ACA was recommended to me blindly for a commercial loan. I was unfamiliar with the process, and so I thought using a loan broker would be a great idea. I called Doug Diana at ACA, Inc. And he decided he 'would' help me, I suppose out of the goodness of his heart. I wish I had hung up the phone, and in hindsight feel like an idiot for not.
He said, based on my financials, that he could secure a loan for me, usually within 45 days. Sometimes less, sometimes more. His quote, which I could tell he used a lot, was "I can can get this approved only as fast as you can get everything to me." At the time I wasn't in any hurry, but it sounded easy and great from what he described. Yeah...
Red Flag #1: He said his fee would be 2% of the project cost. Not the loan amount. I told him that was insane, since if I needed only $200k on a $1MM project, the work he did wouldn't be securing the $1MM, among other reasons I thought that was ridiculous. He reluctantly agreed to just charge 2% of the asked loan amount, or $3200, which he wanted up front. Having never done this before, and him being a con-artist, I obliged. Foolish!
Red Flag #2: I paid him up front. The $ was then in his pocket, and that was it-his work was done. There was no "contract" to speak of, other than some flimsy papers that protected him, and vaguely outlined what he was supposed to do.in the case he couldn't secure the loan, he'd refund the $, minus $1000 for all of his hard work. (detect sarcasm). But he assured me he'd find someone to approve my request.
I won't go into extreme details, as it's liable to give me a heart attack to rehash what I had to endure with him. However, the next 9 months were Hell.
He wouldn't return calls, was never in the office, had no information to give me, would tell me we were close, that we just needed one more thing, etc... And nothing ever materialized.
Red Flag #3: He never asked for obviously needed paperwork from me until months down the line. He never asked for pro formas, never asked for tons of things that any banker was going to want to see to loan $5, much less the amount I was seeking.
Red Flag #4: The forms he sent to me to complete, so he could presumably create a loan request package to present to bankers was ripped off from a bank's website, with their letterhead deleted. VERY sloppy and actually pathetic.
Red Flag #5: He lied to the SBA about submitting my loan package. I went to an SBA office and had the head person call him. He asked Doug Diana point blank whether he had sent my package to the main office in my state, because it HAD to go there before they would approve it. Doug Diana said Yes. Nothing had ever been sent. This was months along.
Doug Diana blamed me for the eternal delays. I overnighted every single piece of material he asked for the same day or next day at latest when he requested it. This was insulting, a lie, and did nothing to help my growing frustration.
MONTHS passed, with nothing. I was beginning to become extremely worried, as I was moving along with my project, which ultimately depended upon getting this loan. Doug Diana buried my project and ignored me.
Red Flag #6: I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and assembled a loan package to present to a lender. It was first rate; I took it to the SBA and was even complemented on it by them. It took me one day to put together. I had asked Doug Diana's secretary to fax me what he supposedly was sending the banks on my behalf. It was a small pile of scrappy faxes that I had sent him and filled in myself, along with a few pages he had his secretary fill in the blanks.in a word, it was crap.incomplete crap, at that. The guy at the SBA laughed at it, which only made my resentment grow.
I finally just secured a loan myself, 9 months later, and coincidentally, around the same time Doug Diana informed me he had found a lender. I was at my wits end, and was severely stressed, frustrated, angry, worried, and just frazzled. I never could get in touch with Doug, and when I did, he'd once again blame me, as if I hadn't been participatory in the whole thing, which pissed me off even more. I had threatened legal action, and spreading the word about his horrendous "business" practices around others that may need his help. That was finally when he decided to do something, like I stated: 9 (NINE) months later. Unfortunately, it was too little, WAY too late. The whole thing was an expensive and draining nightmare.
I asked him for a refund, and even offered to allow him to keep $1000.00 for his troubles, which were none, which I considered EXTREMELY generous. He basically told me to go to Hell. Nice.
I filed a complaint with the BBB, which he BSed his way on a rebuttal, and is now listed as resolved, I think, however I assure, it is NOT. I have no satisfaction, never saw my $3200, nor any of the other expenses I incurred such as overnighting paperwork, again.
I learned from others afterwards that they also had a terrible experience with this guy and his company. This episode took place several years ago in so obviously I am still upset by this. I can only hope he is out of business or in jail.
Let my mistake of hiring this crook be a lesson in securing a loan. Get unbiased referrals. Do not pay up front; pay when the loan is secured to your satisfaction. Get EVERYthing in writing, and what happens if terms aren't met on both ends.
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