I am glad that our great California AG Brown went after this crew of Inland Empire loan modification scammers. He not only went hard after this scum bag crew, he put down the hammer and sent a serious message to foreclosure scammers/sharks everywhere in the Golden State .
YOU WILL GET CAUGHT AND YOU WILL GO TO PRISON FOR SCAMMING HOMEOWNERS!
Straight from the California Attorney General:
News Release
March 09, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact: (510) 622-4500
Attorney General Brown Sends Perpetrators of Loan Modification Fraud to Prison
SAN BERNARDINO — Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that three individuals have pled guilty to loan modification fraud against hundreds of “desperate California homeowners” and were sentenced to as much as 6 years of prison.
“While doing nothing to help and pocketing all the money, these individuals ripped off desperate California homeowners who paid thousands of dollars to stop the foreclosure of their homes,” Attorney General Brown said.
The defendants sentenced were part of a foreclosure scam engineered by the First Gov company, which was based in San Bernardino, Calif.
• Rosa Conrado, 51, of San Bernardino, was sentenced today to six years, four months of prison for 6 counts of grand theft.
• Alejandrina Maldonado, 33, of St. Lucie, Fla., was sentenced on February 26, 2009, to a three year prison term for one count of grand theft.
• Martin Jesus Flores, 33, of Baldwin Park, was given three years of probation today based on his limited participation in the scheme.
• David Giron, 44, of Ontario, and Saul Amador, 23, of West Covina are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 19, 2009, for theft, money laundering, and conspiracy.
• Three other members of the ring — Juan Jose Perez, 48, of Grand Terrace, Isuara Hernandez, 33, of La Habra, and Antonia Gonzalez, 66, of San Bernardino – are believed to have fled the jurisdiction and may be out of the country.
In November 2008, Attorney General Brown announced the break up of the First Gov scam ring. First Gov, — which also operated under such misleading names such as Foreclosure Prevention Services; Resolution Department; Reinstatement Department; and Reinstatement Processing — solicited hundreds of homeowners, offering to help them stop the foreclosure of their homes.
Ring members promised victims they would renegotiate their mortgages and reduce monthly payments. They demanded an up-front fee, ranging from $1,500 to $5,000, to participate in the loan-modification program.
Victims were told to stop making mortgage payments and communicating with their lender because this would interfere with the loan modification process. After collecting their fee, ring members pocketed the money and did nothing to help victims.
The action today is part of Attorney General Brown’s campaign to fight predatory lending and loan modification scams.
• In March 2008, the Attorney General’s office arrested members of Lifetime Financial Corporation for perpetrating a similar mortgage-modification scam that cheated hundreds of California homeowners out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• In October 2008, the Attorney General secured $8.6 billion in loan relief for eligible homeowners in a landmark settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation for engaging in deceptive and predatory lending practices.
The Attorney General has also issued a Consumer Alert regarding foreclosure scam rings and tax reassessment scams. Homeowners should be on high alert when approached by companies offering ways to save your home or lower your property taxes.
The press release announcing the First Gov arrests in November can be found at: http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1627
send these creeps to the electric chair!
Please look into this company: Nationwide Foreclosure Relief (Anaheim,CA) Many people have lost their homes, Files have not been touched for months, police have visited many times with customers demanding their money back. (they might be in the process of packing up).
Another one bites the dust. Little word of advise, do not operate a loan mod company without complying with the DRE (California) and without actually providing a service–both the attorney general and private attorneys will eat you for lunch.
I recently attended a seminar given by James Hardy with HomeLoanPreservation.com. Is this a legitimate company? They charge up front fees starting at $2995.
Never heard of them. Many companies are legit and there are many more who are not. The best thing to do is research them and get as much info as you can and if you don’t find anything, then that is not a good sign.
Till I’m blue in the face… PEOPLE of the EARTH… please, please, please, research the heck out of anyone or any entity you plan to hire to save your most valuable asset (yes, I know it’s not as valuable as it was in 2006), your HOME… this is no time to be lazy… no time to act out of desperation… no time to believe con men who prey on your desire to hear what you want… no time to put your head in the sand.
Get on the Internet. Ask friends, family neighbors. Check the Better Business Bureaus. Check the State Bar. Have a TRUSTED family member who is also a real estate professional quiz the crap out of anyone you plan to hire.
The loan itself paid the mortgage guy prolly about 3% of the loan amount, don’t be cheap with what you pay now to undo the mess, but don’t waste your money either.
Don’t waste time. Once a default has been started, there is a clock ticking. Seek help as soon as you know you can’t pay, not when the sale date is next week.
Okay now… go off and educate yourself and empower yourself.
- Paul
i need help refinanceing my mortage can you tell who i could contact,and could you tell me also if they charge for their help with out a fee. cause everyone i talk to wants to charge 2000 to even look at my info.
http://www.instamodify.com 18301 Von Karman, Suite 920, Irvine, California 92612.
