Diversified Real Estate Consultants, LLC
Could not get Loan Modification Done, will not honor performance guarantee

In late we had tried unsuccessfully to re-finance our Adjustable Rate Mortgage which had adjusted, making the payments unaffordable. The mortgage was approved, and when it came down to the appraisal they could not approve the mortgage due to the loss in property value caused by the real estate crash in this country at the end of 2008.
The mortgage broker we were dealing with suggested we attempt to get our loan modified and to use a company that specializes in Loan Modification, since they were experts and I was led to believe they had an 'inside track' with most lenders and would be able to be successful negotiating a modification with my lenders.in February I contracted with Diversified Real Estate Consultants out of Akron, OH. Their fees were $1495 for the first mortgage, and an additional $500 for the 2nd mortgage. I was told there was a performance guarantee on this service, and they clearly advertised this on their website.
Since our loan was a 'Piggyback' 80/20 loan, we had a first and second mortgage to be modified. The first mortgage was a main concern, as the rate had jumped 2 percentage points causing our payment to rise over $300 per month.
After submitting my information AND MONEY to Diversified, there was very sporadic contact after that point. I had to reach out every couple of weeks... And when they actually bothered to respond, all I got was a canned your file is in review with your lenders and they are not requesting any information at this time.in April after about 10 weeks, they did negotiate a small reduction in the interest rate on the 2nd mortgage, but since that was such a small payment it really wasn't what we needed to help our situation, and it was nowhere near what they had promised. I kept inquiring about the status on the first mortgage and I got the same canned response every time, I was never able to get anyone to give me any detailed information on what actual negotiations were taking place.

In May, I was told I needed to basically submit ALL of my information again as well as some additional information that Diversified missed the first time around. This is information that Diversified would have known was required by Bank of America if one of their reps would have spent 5 minutes looking at the requirements on Bank of America's website.
In July I was contacted by Diversified, informing my that Bank of America had placed my file for consideration for the Government 'Making Home Affordable' program. It was obvious due to our unique financial situation (high total debt to income) that we wouldn't qualify for it as we didn't meet the outlined requirements. Besides... I paid them to negotiate... Running my info through some government program I can do myself.
I had contacted a manager at Diversified named Tony Hall and expressed my concern that we wouldn't qualify for the Making Home Affordable program. He was very curt with me telling me they knew what they were doing, we should trust them and that everyone else trying to get modification was in the same boat as me and I should just wait like everyone else has to.

The only assistance he could provide was to place all the blame on the lender and not take any ownership of the service I PAID them to do. He told me to give it another 30 days to see what they could do.
30 Days came and went, still nothing.
I contacted Tony directly, again, to spare myself the canned the file is in review responses from their reps since this is all they seem capable of saying. Tony told me very bluntly at this point that paying my mortgage would cause this to keep getting delayed, and I should leave it to default to speed up the process.
Well... Since this was obviously bad advice, I requested a refund for the fees I had paid. I was handed off to Kim, a 'processing supervisor' being assured that my file would be touched every day to check status and to give her 3 weeks to get it done. I was also assured by this supervisor that paying my mortgage would not delay the process any further. I was contacted by a rep a few weeks later for 'updated' pay stubs... And after submitting them I was contacted by yet a different rep saying that they received my paystubs, that my modification would be 'on hold' until further notice. This was the last meaningful contact I had with someone at Diversified. I contacted the Processing Supervisor I had been in contact with requesting a refund because I had no confidence remaining that they were equipped to negotiate a modification with Bank of America. She told me she would pass my request on to their Quality Assurance department as well as the owner of the company since she could not issue me a refund, and that was the last I heard from this company.
Bottom line is, Diversified Real Estate Consultants advertised a Loan Modification Negotiation service with an '100% Performance Guarantee'. Not only were they unable to even get to a point where they could negotiate ANYTHING with Bank of America, they refuse to honor their so called 'Performance Guarantee', even though they cannot provide any evidence of any actual negotiations taking place.
This company preys on individuals who have fallen on hard times, are not equipped to deal with large companies like Bank of America, and do not honor their own Guarantee.

Please, if you have fallen on hard times, do NOT give this company any of your hard earned money. There's lots of free programs out there... And a company like this can not do anything for you that you can not do for yourself.
REPEAT! Do NOT give this company, or any iteration of it, one cent of your hard earned money. They won't follow through on their promise, and they won't honor their guarantee when the DON'T get it done.

Company: Diversified Real Estate Consultants, LLC
Country: USA
State: Ohio
City: Akron
Address: 215 East Waterloo STE #4
Phone: 8669773732
Site: drecwholesale.com

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