but i have to take with a grain of salt any advice that comes from a person who neglects to describe from where he derives his expertise. my credentials are well-known and well-thought of also. based on the postings of some of my cohorts in the lending field on this forum, i can certainly say that a number of them are quite knowledgeable and articulate enough to spread their good knowledge.

i cannot say the same for some of those who use innuendo and recently-acquired "knowledge" - more opinion than fact - to try to direct people. some of them have an agenda, and fortunately most do not, but it's tragic that we have folk spreading gossip as if it were absolute truth.

(No spell check on this computer, so excuse any typos). Just giving an update... my firm has begun litigating againts loan mod scammers as the letters threatening litigation are getting less effective... this might be a sign that the scammers are running out of money as they would usually just refund when threatened so that they could continue business, or it may be a sign that they are getting hit with lots of "lawyer letters" in which case they can't afford the refunds and will soon be run out business when hit with multiple suits.

One of the problems with being scammed out of only a few grand is the cost of litigating can be much more than a few grand. Fortunately, California has been adding some teeth to the anti-loan mod scam laws such as tripple damages plus attorneys fees. This means when a scammer takes three grand, the actual losses he or she can face could easily be tens of thousands of dollars.

If you've been scammed, contact all the state/governmental agencies plus a local lawyer.

- Paul

Hi

This is good to hear that the Govt. of California has added some teeth to the anti loan modification scam laws. The way the number of such scams is inceasing by the day is alarming. Making the law more stringent seems to be the only way to tackle this problem. Hope, the Governments in other states also come up with strict anti loan modification scam laws.