- Report: #691397
Complaint Review: American Residential Law Group - Fort Lauderdale Florida
Reported By:
Mac -
Plainfield, Illinois, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
American Residential Law Group
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
http://www.arlgnow.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
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American Residential Law Group Brian Brown, Frances Jagroop, Faye Baxter SCAM!!! Home Wreckers! Fort Lauderdale, Florida
In October of 2010 we needed a home modification on our loan. Due to the housing market our home value decreased and we were unable to refinance. We tried a modification on our own and failed. We were NOT behind at the time on our mortgage. Unfortunately, I found the website for ARLG, and my story is the same as everyone's ones on this page. I found ARLG's articles all over the Internet. At the time they had an A+ rating and there were several articles written by them. I researched complaints on different sites but there was only one that had complained. I contacted them to see if they could help. They responded that they could help us and said their success rate is so high because they only take the consumers they can help.They were very convincing. (They told me not to pay mortgage, save money, it will not effect credit, or anything.)Therefore, I sent them various financial information containing all our numbers to bank accounts, Soc.security numbers, etc. Not to mention I paid them the 2050.00 required to proceed. I became worried that after they received our money, communications became almost non-existent. I have kept complete and detailed records of e-mails and phone calls through my phone and e-mail services, including all paperwork I sent and the contract I signed. I would never hear from them unless I called or emailed constantly. Then after one of my check in emails in December 2010, I received an email stating that due to the FTC mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule effective January 31, 2011 that they are no longer permitted to service our home loan modification in the state of Illinois. Consequently they say they can no longer service loans outside of the State of Florida. They said a "team of people" are working on submitting our file for review for modification with my lender.They did refer an affiliate - The Law Offices of William O'Toole, Esquire to service our file while in review. ARLG claims Mr. O'toole's offices service clients nationwide, yet his address is Boca Raton Florida. The address that this William O'Toole provides is NOT accurate, they won't give you their email address, and anytime you question them they put you on speaker phone and disconnect if they don't want to answer the questions. Now, I am in default on loans and in a terrible situation. I had to hire my own attorney to help get me out of this mess. Now I have lost the $2050 I paid to ARLG, and will have to pay to get me out of the mess...hopefully it's still possible. Names involved are: Joel Jacobi Lawyer/Owner - Manager Faye Baxter - manger, and Brian Brown the liar who "sold the pack of lies". ARLG no longer exists as because of "Ill gotten gains", and I am pursuing a class action suit once I get my home situation straightened out. For those of you affected by this company...were you successful and saving your home? Any tips are appreciated.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Kristal
Illinois,United States of America
Same Situation
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, March 14, 2011
I'm going through the same situation. I was behind in my mortgage, and trying to catch up in payments in 2010. My bank started to return my payments, and I then became 4 months behind because they would no longer accept payments. My bank said they could not do a loan modification, so that is when I started searching the net on other options. I found ARLG, and there were nothing but good reviews about them. I talked to a guy there by the name of Jon Long, and after a few days he said that he had good news for me. He told me that they could get my past payments rolled back into my loan, and I would be current. He said that the mod would take some time, and throughout the entire process they would be requesting financial information each month, which they did. I paid them $1650.00 in a retainer fee to start the process. I had to send them paystubs, bank statements, and a current utility bill each month. When October rolled around I stopped hearing from them. I didn't get requests for current financials anymore, nothing. I contact them via email, phone, and got nothing. I then received the same notice as you saying they could no longer practice outside of FL, and that all of their cases outside of FL would be handled by William O'Toole. The number I have for his law offices no one ever answers and then it goes to a voicemail box that is full. There is another phone number on their website for the law offices, however, they say they have nothing to do with the cases, and they have no idea as to why ARLG put their phone number on their website.
I am now very far behind in payments, because I was told during the mod process I would not have to make payments, and I do no know what to do. I called my local HUD offices who takes reports of law offices who are guilty of doing this sort of thing, and reported them. BBB said they cannot do anything with the case, and gave me a number to the FL attorney general and said I would need to report this to them. If you hear anything else, please let me know because we are now in the same predicament.
