Anchor House Financial review: FRAUD 135

Just an FYI - this concept is actually in the work and there's a book out about it. But it does sound like their service is a scam. I'm glad I read up on this as I'm about to take on their service. Thanks, everyone.

Travis, you could have had that info for free elsewhere. You got rooked!
And your statement "if you don't have 199 to invest in your possibilities of buying a home, you have no business looking for one!" is ridiculous on the face of it.

Look Here Folks. This company preys on homeowners as well. Public information is posted about homeowners. This is a violation of privacy. Its not just a ripoff to potential buyers. The information they buy is purchased illegally. The letters they draft for you to send to the homeowner put YOU at risk and not them due to the fact they are not legit. Look through the website. It compares with something made on a geocities cite by a fifth grader. So before you are so quick to support a scam do your homework. These folks prey on delinquent borrowers who feel they don't have any better options.

They advertise properties on Craig's List with the concept of renting to own or purchasing very cheap properties due to the current housing market. The ad claims it's Real Estate by Owner. However when you call the number you are left on hold for a long time. I questioned the person about the property and when I seemed to doubt him, he just hung up.

So i called "Anchor house" just a few minutes ago and this guy "steve brown", stummbled on his name, answered the phone asked what state i was from and asked me to hold then it sounded like he put me on speaker phone and was talking to someone else about getting a couple their paperwork so that they could get into their house. Since when are you put on hold with a company and can hear them talking clear as day. Then later in the conversation i find out that "member services" takes care of all the paperwork... So what was he talking about? SCAM! I didn't give him my info and was glad i didn't when i started reading up on the company. i've gone to a few different sites reading all the complaints on this company and the same guy with the name STEVE is always talking good about them and only him. WATCH OUT! And don't beleive anything he says, i think he is the same steve that works for Anchor house.

Check out there rating with the better buisness bureau.http://www.santabarbara.bbb.org/BusinessReport.aspx?CompanyID=92005897

It seems that all of us are getting acquainted with this so-called company through craigslist. I called yesterday and got what seemed to be a very pleasant voice on the other end. I asked for their website to see information and possibly testimonials on the business. I was told there wasn't one but they were listed with the bbb. I could tell that patience grew then with me because I had so many questions and wasn't giving out my credit card information like they would have liked. After more than 10 legitimate questions that they may have assumed I was recording them and their lies would help to get them prosecuted, I was finally hung up on. It's a shame. There are so many people like me. Extremely hard working, making a stable income but have just made some bad credit decisions or fell on hard times in the past. We still want houses but are so limited. Who can we trust? I'm very disappointed. Again, while I didn't pay, I had hoped to check them out as I'm doing now and find out they were legitimate.

I was promised a list of house in a certain area, which Erin promised many homes with pictures, deatails and ways of making contacts, he had none of these only list not in the correct area and no pics or conact, when i called to make a complaint he hung up on me several times. I want my mone back!
Rosalie Bader

I just had a similar experience. I saw a listing on craigslist which was rent to own and seemed too good to be true. It only said West LA (very large area) with conflicting stats for # of bedrooms and monthly rate. I was curious if this was an actual listing or just an example. And if this is in West LA, what specific area was it in?

I first spoke to a man on the phone who was very rushed and very curt and when I asked if this listing was real, he seemed to read from a pre-fabricated script, repeating himself, talking constantly and being very rude. When I said I was on Craigslist looking for a rental but saw his listing, he hung up on me saying "I can't help you with rentals" click.

I called back. I got the same man and spoke to him again (Chad in Montecito, Ca) despite the fact he claimed there were roughly 100 people in that office. He thought I called back out of spite because he had hung up on me... I wondered how that would be possible not having ever known his name in an office that really had 100+ customer service agents in it.

There is something very wrong here.

bogus bunch of guys - should be flagged everytime by craigslist - such a waste of time - DO NOT FALL PREY to these idiots

I saw the ad on craigslist and tried to research the company b/c the pictures were not adding up it had a room going towards the pool and then another room going to the pool but it wan't the same wall color and flooring in the rest of the house. So I called the [protected] and the name that I was looking at was not the name on the recorder so if you get Equal opportunity housing then it's the same thing as this name so yeah it's a scam, scam, scam, SCAM:-{

There is a website from craigslist where you can file a complaint if you haven't already https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
Maybe they can take these guys down before more people get scammed.

