Be Proactive, Here's What I'm Doing, You Can Do It Too!

[Social Apocalypse]

Greetings worthy, respectable, ethical, decent, hopeful, hardworking, good American;

I have been through a lot, my family too, has suffered my intensive efforts to be heard in this unbelievable assault on our integrity and good faith that happened three years ago with a our mortgage broker. Many of you are in the same position.

Right beside you, I have read MANY posts, WRITTEN posts and focused on the what we can't do... we can't get through, we can't get a loan mod, we can't make our payments, we can't make it, we can't refinance, we can't get help, we can't get an attorney, we can't win. Ok, enough of that. Is it working for you? It's not working for me.

Let's focus on what we CAN do. (This forum is LOADED with great advice on what we CAN do.) It's much more productive to focus on that, and if you don't believe me, you need to review the "Serenity Prayer" If you don't know it, here is a link to it: Baker Hill Farm: Always Worth Another Look: The Serenity Prayer)

Never underestimate your ability to influence the person(s) who are causing you pain. You need to be smart, and think about how you can reach them that will get their attention. Use ethical, legal, and FAIR means to communicate to them what your message is, and always be the one who is playing fair. This will be very useful on the glorious day when you are able to bring them in front of jugement. Let it be THEM who has dirt on their hands, not YOU.

Never slander, never lose your composure, never let sheer emotion dictate your actions. THINK. One thing I do know about this great nation is that justice is STILL the ultimate desired outcome of any adversarial proceeding, it just has varying degrees of difficulty. Keep you eye on what's RIGHT, and let that be your guide. I am trying to keep that in front of EVERY decision I make, and it keeps my expectations of the outcome a little more realistic. Don't sabotage yourself by acting on impulse and anger. THEY don't, their attorneys don't, neither should you.

Make a plan, work the plan: "Hope" is not a strategy. Hope is something you should FEEL not DO. Hope is an emotion you should FEEL while you are working your PLAN. Nothing great was ever achieved just by making a wish.

Below, I am pasting a copy of a letter I just sent to the Better Business Bureau regarding my mortgage broker who sold me two extremely predatory loans three years ago. I filed a formal complaint against them as well (I encourage everyone to take this very important step, most companies still very much want to maintain a good rating on the BBB, even though many people forget about them these days: United States and Canada BBB Consumer and Business Reviews, Reports, Ratings, Complaints and Accredited Business Listings). Before you file a complaint though, make sure you KNOW what the exact complaint is, and how they can make it right, and that it is an equitable remedy. Being angry is not a complaint, it's what you felt after they violated you. Make sure your complaint is something the BBB can actually DO something with. In otherwords, ask for something that's actually possible and realistic and fair.

You can file formal complaints at appropriate agencies, you can write to congressmen, senators, blogs, etc. AGAIN: JUST THE FACTS. Do not engage in a smut campaign, or your credibility goes right down the drain with theirs. You must keep it business like and fair, if you expect to be treated that way by those who can help you.

Most important of all, gain as much information as you can about your situation, learn what your rights are and ARE NOT, and adjust your expectations. Don't fight a futile fight, fight a war you can win. In other words, pick your battles.

It's free to write an email to the bbb. I did, and I am going to keep on doing it. Here's what I wrote to them:

Greetings BBB;

I am writing to ask about the information I am reading online about one of the accredited business listed in your directory, and who displays prominently the BBB Reliability logo on their website. Many consumers, including ourselves, still rely on the ratings of the BBB as being worthy of consideration when choosing companies with whom they do business with. It has been, for decades, the GO TO resources to screen any obvious problems with a company and make them more readily available to the consumer in order that they may make better decisions. It is a fantastic system, where good business is rewarded, and bad business is not. But the usefulness of the BBB directory is limited by its accuracy. If a business suffers no consequences for bad business on the listing, then obviously there is great opportunity to quickly render the guide useless to consumers, and make the logo a worthless graphic on business websites, and certainly not one worth paying for.

I am a little disturbed by the lack of evidence in once company's accreditation regarding a very well-known government action against them. Does this mean that the reports are lacking in their content? The information in the government action is HIGHLY relevant, and in fact, is the exact nature of the complaint we have against them ourselves.

