Advertised as a loan modification company with a team of attorneys, they accepted my "retainer fee" and never contacted the mortgage company.
On March 2 I initiated contact with Velocity Fiscal Management in an attempt to modify my home loan. They sent me some forms to fill out and I spoke with a woman named Kathy Barerra, who explained the loan modification process to me and assured me that as soon as they received my initial paperwork she would see if I was approved. I was approved and she told me that the total attorney fees would be 3000.00, but that I could pay 1500 to initiate the services and then another 1500 in 30 days. Later that week, my representative changed from Kathy to a man named Tony Roberts. Tony called and introduced himself. He told me that the process would take 4-6 weeks and that any letters that I get from my mortgage company should be faxed directly to Velocity to help determine the best way to go about modifying the loan with my mortgage company. He told me that they were shooting for an interest rate that I could afford. As a waitress and non-profit worker, I was having a hard time with the economic downturn in the service industry. I was starting to panic. Tony played on my trust and led me to believe that I was in good hands. Tony told me that I could pay for the services with a credit card or via paypal. I paid the first 1500 payment through paypal 3/23/09 and the second payment on 4/27/09. Through the whole process I was in contact with Tony and he assured me that everything was going smoothly and that the attorneys were going to have a meeting with my mortgage company on 5/8/09. For 9 days leading up to the meeting I attempted to call Tony to see what was going on. After a couple of days with no response, I started to get the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Sometimes the phone line wouldn't work and sometimes I would get an answering machine. I left several messages. I wrote about 20 emails to Tony. I sent him faxes that asked him to call me. No response. No email. No meeting. I called my mortgage company and they said that they have had no contact with Tony Roberts.
All this time I thought my mortgage was being handled by a team of attorneys and, in reality, I was falling more and more behind and approaching foreclosure without even knowing it. Now, dealing with the mortgage company is even more of a headache. All the time I thought Tony was helping me was wasted and I was slammed with exorbitant fees in return. This is a horrible scam that has preyed on the vulnerable and trusting. I want my hard-earned money returned to me. This has been a devastating experience.
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