I wish to file a consumer complaint against Allegiant Legal Group of Tustin, California. They misrepresented and used fraudulent claims to take advantage of me and other consumers wanting loan modifications from Bank of America. Because of their fraud and incompetence, I am now facing imminent foreclosure which could have been avoided. I spoke with Chris Smith at Allegiant who lead me to believe that I was definitely qualified to receive a loan modification and that I could stop making my monthly house payments and use those funds to pay their fee of $2800. I stopped making payments on my home loan in July and wired my first payment of $500 to them on 7-25-12. When I called back Lucy Smith said her brother but was no longer available for some reason so I assumed Lucy would be handling my account. Then I was shuffled to Jim Baker and was told to wire money to my case manager Rosie Garcia who by the way I never spoke to. Ultimately I was shuffled over to Kim Slater who Lucy swore was absolutely the best one to have. I then wired another $500 on August 30. Around the beginning of September I started getting phone calls from Fred Sherman of B of A. I sent emails to Kim Slater starting on Sept 17th to please contact Fred for me so we could move forward. I got no response from Kim so then started calling her with no luck. After 3 weeks of no response from Kim I got fed up and started calling around to all the numbers I had at Allegiant. I finally got Lucy who said that yes Kim had been unavailable because of some excuse and gave me to Vanessa who is now the sixth person I have dealt with. Vanessa assured me that she was on top of things and had a phone appointment with Fred of B of A that afternoon. Vanessa promised to call me that afternoon after she had spoken to Fred. No call came that day or the next. In mid October Jim Baker and someone else by the name of Tim said they would refund all my money $1000 at that time if I wanted and I agreed. About this time B of A said I wasn’t qualified for a loan modification and offered me a forebearance agreement where I pay $1729 a month for 12 months to catch up on backpayments. This is $600 a month more than my regular payment was. Lucy Smith called shortly after this and said don’t you dare sign that forebearance agreement. After speaking with another manager Ed Deleon who convinced me that Erin Lewellin was his best representative and she would get this done I agreed to move forward again and I sent them more financial information and another $1400 in 2 payments. They now had $2400 of my money. Erin even told me by email that she had a 100% success rate and she would supply me with references if I needed. Based on this advise, I did not respond to the B of A Forebearance by the deadline of November 15th. On December 3rd I received another letter from B of A stating that I was not eligible for the loan modification I was asking for and they were proceeding with the foreclosure process. I immediately emailed Erin at Allegiant asking her to call me. At first she responded by email the next day but did not remember who I was. Finally she emailed me that B of A told her they had offered me a plan in October. Well that was old news Obviously she had dropped the ball on this. After numerous emails and messages to call me she replied back that she had hundreds of files and I was inline and she would get to me. Finally I contacted her manager Ed Deleon by email and she finally called me after 8 days of requests. It is my contention that I was never qualified for a loan modification by B of A and Allegiant told me I was just to get my money. They then used false claims to keep me sending money and because of that I am now facing foreclosure because of misrepresentations they made over the last six months. I am requesting immediate relief of the return of the $2400 I have sent them.
Possible fraud Companies: Submission Central and Allegiant Legal Group
I hope this is helpful for anyone reading this prior to falling for this apparent scam. Unfortunately, not only was the originator of this post out of $2400, they now face a foreclosure that could leave them out of a home. I understand wanting to save some money. We all would like that. JUST REMEMBER ONE THING. IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS!
I work at a bank where one of our customers brought in this same type of offer. He had seen the ad on TV, CNN or CNBC, and decided to inquire. After feeling a bit uneasy, because they told him to stop making his payments on his mortgage and send the "lawyer" $3600, he came in to talk to us about it. We are not the bank who holds his mortgage, but he just wanted an opinion and advice from one of his banks. Our customer was very grateful to find this post as we saved him from this apparent scam.
I started researching and googling every bit of info I could based on the paperwork they sent him, which by the way, looks like they typed it all out on Microsoft Word. The representative said he worked for "Submission Central, " which was a government agency and the "lawyers" were from "Allegiant Legal Group." I could not match anything on Google to Submission Central and searching Allegiant Legal Group lead me to this post. The Better Business Bureau has no records of either company. The representative's email given of xxxxxxx@ncs123.com was invalid as there is no "ncs123.com."
In my own personal experience and opinion, I do not believe that you could use a lawyer to "renegotiate" your mortgage terms. I have never heard of such a thing. Consider the fact that most loans, especially mortgages, are based on credit history. Unless this supposed legal group is going to magically fix your credit history, you should just walk into a financial institution and inquire about qualifying for a refinance.
I wanted a morgage modifcation so I called them. In April I sent them money the didn't produce
The same thing happened to me...now where do we go for legal help against them and save our home? And make sure they are a legal group? I'm so worried...
I am having same trouble...what do we do and where do we go for help from here? This is disturbing...
Anyone out there know where we go for help over this? Please I am desperate...on disability and just wanted help and was told I would qualify. Please!
The Orange County District Attorney has this attorney in court now. I suggest (even though time has passed) contacting that office. The other thing you can do is submit a complaint to the State Bar of California about this attorney (James Frank Barker). Once he is disciplined by the Bar (and they will when he is convicted) you can then submit a request to the State Bar of California client security fund.
If by some remote chance he is not convicted, you can still file a complait against him with the bar and then file a request for restitution from the client security fund. If you live outside California (as the guy I am helping does) make sure to put that in your complaint.
Good luck. As of today the matter is still in court. (7/26, 2018)