Just curious. It's serious stuff.
The company is Paramount Equity Mortgage in San Diego, and the government action can be found here: http://www.dfi.wa.gov/consumers/news/2008/paramount.htm

The nature of this complaint, and subsequent settlement are EXACTLY the kind of infomation that I wish I would have found access to on the BBB. Had I seen this, I would have been wary of doing business with this company, and if I did, I would have been alerted to be cautious with regard to these issues. In our case, and thousands of their former customers, it would have prevented catastrophic hardship.

Thank you for recieving my email, sent in the spirit of promoting good business, but preserving accountability. We continue to turn to the BBB for reliable information to protect us in business.

Regards;

[daglo]

I agree, as I did the same thing for two years.I just received a modification. My HUD representative told me that most people would've given up, not me. I had no choice but to fight for my home. This forum was a wealth of information and support for me. I realized I wasn't alone!!! I wrote to everyone, filed a complaint with the BBB, Office of Thrift Supervision,wrote to my elected officials, wrote to President Obama, enlisted a HUD rep. to help me, etc.
You have to be proactive and fight for yourself. Never give up!

[caldwellb02]

My original Mortgage was through Long Beach Mortgage. They continue to send me notices that they can give me a loan mod. (Of course I don't respond). I've looked them up on the BBB site, but it seems they may move around a bit in CA. One of their offices has an "F" rating, another a "B-," and they only list one complaint. TB - how did you find out about your company's complaint?

[Irish Gal]

Originally Posted by TB98629

Greetings worthy, respectable, ethical, decent, hopeful, hardworking, good American;

I have been through a lot, my family too, has suffered my intensive efforts to be heard in this unbelievable assault on our integrity and good faith that happened three years ago with a our mortgage broker. Many of you are in the same position.

Right beside you, I have read MANY posts, WRITTEN posts and focused on the what we can't do... we can't get through, we can't get a loan mod, we can't make our payments, we can't make it, we can't refinance, we can't get help, we can't get an attorney, we can't win. Ok, enough of that. Is it working for you? It's not working for me.

Let's focus on what we CAN do. (This forum is LOADED with great advice on what we CAN do.) It's much more productive to focus on that, and if you don't believe me, you need to review the "Serenity Prayer" If you don't know it, here is a link to it: Baker Hill Farm: Always Worth Another Look: The Serenity Prayer)

Never underestimate your ability to influence the person(s) who are causing you pain. You need to be smart, and think about how you can reach them that will get their attention. Use ethical, legal, and FAIR means to communicate to them what your message is, and always be the one who is playing fair. This will be very useful on the glorious day when you are able to bring them in front of jugement. Let it be THEM who has dirt on their hands, not YOU.

Never slander, never lose your composure, never let sheer emotion dictate your actions. THINK. One thing I do know about this great nation is that justice is STILL the ultimate desired outcome of any adversarial proceeding, it just has varying degrees of difficulty. Keep you eye on what's RIGHT, and let that be your guide. I am trying to keep that in front of EVERY decision I make, and it keeps my expectations of the outcome a little more realistic. Don't sabotage yourself by acting on impulse and anger. THEY don't, their attorneys don't, neither should you.

Make a plan, work the plan: "Hope" is not a strategy. Hope is something you should FEEL not DO. Hope is an emotion you should FEEL while you are working your PLAN. Nothing great was ever achieved just by making a wish.

Below, I am pasting a copy of a letter I just sent to the Better Business Bureau regarding my mortgage broker who sold me two extremely predatory loans three years ago. I filed a formal complaint against them as well (I encourage everyone to take this very important step, most companies still very much want to maintain a good rating on the BBB, even though many people forget about them these days: United States and Canada BBB Consumer and Business Reviews, Reports, Ratings, Complaints and Accredited Business Listings). Before you file a complaint though, make sure you KNOW what the exact complaint is, and how they can make it right, and that it is an equitable remedy. Being angry is not a complaint, it's what you felt after they violated you. Make sure your complaint is something the BBB can actually DO something with. In otherwords, ask for something that's actually possible and realistic and fair.

