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2010-03-24 — ml-implode.com
``In my mind, the advance fee agreement was always a manifestly stupid response by a state regulatory agency who clearly hadn’t the foggiest idea what was going on as related to loan modifications, nor any idea what to do about regulating the emerging industry in order to protect consumers from unscrupulous operators. I mean, either you’re a scam or you aren’t. If you are, then you shouldn’t be allowed to steal only some money… you should be closed down. And if you’re not a scam, then the government has no business regulating how a company is allowed to charge for its services.''
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Comments:
mortgagemess at 06:13 2010-03-25 said:
Green Credit BECAME a scam when they didn't return the money they took to help homeowners save their home. A third should have been a fee and the rest put into a escrow account. Scam artists steal what they don't earn! PermalinkDo_the_math at 11:31 2010-03-25 said:
Martin, you've once again shown how unqualified you are to comment on the modification issue. First off, the California Department of Real Estate did not just suddenly start requiring advance fee agreements in October 2008, approval of advance fee agreements for real estate licensees has been required under the California Business and Professions code for quite some time. The DRE came out with the model advance fee agreement in 2008 as a guideline to assist licenses in understanding the requirements for advance fee agreements under California law and the regulations of the CA DRE Commissioner. There is a reason why advance fee agreements and trust accounts are necessary, and I've tried to explain it to you before to no avail. In Mandelmanland, it may be perfectly acceptable to collect fees in advance and pay referral fees from the borrower's funds (that are supposed to be held in trust and not disbursed until the fees are earned), but in Fiduciaryland, it is a really big no-no. An advance fee agreement allows for the collection and retention of the fees in trust funds until the services have been performed- not to pay referral fees, operation costs, or co-mingle with other funds. Green Credit refused to provide an accounting of trust funds to borrowers or provide refunds long before the CA Bar stepped in. There is a big reason why the CA DRE and CA Bar took action, and frankly, you don't have enough knowledge to even begin to question DRE regulations or enforcement actions. The reality is that Curt et al knew they were violating CA laws, and decided not to comply because it conflicted with the business model. I, too, toured the facilities, spoke to employees, saw the modification files, asked Curt about the business model, and reviewed correspondence with the DRE regarding their advance fee agreement. But, unlike you, I am actually a licensed Real Estate Broker going on 23 years experience, and actually understand fiduciary duty and compliance. At the end of the day, I couldn't justify a flagrantly non-compliant business model. GCS started the business long before HAMP, and the fact that the modification business is difficult isn't an excuse for non-performance or failure to provide refunds or trust fund accounting. As to the number of successful mods, I call BS. I simply don't believe you because I have dealt with too many complaints and discovered first hand that GCS (or Getmycreditgrade.com) would not issue refunds or provide accounting of trust funds. The company held themselves out as a law firm when they were not a law firm. They used brokers and paid referral fees (or paid leads as Randall called it). This is highly illegal under CA laws and DRE Commissioner regulations. Now, rather than man up to the mistake you made, you attack Moe. Let's get this straight- Moe may be many things, but one thing he does exceptionally is call out people for BS. No doubt you didn't like what he had to say, and no doubt you were subjected to a certain degree of well-deserved criticism. Moe was not shut down by a regulatory agency like GCS, and he did not close and reopen under a new name. He did not practice law without a license nor did he hold himself out as a law firm. From what I can tell, Moe saw the writing on the wall and closed his shop that provided services to attorneys to concentrate on his website that does actually help people for free. He does receive revenues for ads, and his website makes a clear disclosure of such. Rather than answer Moe's very clearly articulated concerns, you once again resort to character attacks. Please be advised that I have also written a number of posts and comments about you, and have shared information with Moe and Erin Baldwin (who is also not afraid to call a scam a scam). Even now, you still refuse to man up about your mistake, and your gratuitous article reads more like a personal tantrum than the truth that many of your readers have likely been waiting for. The specific reason why I have no respect for you is because you KNEW the company closed and reopened after the CA DRE Desist and Refrain article, yet refused to alert the public. Why would you not have the common courtesy to alert the public? And now you have the cojones to blame regulators for having the gumption to actually enforce laws which GCS and their team of attorneys were well aware. Shame on you Andelman. And shame on ML Implode. Randall, at least, is telling the truth and Randall had his finger deep in the GCS pie. Permalinkrocketrob at 11:30 2010-03-27 said:
Martin, In the last 7 years, most all Americans, including myself, have been suckered in one way or another. I was suckered by WAMU. Maybe regarding GC, you can admit that you were a sucker too. It's ok to be human. Permalinkadd a comment | go to forum thread
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