(877) 780-7990 or (949) 340-8270
Gerald (Jerry) Lotter’s loan modification company.Lotter has an expired broker’s license and is not approved by California DRE to collect an upfront fee. He was the broker of record for now defunct “Home Advantage Funding Group” whose lender license was revoked.
Jerry Lotter go practice your deceptive business practices in prison you are a joke and the attorney general has been notified.
I need information about Instamodify, LLC located in East Meadow, NY and in Melville, NY. The BBB doesn’t list any complaints about them, but my wife and I are very leery of them, especially after reading the post here by SCAM about Gerald Lotter and Home Advantage Funding Group. They’re asking us to fork over $2,700 to begin the loan modification process, and not after the fact. Also, they say we’re already approved and have been pushing hard for us the sign the Agreement. I say not so fast! I need to check them out further. Any information about Lotter, HAFG, and Instamodify would be greatly appreciated! Also, can anyone suggest a known legit loan modification firm to deal with? Thank you.
I am surprised that (no rascist comments here bonehead!)were even smart enough to think of such a scheme! My name is Crush the idiot.
I PAID THIS LAWYER $4000 . BECAUSE SHE SAID SHE WAS GOING TO HELP ME STOP FORCLOSE MY HOUSE. SHE DID NOTHING BUT TAKING MY MONEY.
I NEED HELP.
Has anyone heard of Loan Mediate? My husband and I have started a loan modification process with them and now are regretting it. We just started hearing about all of the scams out there and believe they may be one of them. They have already taken $1900 from us and don’t have any status updates or any new information for us. (it’s been 2 months) Any info is appreciated. Thanks.
I recently done a loan modification with New Leaf Modifications and they are a legitimate company that did a great job on my loan and I would definitely suggest them to anyone that is in any kind of hardship with there home loan. Their number is 866-222-1209 ext560.
New Leaf Modifications is a scam and so it Second Chance Negotiations(now going under a new name). New Leaf took our money and gave our case to Second Chance and also promised a money back guarantee if something did not work out in 30-90days. Over 6 months later and no work done on there half we still can’t get our money back. Avoid them at all cost! We are looking into legal action now.
A friend is offering my parents to refinance with New leaf modifications company is it good idea? they’re having hard time making payment and they promise to lower payments by $250-300 a month, but they charge up to $4000cash. If anyone knows anything about them please let me know. thanks so much!
I live in Sacramento and recently used New Leaf Modifications to get my loan modified. I went to their office in Roseville and I want to testify that they are a great company. The dropped my interest rate by 2.75% and put my on a 40 year fixed loan. I definitely recommend using them.
Anyone heard of US Capital Group?
Anone heard of US Capital Group?
I also got my loan modified with New Leaf Modifications. I live in Reno, Nevada and they helped me get my priciple balance reduced by $44,000. I also got my rate dropped to 4.125% on a 30 year fixed loan. Needless to say I am more then happy with their results and can attest that they are indeed one of the few legitimate loan modification companies out there. If you are thinking of getting a loan modification done be careful who you use, New Leaf is one of the few good companies out there.
We are currently using Loan Mediate.. its taking some time to get done, approx. 90 days so far, but the girl Caitlyn seems to be on top of it.. I am hoping to have an offer from my mortgage company any day now..
InstaModify in Melville and California
From National Mortgage News site:
“It appears that Michael Strauss, who founded American Home Mortgage of Melville, N.Y., is back in business with a loan modification company called InstaModify. Supposedly it’s affiliated with a net branch lending firm. (This last bit is unconfirmed.) But, of course, Mr. Strauss is about $2.45 million “lighter” these days because he just agreed to pay the SEC that amount for some accounting funny business at AmHome. And of course he settled without admitting – or denying what he did was wrong…
From National Mortgage News
RE: InstaModify
“it appears that Michael Strauss, who founded American Home Mortgage of Melville, N.Y., is back in business with a loan modification company called InstaModify. Supposedly it’s affiliated with a net branch lending firm. (This last bit is unconfirmed.) But, of course, Mr. Strauss is about $2.45 million “lighter” these days because he just agreed to pay the SEC that amount for some accounting funny business at AmHome. And of course he settled without admitting – or denying what he did was wrong…
HAS ANYONE HAD A LOAN WITH THE LIKES OF LANDMARC CAPITAL? AND HOW DO YOU GET THEM TO MODIFY YOUR LOAN?
Has anyone heard of United Law Center? We met with an attorney about a modification. I did find her listed on the bar association but the office is in Roseville and looks like it was set up yesterday. Who can you trust these days?
