Mortgage Mortgage

You may have heard of predatory lending or predatory buyers but I'm sure after this you will stop and listen when you here it on the news or in a casual conversation.

To illustrate we will retell a true story of a recent client we helped out of what would have been a terrible situation, a situation that many don't escape and lose thousands and some lose their house, credit savings; everything. While the lender and buyers laugh all the way to the bank.

This is the true story of  Mr. Thomas, an older gentleman who owned a property with his wife and their young son. They had some hard knocks and medical bills but always paid their debts while on a fixed income and maintained a credit score of 630 which isnt excellent but pretty good.  Although they were never late on their home they were a couple times late on some small bills recently because of the extraenous bills that popped out of nowhere so their credit score went down around the low 600's.

They suddenly got struck with these unexpected bills for their son that they couldn't cover and the only way they could get out of it was to borrow against their home or sell it.

They went to Captial Financial Resources Inc., at their branch in Glendale, CA. and were told they could be helped. They took his information and told him no problem, we'll get you your money in two weeks. Mr. Thomas was relieved. They are going to save us from our credit getting ruined and will help us keep our home.

However, after a month goes by we checked back with him and he still didn't have his money. every week they come back with excuse after excuse. We still don't know what we are getting, what we are paying and when they are going to pay us. The are on a fixed income and because the lender is delaying things so much they are further behind on their bills which has affected their credit. We finally got an estimate and we are paying close to $13,000 in fees to borrow $20,000, he said, by straggling the deal and having our credit scores get worse, they have us because we have no other place to go and have to pay through the nose.

After we investigated into this company we found they have a what the industry calls a predatory lender. Common buysiness practices of predatory lenders incldue but are not limited to

Not immediately sending an estimate of fees and rates, also known as a Good Faith Estimate .
Charging bogus fees and telling you they are mandatory.
Telling you that prepayments are mandatory when in fact they not (it just makes them more money).
Fabricating information to the lender as if its you in order to get you to qualify for other programs and pocketing the profit.

We contacted Capital Financial Resources and talked to someone who claimed to be the owner named Gustavo(wouldnt give his last name). We got the run around by Gustavo as he preceded to try to explain why there was an explanation for everything that went on. Once we told him who we were, we were knowledgeable in real estate (he thought we were a relative) and we asked for his last name he wouldn't tell us and told us to call his lawyer. Upon checking their license with the department of real estate we found  a host of problems that they were being investigated by the state on charges just like this and more.

We had no idea, Mr. Thomas said, they were referred and once they started on us we were at their mercy and had to pay in order to save our house and credit. Its amazing they aren't in jail.

But their story doesnt end there. They learned the rule YOU MUST beware of home buying predators.

While he is going through this he is trying to save his family by trying to sell his home on his own. He lists on websites bu tnot he MLS and has a sign out in his front yard and gets a pretty good response. However, he experienced a two person team of what we call predators. They prey on your inexperience as a self seller and try to get you to take a lower price. Here is one example (more are here as they come to us)

While the sellers of the abovementioned was showing his Sun City home, they get a call from a Mr. William Bill Strom from Ga.and says he is looking for something for himself because he is moving back to california and offers $170K over the phone and says he will be in town soon to look at it. However, a man (Mr. D Peruch of Sun City) shows up the next day to look at it saying he is looking on behalf of  a friend.(Mr. William Bill Strom of Georgia).

In the midst of this we call the list of people the seller has shown the home to and because the seller is a family friend we called the list of people that looked at his house to see if his perspective was getting in the way.

When we got to talking  with Mr. William Bill Strom he seemed sincere and forthright. I have no problem paying a fair price he said. Im a fair person and am looking for a fair deal. He said he would be out in 10 or so days (where he told the seller he would be out in 3 days)

Furthermore, after I got him to admit that he indeed offered $170K I told him that he was close to a deal. I explanied the cheapest house in the area is $157K and THAT property was a 2 br and half the square feet. I also told him an appraisal was almost done and it will come in around $185k and with that he reconfirmed if its what you say I have no problem paying whats fair and will pay cash and have it fund in 7 days.

Well the next day Mr. Peruch shows up again  at the sellers home to ask questions about why they were selling and what they owed on their property (see this report of whats relavent to answer when selling and what questions a predator will ask that you don't need to answer ) then after he leaves  Mr. Strom calls and gives them a NEW offer of $145K, EXACTLY what Dan Peruch found out the sellers owed., MUCH lower than the $170k offer he first made and 35K lower than what it sold for).

Needless to say they were temporarily crushed and if they had not had an offer considerably higher right it would have slighted their spirit in pursuing a better offer, which is exactly what they were hoping.

Once we exposed them Mr. D Peruch went back to the sellers home to threaten bodily harm to us when we brought their tatics to light and found the sellers the salesprice they should have gotten if Mr. Strom's words were genuine.

Most realtors can sniff out these types and shelter you from the highs and lows of these deceptive practices.

We stepped in on both instances and got them the home loan they needed at a fraction of the price , created a better flyer which ultimately sold the house for them for more than they thought they would get.

We are using this company and these people as examples and by no means are the only out there doing these things.

There are hundreds of thousands of these predators out there. If YOU run into one you can file a complaint with authorities or contact us for help to get out of it.

If your loan has closed but feel taken advantage of Contact US and we will include you in any possible litigation that might be being prepared against the lender you dealt with.