Here is a comment worthy of note which I found trolling the comments on my blog:
Remember if you are dealing with an unscrupulous licensed professional (attorney, mortgage broker, etc.) you can file a grievance with the licensing agency who will investigate, prosecute if necessary, and possibly require restitution.
Comment:
[Editors Note: If con men looked like crooks they wouldnt get anywhere. They always ingratiate themselves and seem like good people interested in helping. They intentionally do not appear to be much different from legitimate lawyers, auditors, debt counseling etc. Livinglies does not vouch for the accuracy of any statement contained in the article below]
A Warning to others having Mortgage problems: Re: A family of predatory lenders
Our family was having some problems with our first mortgage we got behind and were facing a potential foreclosure.
We got a lot of the typical rescue mailers telling us that we had plenty of equity and not to worry. We knew this and we only needed 20 to 30 thousand dollars to bring the loan current. Plus we knew we could sell another property that would pay off part of our loan at any time. That seemed simple enough.
Now let the nightmare begin
We were approached by a broker / lender named Jim Marks out of Tampa Florida who said he could rescue us and the rates would be very low because we had so much equity in our waterfront home. He said he could find us plenty of money. We were very clear to him that we did not have the income to do any major loan an we only needed a small amount.
Fast forward He befriended our family, had lunch many time in our home and other places, went snorkeling and diving on our boat with his family, he also wanted to see all the waterfront and residential properties my family had invested in, he also brought out investors to see what we had, later we found out that the investors were his own relatives (Barry Silber the lawyer / hard money lender with Linear captial of Tampa).
They wanted to know if any friends had good deals on waterfront properties, I fell for all of it like a sucker and provide what they needed, Marks assisted by Silber structured a deal putting everything into the [deal? ] that we already owned, they created a corporation for our family, as a JV partner Marks took 50% and gave us 50%, but took complete control of everything, he sold land we had, used the money for other purchases, took out loans without approval from our family.
As we were about to sell three of our waterfront lots and an investment home, he said dont do it put it in the JV and we would do much better later with him in control. So we trusted him with everything including the check book.
We thought he was our friend and would managed and protect us but boy were we wrong.
We had no idea that it was all a set up from the very beginning to get control of everything we had. It is clear now that we had a big target on our backs called equity. We were steered by Mr Marks right into what I now believe was nothing more than family of Predatory Lenders.
They got me and my family by saying that they could rescue us but all we got was high interest rates etc etc. They eventually forced us into a foreclosure, but always stood by with additional high cost loans in order to get them to stop their foreclosures. We were trapped.
We were forced to meet after hours at their offices to sign more rushed document that we did not really understand. (e.S.) Jim Marks would say dont worry I got your back and would never let you sign anything that would hurt you or your family. Papers were shuffled around for hours by the lawyer/lender Barry Silber and their title company that they all owned and controlled.
We did not want to sign anything but we were up against the wall and the mortgages that they gave us were all due again. They took a years worth of payments up front that night and paid themselves many fees. Now we had a new giant mortgage on our home that was due in one year it also had a rider that would take away all our rights to the JV that controlled all our Families properties if we didnt pay them back within that one year.
We told Marks that we cant pay this loan back and he said dont worry we will sell something in the JV to pay this off or refinance you again. The lawyer involved was Mr Marks relative, Barry Silber was also part of the company that gave us one or more of the mortgages. Before that year was up his cousin Barry Silber started foreclosure on everything and than said they could not lend any more money. What is astounding is that our Mortgage on our home was now over $ 1 million dollars. How did this happen in just 3 years?
How did we allow some one to take all our families properties? First we trusted Jim Marks as a friend and busness partner. But he was clearly working his way into our family and eventually found out every aspect of our assets and liabilities. Second: We were not very smart with our finaces. Third: We dont have much of an education and trusted him because he said he could handle everything properly.
Now we see that they were all very smart and we were conned over and over again into trusting a family of hard money lenders who had one motivation and that was to milk us of all our equity by what ever means possible. We all feel very bad because we let this happen to our families holdings. We believe that state and federal laws have been broken AND WE HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH EVERY AGENCY POSSIBLE SEEKING JUSTICE. From local law enforcement to the united states attorney general and everything in between. We are also filing complantes with the fla bar and other agencys that control the lic of these men in the hope that justice will be served. Law enforcement and media take notice... We would like others to give their advise or their own story if they have one about these people or like kind cases. So Dont ever fall for someone trying to rescue you with a hand of friendship.
I can tell all of you that this web site has helped in several ways. Keep it going
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