I was contacted on January 28 by Ron Massey from Moneytree Mortgage telling me he could approve me for home loan up to $150,000.00. He explained to me that my application for a home loan was already approved, and asked was I in the market to buy a home.
At that time I had been looking into buying a home for me and my two daughters, which are 3 and 7 years old. He explained that all he needed me to do is fill out some paperwork for the underwriters, and pay a processing fee of $300.00. He told me that the fee was to ensure that I would do business with Moneytree and not seek financial support elsewhere. He then mentioned that the only thing I would have to do before closing would be to pay off a medical bill from my credit report in the amount of $450.00. He then e-mailed me several documents to sign that were filled with my personal information for my mortgage loan. He told me that soon as I paid the $300.00 they could start the loan process, which would be done in two weeks.
At that point I started looking at homes on the market, and made an offer on a piece of property.instead of putting forth earnest money to my Real Estate Broker I submitted a Good Faith Estimate provided by Moneytree to avoid that cost. Everything seemed to be moving along nicely until it was time to start the loan process. My Real Estate Broker had a hard time contacting Mr. Massey in order to get viable information needed to move forward in the process. Finally they spoke and Mr. Massey kept delaying my Real Estate Broker telling him he needed to consult with his Sr. Underwriters to give him the information we needed.
At that time contact with Mr. Massey became more difficult, and the process didn't seem to be going anywhere. He then told me the process was stalled due to my collections of medical bills on my credit report, and when I resolved them he could move forward. I went to set up payment for the medical bill when my income tax return came in, and I was alarmed when the collection agent warned me about Moneytree Mortgage being fraudulent. The agent asked if I had paid the $300.00 application fee, and if I haven't not to do so. It was too late. When I finally contacted Mr. Massey to question once again the legitimacy of the institution he assured me once more that no matter what I would be secured a loan. At that point I discussed setting up payment of the medical bill on my credit report, and that is when he told me I would have to pay off many medical collections that were on my report.
The amount totaled up to $4,000.00. That is a huge amount of money for a single mother with two small children to cough up. He explained that he would be able to pull some equity out of the home I was going to purchase to pay off any money that I borrowed to pay this debt off. When I asked if there were any other avenues to explore he said he had many different types of loans that he could do, but would rather do it this way to avoid high interest rates. It came to be that I could borrow that amount of money to pay off all the collections I owed. Of course, I went back to Mr. Massey to explain the problem and tell him we were going to have to pursue another one of his loan he spoke of because this one wasn't going to work. I didn't receive a response for weeks. My Real Estate Broker was hounding me, the owners of the house I bid on were becoming impatient, and I was literally burning up the phone lines and e-mail trying to get some response from Mr. Massey.
I finally spoke to my Real Estate Agent and explained that there was obviously something wrong with this company and apologized for the inconvenience that I had caused her, my broker, and the owners of the home. I was humiliated. On 03/24/04 I e-mailed Mr. Massey requesting a refund of my money due to the fact they didn't hold up their end of the agreement. I also stated that I would be forced to undergo some sort of legal action unless they responded in 48 hours. To this day I have not received a phone call or response from Mr. Massey. I have tried to reach management of this facility to complain, but all I get is an automated attendant that redirects you to voice mail. I have every document, correspondence via e-mail, and receipt of the wired money sent to Moneytree Mortgage.
I would like to add that I was astounded to read some of the comments made in rebuttal to these accusations that implies the individuals complaining were illiterate and stupid. I am none of those things. I have a formal education, and a great job. Bad things happen to good people everyday and it really doesn't matter if they were a Scholar or a high school dropout. Shame on those people that lack humanity to the point to make such accusations that these people are stupid and uneducated. I would say to you be thankful that you are fortunate enough not to be a victim in this matter.
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