I heard about Sirringoringo Law Firm from an add on KFI radio. They claimed they had a a rating with the BBB. They advertised that they were successful in assisting homeowner who were upside down on their mortgage obtain a loan modification.
Their secretary gave us a "free" consultation. She said our consultant would check with their banks list and confirm that the modification / loan would be OK-ed before we proceeded. Our consultant was Mr. Joey Greenwood. He Claimed he had the same criteria, on his computer, that the banks used to approve their loans. He went through our financial papers and made suggestions he felt would help our chances for a modification. At this point he presented us with a contract.
We were told it may take longer to get a modification approved because we were not delinquent on our house payments. His secretary said the process takes on average two months. They explained that banks process the accounts that are behind in their payments first. We were told there is no criteria that you must be late on our payments, so even though it might take longer we should be approved. We signed a contract and gave him a check for $2,000.00 (two thousand dollars.) on 8/24
We also agreed to retain their follow up group to push the process through, at $495.00 per month.
I did not know at the time I paid upfront for modification services that it was against the law. ((please see Senate Bill 94 below)
They claimed they had an A rating but were not accredited by the BBB at the time. They are now rated at a D.
Now, more than three months later, we received notification that we have been
disqualified because we are not delinquent in our loan payments.
I called Mr Greenwood and he promised to look into our denial and get back to me ASAP.
He later explained that we might get a loan if we do not pay our mortgage for a few months.
I am out thousands of dollars. I foolishly trusted his advise. He sold me wrong advise... And did it illegally. On the website Mr Siringringo agrees it is against the law to pay upfront for a loan modification service.
On October 11, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 94 into law. The law prohibits (until January 1) any person, including attorneys and real estate brokers, who negotiate, arrange or offer to perform residential mortgage loan modifications or other forms of mortgage loan forbearance for a fee, from demanding or receiving any
up-front fee that requires any security as collateral for final compensation, or taking a power of attorney from a borrower. The law also requires any person who negotiates, arranges or offers to perform residential mortgage loan modifications or other forms of mortgage loan forbearance for a fee or other compensation paid by a borrower to provide a statement, in 14-point font, disclosing all loan modification fees.
According to law I should not have been charged upfront.
Greenwood waved a beautiful outcome in front of us and asked for money.
I have the contract and copies of canceled checks.
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