Hello all, I'm new. I'm a 22 year old daughter posting mostly on behalf of my parents and out of concern for what they got themselves into. I believe my parents got themselves scammed by some group (?) of people who promised to modify their mortgage. I just learned most of these details today which raised some red flags for me. Also, this takes place in SF Bay Area, California.
My mom answered an ad that was in the Pennysaver about loan modification, the company was USMAC Financial Services and the person who helped was John Rapp (ph # 1-800-485-8055 x5034).
They made my parents sign a contract and pay $3,500 (by credit card) up front to John Rapp I believe. They assigned a lawyer named Christian M. Dillon to our case, and some documents we received from his office were very unprofessional and had no signature of his on any of them. Also, one of the documents were supposed to be signed by his case managers named Melissa Holland and Lori Fitch, but it's a fake cursive computer font.
John Rapp also instructed my parents to be delinquent on their mortgage for 2 months, and one of the people in Dillon's office denied anyone ever saying that. It's going onto the 3rd month now, and someone from the Dillon office now instructed my parents to pay $1000 for the mortgage (which probably isn't possible since the mortgage company wants the full sum due, our monthly mortgage is around $2800). These suggestions seem very shady to me, and I could foresee losing the house if they'll lead us on like that and do nothing about it.
Some other details are that the Dillon office was instructed by my parents to call their cell phones if they want to contact them since they're almost never home during their hours due to work. However, they keep calling the wrong phone number and it seems like they're trying to avoid contact. And once my mom actually does manage to get in contact with them, they're mostly clueless. For example, she was told that another person had her file, so she had to call that person, then that person said another person had her file, etc.
When I heard of this today, I checked on the internet about this and found some writings by people that seem to indicate that this whole thing is a sham, and that this Christian M. Dillon lawyer seems to be involved in a lot of these companies. I checked on the BBB website on his company's rating and they weren't good, so I wonder if he keeps making new companies until their ratings get very bad or what.
Anyway, my parents are now treating this as a scam and are going to call the mortgage company tomorrow to find out if this lawyer's office even contacted them or anything. The problem with that though, is that the Dillon office warned that our mortgage company will deny having contact with them and try intimidating us which is believable, so it's sort of hard to know who to trust. I'm also contemplating whether or not a charge back for the $3500 will be possible if the contract is as unprofessional as the rest of the correspondence and has no real signature, but I won't know about that until tomorrow (Also I'm wondering if it is lawful for a person such as John Rapp to accept the upfront payment on behalf of the lawyer, since I don't see him on the DRE directory).
I'd appreciate any opinions or thoughts on this matter. I apologize if this is long and confusing too, it certainly is for me. Also, who should we trust about this and where can we report this if it is a scam? I mostly think we will need to consult a lawyer about this too, so if anyone knows someone who deals with this in the SF Bay area, California, that would be great. Thank you. Reason for Editing (Minimum 15 Characters)
Asked on 7:04 pm Jan 18th 2009
Anonymous
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I'm a former employee and I heard that Scott and Linda Gimbel have moved their business to Chicago. They live at 25 E. Superior St. Chicago, IL. 60611
Their new business number is 800-509-1064.
Linda Gimbel's number is 714-478-8966
Scott Gimbel's number is 714-478-5767
I'm ashamed of the things we told people to get them to pay us and I hope this helps.
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Answered on 12:03 pm Oct 10th 2011
Anonymous
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I JOINED THE LAW GROUP IN 09 AND HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED A MODIFICATION.I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THEM TO COURT FOR NON-SERVICE,BUT I HAVE BEEN TO BUSY TO DO SO. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THEY ARE STILL IN BUSINESS OR WHAT?? HOPE TO GET AN ANSWER, ASAP!! THANK YOU,JC 4;50 PM ON NOV. 16TH 2011
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Answered on 4:50 pm Nov 16th 2011
JAMES CHAPMAN
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I JOINED THE LAW GROUP IN 09 AND HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED A MODIFICATION.I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THEM TO COURT FOR NON-SERVICE,BUT I HAVE BEEN TO BUSY TO DO SO. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THEY ARE STILL IN BUSINESS OR WHAT?? HOPE TO GET AN ANSWER, ASAP!! THANK YOU,JC 4;50 PM ON NOV. 16TH 2011
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Answered on 4:51 pm Nov 16th 2011
JAMES CHAPMAN
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Do your homework...If a lawyer wants money upfront. He wants your money more than to take care of your case. If your lawyer isn't obsessed with knowing the laws and previous cases and how this can help your case, loop holes ect...run the other way.
OH and if you can't meet with the said lawyer RUN EVEN FASTER.
USMAC aka Christian Dillion...don't have a clue what they are doing...they want your money. We used them and they took our money Happily. They don't have a clue what the law provides you...modifications can be done by anyone...if its your bank (meaning they are the holder of the note...they made the mortgage deal with you.) You will get a mod answer fairly quickly...if your submitting paper work for over a year...THEY will never give you a MOD and they're buying time to foreclose on you and basically they will take your property illegally because your note doesn't even belong to them. SEARCH for a REAL lawyer WHO GETS IT. Don't do your modifications thru a lawfirm...they are just taking your money...you will have to provide them with all the numbers and paperwork anyway so do it yourself. If your mod doesn't happen and your served with foreclosure notice check out livinglies.wordpress.com and find a lawyer in there who gets it...and do it fast because you only have a short time to answer foreclosures. AND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T IGNORE THE FORECLOSURE...YOUR RIGHTS MAYBE ARE BEING HINDERED.
GOOD LUCK AND GOD HELP AND BLESS YOU
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Answered on 11:16 pm Dec 21st 2011
Diane been there, done that and now i'm suing USMAC FOR MALPRACTICE
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if anyone knows of any leads we can go to get our funds back or anyone taking these people to court let us know please its not right what they did to alot of innocent people. they preyed on desperate homeowners ! Reason for Editing (Minimum 15 Characters)
Answered on 9:38 pm Feb 9th 2012
Anonymous
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I just found out that Christian Dillon took my money and never contact my lender back in 2009. I lost my home, $3500.00, my wife respect and all my savings trying to save my home. I was totally brain wash by this people. I experienced the same misfortune that everyone else, I feel so @#%$^..
Reason for Editing (Minimum 15 Characters)
Answered about 8 hours ago
joe
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