Jerry Johnson of Mortgage Planning and Lending Specialists (MPLS) brokered three loans for me from GreenPoint Mortgage. He represented to me the interest rate to be fixed at 3.25% for five years. He very explicitly told me and led me to believe that the rate will change only on after five years. Jerry Johnson closed these three loans in October.
Even before I made my first loan payment due on December 1, I received letters from GreenPoint Mortgage advising me that the interest rate would float on January 1 to 8.375%. My wife and I were extremely shocked! In my November 28 letter I informed Jerry how GreenPoint Mortgage was going to increase the interest rate and its effect on the monthly amortization. My monthly payments on the three loans would increase by almost $15,000. I had an option to keep paying the amounts based upon the interest rate of 3.25%; however, in this case, the principal amounts in the loans would increase every month by the $1,500 amount. He never responded to this letter.instead, Eric Sheldon of MPLS called me to help. He said Leo Scheif (?), one of the MPLS Partners, had asked him to call me. We continued our dialogue for a few weeks. Then there was no communication from Eric either.
In my December 12 letter I informed Jerry of my correspondence with Eric and an abrupt stoppage of communication from him. I did not receive any response.in my December 19 letter I informed Jerry of the damages caused to me by his misrepresentation. I informed him that I had computed a damage of $83,837.26 compared to the interest rate represented by him to me. I had computed a damage of $43,549.88, because of the interest misrepresentation, compared to the previous mortgages I had refinanced through him. He did not respond to this letter either.
I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. MPLS rebutted my complaints. I submitted a rebuttal to the BBB.in my February 15 letter I informed Jerry that he had not responded to the rebuttal I had submitted to the Better Business Bureau. I did not hear from him. However, I received a call from Leo who promised to resurrect MPLS' offer of help. Eric Sheldon then called and offered to send me a Good Faith Estimate to refinance the three loans. His February 20 Good faith Estimate would have required me to bring almost $29,000 in cash for closing including almost $15,000 in pre-payment penalties. This was no real help! I wrote to Eric regarding this on February 23.
Eric sent me another, supposedly a better, Good Faith estimate on February 27. This offer required me to increase my loan amount by $8,250 and, additionally, required me to bring almost $16,000 in cash for closing. Thus I was exposed to a total cost of about 24,250. This was no real help either! I wrote to Eric about this on March 1. Eric called me back and promised me to send another offer within a few days. I have not seen anything from him to this date. I called him twice regarding this issue and left messages. He did not return my calls either.
I sent another letter to Jerry Johnson on February 15 regarding the whole chain of communications and a lack of real help. Apparently he has decided not to respond and, hopefully, let the issue die.
I am convinced that MPLS guys are rip-off experts. I almost feel like the mortgage company and MPLS were complicit in devising the fraudulent scheme. These guys need to be invesigated by the FBI and/or other State and Federal law enforcement agencies.
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