I've been wondering when complaints about Peoples First Financial in San Diego would start showing up. Please don't fall prey to their endless phone calls to help you. You will regret it, 100%.
We held them off for months — there was no hurry or reason to do the mod, except we couldn't refinance our upside down house, and my husband's overtime got cut, meaning a huge reduction in our monthly income. We foresaw problems down the line. Finally, after meeting with them at their office, we agreed to do it — but only after requiring them to write us a "money back" guarantee if the mortgage company didn't agree to the mod (we were not late on payments, only taxes, so it was a long shot.) As another person has said, they even suggested "off the record" that we stop paying on our second, because it was "held up by air" (we're $150,000 upside down). But we didn't want to hurt our credit that much. We just want a lower interest rate, that's it. They also discussed getting the mortgage company to reduce our balance — which would be nice — but not absolutely necessary. (We'll take our lumps if we have to.)
I sent them the initial paperwork — contract, credit card payment page, basic info on us — but still had to send a lot of the financial backup. To my surprise, they the $3500 fee overnight, before they even had our entire package. This seemed highly irregular to me (I've worked with financial companies before and they usually like to have everything in hand, before charging.)
At first I thought maybe it was just a "run-through" to get the amount approved for when they submitted it formally later — like hotels and rental companies do, deposits, etc. But nope, it went through. I complained but was given some excuse — I don't remember what. About three weeks later, an account person I'd never heard of emails me about needing the rest of the financial info (I had to cull it from records). As always, the timing is urgent — I must send it now so that the loan mod will happen more quickly. (They are always urgent at the beginning, afterwards, you never hear from them.)
I sent them to her in an email attachment — then silence. And more silence. I tried calling her, our original salesperson/account person, Guy Durant, and even the Loan Mod specialist on the account, Corinne. (We had met both when we went to their office to discuss the mod.) NEITHER returned my calls.
My husband and I had to move, so once we got settled, I called their offices again. Guy and the administrative assistant had BOTH left, and were replace by someone else. We had a long talk, and by the end he was talking like he had called ME to update the account. I guess he was in the midst of that, but it was definitely me that had tracked him down — I have my notes.
He said he needed paystubs from me because nothing could be done without them. I thought they had lost the original paystubs I gave them and was upset. Turns out the mortgage company wanted more recent paystubs (no doubt because of all their foot dragging). I was also upset that after our phone call he'd written me an email insisting that it was up to me to do MY "due diligence" and get this to them asap because further delays would delay the whole process. I was ballistic (and I'm usually pretty nice...) ME the delay??? ARGGG. But I sent him the paystubs as scan attachments and asked him to please, ABSOLUTELY, let me know he'd received them alright and they'd been sent.
He never did and I never received answers to my emails or calls. A month later, I am talking to my (terrible) mortgage company, and they say they can't do anything without the paystubs. I tell them People's First was supposed to have sent them a month before. They don't have any record of that (whether that's the fault of the mortgage company or People's First, I can't say.) But my take was that Peoples First had dropped the ball again. The former person I talked to is no longer there — and I was given a new name at that line, but she hasn't answered either. Maybe she's already left. (I don't blame them, by the way, what an awful job, dealing with justifiably irate customers.)
The company is at worst a scam, at best, completely mismanaged and incompetent. The employee turnover is rapid, meaning you have no one seeing your file through the process and they never return emails and phone calls, so you don't know what's happening. (The only answer you're likely to get is "it can take several months, all we can do it wait." That may be true, but my understanding of someone taking care of a financial process is that they keep abreast of the file's progress.) We have moved to a different state, so I can't just march in there. (But it might be worth the airfare.)
Although we have the "money back" letter, I know I'm going to have a time getting our money back, particularly when no one responds and the file keeping seems so haphazard. And "technically" the mortgage company hasn't refused us yet. (I think they will refuse us, since we are struggling but not behind. Why should they do a mod for us when we're already paying — for now.) But if Peoples First doesn't keep up its end of the bargain, then the process never has an end, we never get an answer, and they don't have to give back their money.
Significantly, most Peoples First Financial clients don't get the "money back" letter that we got because, as they said, they "can't promise" the mortgage company will agree to the mod.
Anyone reading this should understand that Peoples First Financial accepts your fee but actually, in the contract itself, offers NO guarantee or compensation if they can't get the loan mod for you. All they actually guarantee in writing is to "make suggestions" as to how to proceed (it doesn't even say they will negotiate or work with the lenders as your agent, although they say that verbally to you.) If I'd known that they CAN'T do their job, on a regular basis, I never, ever would have agreed to this. You can DEFINITELY do the loan mod process better yourself than they can. Trust me.
If someone took $3500 out of my wallet (plus interest), I'd call the police. I feel that's what these folks have done. If there are any others out there frustrated and angry about the rip-off, it would be nice to know.
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