You can file formal complaints at appropriate agencies, you can write to congressmen, senators, blogs, etc. AGAIN: JUST THE FACTS. Do not engage in a smut campaign, or your credibility goes right down the drain with theirs. You must keep it business like and fair, if you expect to be treated that way by those who can help you.

Most important of all, gain as much information as you can about your situation, learn what your rights are and ARE NOT, and adjust your expectations. Don't fight a futile fight, fight a war you can win. In other words, pick your battles.

It's free to write an email to the bbb. I did, and I am going to keep on doing it. Here's what I wrote to them:

Greetings BBB;

I am writing to ask about the information I am reading online about one of the accredited business listed in your directory, and who displays prominently the BBB Reliability logo on their website. Many consumers, including ourselves, still rely on the ratings of the BBB as being worthy of consideration when choosing companies with whom they do business with. It has been, for decades, the GO TO resources to screen any obvious problems with a company and make them more readily available to the consumer in order that they may make better decisions. It is a fantastic system, where good business is rewarded, and bad business is not. But the usefulness of the BBB directory is limited by its accuracy. If a business suffers no consequences for bad business on the listing, then obviously there is great opportunity to quickly render the guide useless to consumers, and make the logo a worthless graphic on business websites, and certainly not one worth paying for.

I am a little disturbed by the lack of evidence in once company's accreditation regarding a very well-known government action against them. Does this mean that the reports are lacking in their content? The information in the government action is HIGHLY relevant, and in fact, is the exact nature of the complaint we have against them ourselves.

Just curious. It's serious stuff.
The company is Paramount Equity Mortgage in San Diego, and the government action can be found here: http://www.dfi.wa.gov/consumers/news/2008/paramount.htm

The nature of this complaint, and subsequent settlement are EXACTLY the kind of infomation that I wish I would have found access to on the BBB. Had I seen this, I would have been wary of doing business with this company, and if I did, I would have been alerted to be cautious with regard to these issues. In our case, and thousands of their former customers, it would have prevented catastrophic hardship.

Thank you for recieving my email, sent in the spirit of promoting good business, but preserving accountability. We continue to turn to the BBB for reliable information to protect us in business.

Regards;

Great comments, TB9! Great letter to BBB. I agree, it's wise to focus on what CAN be done (realistically) vs. what CAN'T be done. And, to take the high road. The venting process is important for people also, to get through all this stress. Just not productive to stay "stuck" there. Whether it's this issue, or some other issue! Have a glorious day!

[Matt Hurych]

My name is Matt Hurych and I work at Paramount Equity Mortgage. We saw your post and would like to resolve your situation. If you are open to this, please contact me directly at 916-746-8008. I also wanted to let you know that we have resolved the concerns expressed by the state of ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Washingtonlace>’s Department of Financial Institutions. When we first learned of their concerns, we immediately reached out to the lace w:st="on">Washingtonlace> regulators to try to understand their interpretation of the law and adjusted our practices to satisfy them. Paramount Equity Mortgage’s license has remained in good standing throughout the audit process. There is information confirming this resolution posted here: http://www.dfi.wa.gov/consumers/news/2008/paramount.htm. We take great pride in serving the needs of our customers and I’m hopeful that we’ll have an opportunity to discuss your situation with you.fficeffice" />>>

[Social Apocalypse]

Hello Matt;
Thank you for your invitation for me to contact you. It's admirable that you have invited my call and I think is indicative of at least an initial effort to rectify this situation by Paramount Equity Mortgage. Please expect my call today. To members of this wonderful forum: of course I will report the results here promptly and accurately. After all, that is what matters, as we all know, the end result.

[Social Apocalypse]

I called Mr. Hurych yesterday around lunch time and left him a voice mail message to return my call. I haven't heard back from him yet. If I do, I will post the results of the conversation.

[faith]

Originally Posted by TB98629

I called Mr. Hurych yesterday around lunch time and left him a voice mail message to return my call. I haven't heard back from him yet. If I do, I will post the results of the conversation.

TB9,
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So please be careful, stop, look, listen and proceed with caution.

Take care my friend and God be with you.

Blessings be yours always!

