I responded to a direct mailing from them last winter, hoping to save my home. They plunged me into an Alice-in-Wonderland experience, killed my chance to save my home, and now I'm short-selling.
They seemed nice and intelligent—the tall guy chatted me up with stories about his family. Then they told me that my only chance to save my home was to file a "TRO bankruptcy", volutarily dismiss it, and then file a postponement affidavit. So I did. Only to learn, months later, that their TRO bankruptcies are illegal, that the Department was investigating them for it, and they charged me $650 to file the affidavit—they never told me that I could file it myself for $50.
Then they told me that they'd set me up with a lawyer. That surprised me—I thought they were lawyers! They were sure giving me enough legal advice! But the tall guy was so sincere, he convinced me to go along with it. So they set me up with one lawyer. That wasted a month and $2,500 in fees before the lawyer told me that he couldn't take my case unless I paid him more fees.
Then they set me up with another lawyer. He was going to file ch. 13 bankruptcy for me, but insisted on waiting until I paid him $3,500. I was like, hello, I'm broke! But I was told that this was my only chance.
Two days before my sheriff's sale, I still owed him money. I called Family First again, and they told me that it was my own fault for not paying him, and they wouldn't help a "non-compliant" client.in desperation, I finally reached another attorney. He showed me why I was no longer eligible for a chapter 13, and to get out of ddbt, I needed to file a ch 7 and give up my home. The worst part was that, when I started this, I WAS eligible and could have saved my home.
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