The following is being posted as an open letter to W. Craig Kenney of Bowwowershelp.com
Craig,
I must say I am a bit disappointed in the lack of public response from you and Brian to the continued actions being posted every day on Rip-Off about Fairbanks. While I understand that you have come to a personal settlement with them, many of us have not and wish that you would take a stand either by saying publicly, that you are now in their employ and under an NDA as to current happenings or that you are now acting as a consultant and consumer ombudsman for them and wish to assist people with problems directly or provide them with information as how to help themselves. You can also, of course, say you got yours and you are done with it if that is your choice (which I doubt). You are well aware that I have been one of your greater supporters on RIP-OFF since you joined up with PMI but am finding it harder and harder to do so as the reopening of Borrowershelp.com has now been pushed back twice and there is still no public comment from you.
Continued postings in Rip-Off and my own personal experience last week with Fairbanks indicates that little if anything has actually changed. Confirmation of a dispute and IMMEDIATE posting of the dispute with CRAs is a Federal Requirement with which Fairbanks still does not comply. While changing the behavior of 2400 employees, most of whom appear to have a 3rd grade education, takes a bit of time, there are certain things that can change immediately. One of these is immediate follow up by someone who actually can do something about reported problems. Just think of what would happen if after calling in a dispute or writing one the phone were to ring the next day with
Mr. Smith, this is Ms. Jones with Fairbanks Capital (No debt collection warning here). I understand that you called/faxed/wrote yesterday about a dispute on loan # XXX. I am the person who will personally be dealing with this problem. Please explain to me in your own words what you think the problem is so I can understand it better.
Mr. Smith, please be advised that this may take us XX days to research and verify or correct our records.in the meantime we will report to all CRAs that the amount due/past due/etc. Is in dispute in accordance with FCPA regulations. All collection calls relating to this dispute will stop and no additional penalties or negative reports to CRA's against this account will be filed until such time as we have sorted things out.
Or how about.
Mr. Smith, this is Ms. Jones at Fairbanks Capital Corps foreclosure department. Your loan number XXX has been forwarded to us because our records indicate that you are XX months/dollars in arrears. Before we proceed with further action such as filing a Notice of Default that can effect your credit record for seven years do you dispute this information? Can you provide me with documentation as relates to this dispute? Very good Mr. Smith. I will hold everything in abeyance till next Wednesday while you copy and FAX/FEDEX the documents over to me and we have a chance to go over everything together on the phone.
Of course it takes more than a reasonable chat on the phone to fix things but this is the starting place. This is where things can be done to better the operations. The data received from the Borrower must then be followed up and Fairbanks must actually follow through on any promises made. Additionally, KILL THE DAMN DIALING MACHINE!!! Have a real person call, not a machine that places the customer on hold. The Clients time is MORE important than that of a minimum wage debt collector. If Fairbanks shows some respect to their customers they will get a lot further in their PR war.
I suspect that any efforts by Fairbanks/PMI are already too late. As I stated a few weeks ago, this thing has reached critical mass as far as I can see. Maryland has stepped in to join the Feds. I expect several other states to do so as well in coming weeks. The decks are stacked against Fairbanks at this point and I believe PMI will soon see this and along with FSA withdraw their pledge of additional financial support to cut their losses. I hope I am wrong as if this were to occur we would all loose and our problem records would be passed on to some other servicing outfit mistakes and all. The only chance I see for Fairbanks to survive is for the FED and the States to see that things actually are improving. Taking the steps mentioned above could assist in making that showing.
I urge others with problems that have not been rectified with Fairbanks to add their own thoughts to the posting.
LA_Bill
LA_Bill
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
0 comments