[Social Apocalypse]

Amen Sister Dear. I have skin like a crocodile! I have VERY little hope that anything positive will come from this (I have had many conversations with this company before with one of the owners, Matt Dawson, who also approached me with the same idea: "We want to resolve this issue." Wanting to resolve it and actually DOING it, appeared to be two different things).

BUT, I am always willing to listen. ALWAYS. I will listen to him, IF he calls back, and keep an open mind and always focus on fairness. I always do.

[Social Apocalypse]

Quick update: Mr. Hurych just called. He was very nice and expressed his sincere desire to resolve whatever issue I was having and wanted to let me know that he hadn't actually gotten his hands on my paperwork yet, but that he would and call me sometime tomorrow after deciding what they might be able to find or do. (He gave me the "we are committed to making sure our clients are happy... etc." speech)

I shared some information with him that he would find helpful in locating my paperwork (I was told that they destroyed all of our documents as a matter of routine after 18 months by a company co-owner, Matt Dawson back in May.)

So, I will repost when I hear back from him. Nothing to report yet. I predict that he will do what Matt did, and claim no wrong doing and that everything looks fine to him.

But, hope springs eternal. Regardless, I am continuing on my project of remediation with the federal and state agencies, because that is going very well, and they have no problem interpreting the law.

[Social Apocalypse]

Update:

Mr. Hurych and I spoke on the phone for about 20 minutes yesterday. During the conversation he shared his company's dedication to client satisfaction again and then began to ask me questions about the specifics of my complaint. I shared with him my specifics and told him what it was that we were trying to accomplish (get a 30 year fixed conventional mortgage, which is what we were after when we first contacted his company three years ago).

I made an effort to communicate to him at least a portion of the frustration and agony our family has suffered, not to mention our complete financial collapse, and that I am not just searching for a quick deal to make life easier. WE ARE ANGRY, WE WERE STOLEN FROM, AND WE ARE GOING TO PURSUE REMEDY. Not revenge, just what we should have gotten in the first place. To tell you the truth, I am more angry at myself than I could ever be at them. How could I have been so stupid?

He offered some suggestions of some minor financial help he could lend on helping us (very small, like $5,000) and said that his company, though they advertise that they make loans and that they are lenders, they still must underwrite the loans for Fannie and Freddie because they always immediately sell the mortgages before the ink is dry. He said they are very cash-poor as far as making mortgages themselves, and that it would affect their ability to make payroll. (I am just repeating what he told me)

He said that with a low fico score (which we are now the proud parents of because of all of this) he was unable to refinance our mortgage even though I myself had already secured tentative agreement from BOTH of my mortgage companies to write down the principle enough to make the house appraise. Paramount Equity Mortgage would literally not SPEND any money on the solution I suggested to them, the only difference between OUR refi and one that they spend money advertising on to get people to walk through their door is that they would have to accomodate late payments on our existing mortgages.

He encouraged me to ask my mortgage companies to modify my loans and help out.
{{{{LAUGH, oh they'll get right on that}}}} and that I should "keep him posted" on how that goes. I told him that the fact that I had been successful in convincing them to take a reduced payoff on both mortgages was an immense victory, they just don't do that very often, and that really, I had done a LOT. I actually thought that them writing us a conventional mortgage (WHICH we easily qualify for EXCEPT for the late payments) would be an EASY remedy to the horrific loans they wrote for us. They would even PROFIT from selling them, or collecting interest. But no, he wasn't at all impressed by my hard work.

He reminded me that they are a good, caring, NON-predatory company (he actually said this) and that the DFI settlement was due to them having to get used to Washington's laws and how they interpret them. Oh REALLY?

Paramount Equity Mortgage practiced standard, documented predatory lending behavior, and as stated in the Statement of Charges, dated September 5th, 2008, and I QUOTE:

"Factual Allegations:
False, Deceptive, and Misleading Advertising
Deceptive Fee Disclosures
Collection of Unearned Fees
False Discount Points
Improper Disclosures
Unlicensed Activity"

(the above are only titles of sections, wherein they elaborate and detail specific violations in specific instances).