To the owners of this site, I would recommend that you monitor your postings to avoid racists comments (that devalue the site) like the following one that was posted by Crush Says:
March 30th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I am surprised that these mexicans were even smart enough to think of such a scheme!
I didnt catch that Manny. My wife is Hispanic and her parents are from Mexico. This offends me BIG TIME! I am sorry I didnt not get that BS!!!! Ill delete it now.
About United Law Center I worked for them for 2 days as an attorney. They lied to me about compensation, business, and how I would be working with clients. You don’t always talk to an attorney, and the two “managers” there admitted to me that they committed fraud on numerous occasions when they worked for loan brokers. and here is some info on Brandon Hintz – one of the managers.
http://secure.dre.ca.gov/publicasp/unlicensedDNR.asp?RowID=703
I used New Leaf Modifications, Although it took 3 months they got the mod done. Our payment went from $2,140 down to $1,186.
Dear PG:
Please contact me at (916) 227-0864 regarding your June 11th post about UNITED LAW CENTER and BRANDON HINTZ. I’d like to chat with you about what you saw there. Thank You!
Shelly
My sister was scammed by this same company. I may initiate a class action suit if enough other individuals have been harmed.
I meant to mention in my last post suggesting a class action lawsuit that the company in question is Loanmediate.com.
I would like for this blog’s mediator to contact me.
Sam,
My name is Moe and I am the one that you would need to speak or write to. However, I like to do my business or discuss blog issues in open forum discussions.
What can I do for you?
Moe,
I am one of the assistants to Attorney John Sargetis with United Law Center. I am writing you in reference to one of the post on your site in reference to our company. We demand you remove the comments that have been posted by PG as they are false and slanderous.
This website and it’s owners will not be held liable for any user submitted content on this website. Under a Federal Law the Communications Decency Act or “CDA”, 47 U.S.C. § 230.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
The Communications Decency Act or CDA provides that when a user writes and posts material on a website such as LoanSafe.org, the site itself cannot, in most cases, be held legally responsible for the posted material. Specifically, 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1) states, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Because the reports on Ripoff Report are authored by users of the site, we cannot be legally regarded as the “publisher or speaker” of the reports contained here, and hence we are not liable for reports even if they contain false or inaccurate information.
The reasons for this rule are simple. Websites cannot possibly monitor the accuracy of the huge volume of information which their users may choose to post. If a disgruntled plaintiff were permitted to hold a website liable for information that the site did not create, this would stifle free speech as fewer and fewer sites would be willing to permit users to post anything at all. See generally Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018, 1027–28 (9th Cir. 2003) (recognizing, “Making interactive computer services and their users liable for the speech of third parties would severely restrict the information available on the Internet. Section 230 [of the CDA] therefore sought to prevent lawsuits from shutting down websites and other services on the Internet.”)
In general, each and every lower federal district court and federal appellate court that has construed the CDA has held that websites like LoanSafe.org are immune from virtually every type of civil liability when the site has been sued based on information posted by a third party. See Doe v. America Online, Inc., 783 So.2d 1010 (Fl. 2001); Green v. America Online, 318 F.3d 465, 470 (3rd Cir. 2003) (noting that the CDA, “‘precludes courts from entertaining claims that would place a computer service provider in a publisher’s role,’ and therefore bars ‘lawsuits seeking to hold a service provider liable for its exercise of a publisher’s traditional editorial functions – such as deciding whether to publish, withdraw, postpone, or alter content.’”); Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003); Schneider v. Amazon.com, Inc., 31 P.3d 37 (Wash.App. 2001); Doe v. GTE Corp., 347 F.3d 655 (7th Cir. 2003); Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997); Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F. Supp. 44 (D. D.C. 1998).
So, why should you care about this law? Well, if someone posts false information about you on the LoanSafe.org, the CDA prohibits you from holding us liable for the statements which others have written.
LoanSafe.org takes the same stance on rebuttals to claims and accusations made by users and in fact we encourage you to defend these claims if you believe they are inaccurate.
We take very claim as being serious as well as every rebuttal. Please email Moe @ LoanSafe.org any rebuttal you may have to the claims or reports made on his website. We will post any rebuttals to the user created thread to give you a chance to have your voice be heard, but we will not remove any material that has been posted via user generated content.
Use the complaint as an opportunity to make things right with your client and ask that the client works with you to resolve and mediate the issues at hand. If a successful resolution is made, ask your client to update he claim or report to states that there has been a successful resolution to the matter.
If you think a claim or report is false and written with the intention to harm you or your business or you believe it is a competitor then please email me with “supporting” documentation to validate your claims and I will look into this to the best of my ability.