I, and most other people in the nation, and certainly the thousands who read this forum, will label behavior like that "predatory lending". The fact that they settled with DFI, doesn't mean that they didn't DO these things, it means that they promised to STOP doing it, and to pay restitution to those whom they had done it to.

But they had already done it to me.

They did it, many times, to many borrowers, and I am going to post up my documents for you all to look at. You don't have to take MY word for it. It's quite clear, a THIRD GRADER can see what they were up to.

My Good Faith Estimates, Hud1's and predisclosures for the loans I got? I got them two days AFTER we closed on the loans in the mail. I have the postmarked envelope along with the documents. That's a little shady, don't you think?

OH, and I am pleased to report that the BBB has in fact updated their listing of Paramount Equity Mortgage after I contacted them about it, and now under government actions, they cite the recent Washington State actions and direct people to it. EXCELLENT. I am still talking with the Office of Thrift Supervision. Great folks over there, and they called me to have me REFAX a document because they couldn't read the first two lines of it. That's what I like to hear.

I'll keep you posted as to developments.

[Social Apocalypse]

Update: I have made considerable progress on my goal of resolution on my predatory loans brokered by Paramount Equity Mortgage in Roseville, California.

I have been very fortunate to have discovered a very large group who are currently preparing class actions against my broker (I knew that they were very busy over the last three years taking huge fees from borrowers AND from lenders). It will be a great relief to me to not be handling this on my own any longer. I knew that there countless others who were deceived by Paramount Equity Mortgage, and now I have the satisfaction of knowing that at least some of us will be collectively working to bring things right. We have the added support of previous charges filed against them by the State of Washington to lend credence to our claims (which are identical in most aspects)

I was also very gratified to know that my pristine collection of documents and notes from our transaction (including postmarked envelopes containing our PRE-disclosures that we received AFTER our loans closed!!) will be of use in the suit. I thought that they might be.

Everyone: Gather your documents. Take good care of them. SEEK HELP, and never give up if someone has stolen from you. It's hard to get seen in the masses, but when the masses group together, it's much easier. There is a lot of that starting to happen on this forum, and it's great. Keep it up.

Thanks Moe for keeping us all together, and focused on what matters most, thanks to those who have contacted me after reading my posts about Paramount Equity Mortgage and bringing me GREAT advice and knowledge, or I might have never known about the resources I have available to me. I'll continue to share my knowledge of the violations I personally have suffered from Paramount Equity Mortgage, but I won't be able to share much about the class action until it's over, obviously.

[bloominga]

You mean this guy that 'appears' to be a 'Paramount' of American business ??!!! What a joke all this is becoming !! Thanks for reassuring all of that we are proceeding on the right path......all because of Moe!!!!

Hayes Barnard, Owner of Paramount Equity Mortgage wins Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Paramount Equity Mortgage wins the Oregon Association of Broadcasters 2008 Stars of Broadcast Award

Paramount Equity Mortgage Hosts a Spring Event at Shriners Hospital for Children

"Moe voted as the "Man of the Year" by members of Loansafe.org!!

[Social Apocalypse]

Yes, they are quite the wonderful company... they also have an excellent PR team that tries to keep the good news prominent. They need it.

[Social Apocalypse]

Completed my complaint with the Washington State Attorney General's Office against Paramount Equity Mortgage today and helping a few friends do the same. These guys were reallllly busy from 2004-2007 writing predatory mortgages in several states, judging by the amount of response I am getting from others who got mortgages from them. We were happy to learn that besides the usual violations that the State of Washington found them guilty of, there are other, criminal acts that completely override the statutes of limitations on certain violations. Apparently it's one thing to have TILA and RESPA violations, but there are some things that they may have done that will fall under criminal acts which could even involve prison time, they are that serious. Wow. I never knew it was this involved, but when you get this many people presenting their loan documents, it paints a pretty clear picture when you have a team of legal experts looking at them that know what to look for.

Can't stress enough how glad I am that I have help on this. It's saved my sanity.

If you have a mortgage originated by these guys in last few years, I urge you to seek advice on whether you have these very serious violations existing in your documents. You can contact me if you are in Washington State if you want the contact information for the group I am working with, perhaps there are others. Don't let them ruin your life... at least not without a fight.