DO NOT USE LoanMediate.com!!! We started the process of modifying our home loan with them back in Feb 09 and paid $2800.00. We were told that it should take 45-90 days. We expected calls/emails with status updates, but NOTHING! We tried calling them and it goes to voicemail and then no one ever returned our calls. I finally started emailing them and was in contact with Caitlyn Pruitsma (who SURPRISE, SURPRISE is now [as of Sept 09] no longer with the company) who continuously told us that the person who was working previously working on our case is no longer with the company and gave us a new contact and promised a follow-up from them. Ethan Coronado was our 1st contact, super nice and very convincing. Then it was Shellie Lockard, then Elina Kolchanova, then Peggy Lytle, then Daniel Velasquez, then Dekeita Jerricks. They would try to convince us everytime that there was nothing to worry about and that they all work together as a team. They continually tell us that they are looking out for our best interests and if they can’t help with a modification they have no problem what-s0-ever to REFUND our money. They could never give us any info on where they were in the process, but that they were waiting for the lender to contact them. We finally contacted our mortgage company to find out that LOAN MEDIATE only contacted them once in 3 months. We finally received a phone call from Daniel Valesquez after 5 months, stating that we didn’t qualify for a modification at that time. Per their contract they will unconditionally refund your money if they can’t get a modification for you within 30days…well it’s been 7 months and we’ve asked for a REFUND a million times since and they continue to say they are still looking into a program that will work for us. I contacted our mortgage company a couple of days ago just to find out that Loan Mediate hasn’t contacted them since MAY!!! We contacted our lawyer and he said to request a refund per him and if they don’t comply he will be contacting them. I emailed Dekeita and she replied with: “Well I will forward this to the accounting dept also we have 15 business days to return your money…Thank you and have a great day…” UM, our day won’t be great until our money is REFUNDED!!!! DO NOT USE THEM, they may be of help to a small percentage of people, but all the complaints that are now popping up on the internet about them say basically the same as what I’ve mentioned above.
Moe, regarding Sam Mata saying he is the assistant to an attorney, I looked him up and he is neither licensed as a legal assistant nor a paralegal in California so I imagine that he has no clue as to what it takes to be an assistant to an attorney as he isn’t even wise enough to understand that if you are going to (mis) represent that you are “an assistant to an attorney” the law is clear, YOU NEED TO BE LICENSED. Just like the rest of these thieves & pirates, he simply joined up with some legal hack who couldn’t survive in his chosen field of law and is now praying on unsuspecting homeowners. Sam, you are a fraud and the fact that you aren’t intelligent enough to know that written alleged inflammatory statements are called “libel” and verbal statements “slander”, proves that you have no business “assisting” anyone with regards to the law or home loan mods or anything else that requires an ounce of research and/or intelligence. One check of the web shows that one of the “managers” (Brandon Hintz) at the company you work for received a desist and refrain order from the California DRE yet he is still in the industry. Apparently he didn’t get the message so if the title of this thread doesn’t hit home, tell him to enjoy his stay in his prison issued orange jumpsuit. Stop stealing from people you crook and if you aren’t gonna do that, stop acting like you are legitimate and posting to blogsites when you have no idea that there is relatively zero law governing the web.
I guess Sam Matas’ post goes to show how up John Sargetis and the United Law Center are on the law.
Inregards to Loan Mediate and SLS #36. Dont trust loan mediate. I have been drug along for 1 year now, turned down 3 times for a modification, told by loan mediate if they cant get anything done they will refund my money. Guess what all the names used by others are the same as I dealt with. Always getting “promoted” and being passed to someone else. I have been passed to 6 people in 1 year. They got my $3000 , I have gotten nothing. I was again turned down a week ago for the last modifcation and asked Loan mediate for my refund, they will not respond.I will be filing a complaint with attorney general office soon if the $ dont get to me.They are a scam.
We were scammed out of $2,995.00 from NFS/ InstaModify Company out of Irvine, CA. They are moving continueously from place to place. The last address was 1711 Langley Avenue in Irvine, CA., 92614-5679.
Back in 2008 I paid Newleaf modification $4000 they promise me that they going try their best to lower my mortgage I told them my problem due to my devorce that I no longer afford my morgage.They told me the process time is 30 to 60 day after those day pass nothing happen and they told me I have to wait for 90 to 120 day after that day pass nothing happen. When ever I call them to find out what going on all they told me is they still work on my file. On 8/11/09 I went to there office and find out their office have close down they didnt contact me they just took my hard earn money and left. Later I find out they move to Portland Oregon change the company name to Fresh Start I did talk to one of the owner that took my check from New Leaf he told me he had nothing to do with my money so right now I cant do nothing just hope somebody out there should put this people in jail. I dont no how this people could sleep at night ripping people hard earn money.
Sandy- 2008 really. What are you crying about. If you couldn’t afford your payment in 2008 I can probably assume that you can’t afford it now. Back in 2008 banks were giving away mods at 3% with principal reductions. Suck it up and call your bank. I know they have been calling you.