I just spoke with what seemed to be a very young man about a posting on Craigs List with very bad verbal skills. I asked him why the Craigs List posting stated one price then when you open the posting that it was $200.00 higher. He gave me a very lame excuse on how many houses that they have listed and that some times there mistakes. $200.00 a month is not a little mistake and these are "pre-forclosers" so that would mean that the bank/owner has already been contacted and they should know exactlly how much a payment would be. I also questioned him on how the program worked, he gave me "the speech" I told him that I have purchased a home and land before and I had to go through a mound of paperwork in order to qualify and how is a bank going to just sign over a property? He didnt have a very in depth answer for me. Although he never once asked me for my credit card info. I have a feeling that he wont have a job for long if his calls are monitored by a supervisor.

they prey on our interest. These low life dirlects have no shame...so why shouln't we...i googled map their address; their business area looks flaky as well, I didn't notice anything that comes close to a business building etc. ; didn't it ever occur to you that these monkeys could be working in their own homes? Perhaps hard to track them down? Like they say: whatever you sew you shall also reap...

Thank God I found this to be a scam before I gave them the "199.00" I knew something was off. SCAM!

WOW! It seems that now Anchor House Financial is stating that NBC did a wonderful special on them. After stating that I didn't see it, he went on to tell me all about it. My gut feeling paid off. I found this site just before I gave him my card information! My heart goes out to anyone who does. After reading the above postings it seems that these people are working from California to Nebraska, and only time will tell if they make it all the way to the east coast. I hope that Craigslist will flag them soon. Times are tough and we don't need anyone making them harder for us.

I have had a great experience with Anchor House. I have obtained two properties already. I was a first time home buyer and they were able to get me into a home with no credit check and no downpayment. I would recomend this to anyone.

My name is Mrs. Gaymon. I contacted Anchor house financial on friday April 03, 2009 at 12noon. I called them back a hour later and asked them to please refund my money. I was not impressed with the houses because i couldnt see the inside of the houses nor could i see the actual house. I am totally angry and i will be contacting MSNBC as soon as possile. I want everyone in the united States to know that Anchor House Financial took my money and promised to fax a document to my bank to release my 199 but they havent done it yet and its been over a week. Anchor finacial lies and lies with promises to refund your money but they dont. Anchor is a fraud and if its the last thing i do i will expose them. I am on disability and i cannot afford to give away any money especially to conartist.

I just called them and decided to do some investigating I thought it was weird that the man on the phone did not want my name or anything for getting credit if I did call back to sign up seeing as most telemarketers do recieve some sort of commission or incentive then I see this and read all these reviews...what really pissed me off is whenI told the man that I was a single mother with 3 children and he jumped and said oh this will be perfect for you not even knowing my income... then when I spit out that I made about 1100 a month and I was on the section 8 program he told me that I would be able to afford the home with out the housing assistance ya right then he tried to convince me that they have worked with people in my situation and I have read all these comments the people who claim that they have bought homes from them show up on all different web sites saying different things with the same names and e mail addresses all I have to say is I am glad that I read all of this!

If someone has received their monies from this company please contact me at powerflightme@yahoo.com. If you have NOT received your refund please contact me as well. The proper authorities will be notified and AnchorHouse Financial will expose their foundation of doing business with this man of conscience. I will have the proper Enforcement present. This will not be the day to scream SCAM with a loose lips nor will my cause for refund compensation vanish. I contacted this company to find a home for myself. They do well to make that come into my reality. Mr. C Powers

Other numbers used by Anchor House:

[protected]
[protected]

I found an ad for AnchorHouseFinancial online and very likely advertised by their agents saying how their website helped them out to acquire unbelievable houses for cheap. I was very interested and called them. Being very doubtful about beautiful and colorful picture they described I asked whether I'll be able to get refund if I decide to cancel membership. The agent explained that all I need to do is to call with cancellation notice. That's all?-I've asked. He said, that's all I will need to get my money back. I agreed and paid the $199 and hoped things worked out. Later on in our research we found that they have no connection to the home owners. They just make you print out a paper talking about the company and how great it is but with no help. After giving out at about 25 letters we had heard nothing back. After over of two months of hard work, we gave up on them. I called an asked for cancellation and money back. They told me that we needed to receive 5 rejection notices in order to receive money back. They didn't listen to me even though I referred to their agent who told me about cancellation over the phone. I sent them official letter over mail, no response. Later I tried to enter to my account but they locked it. In order to unlock I will have to accept their new terms. They were rude and concealing assigned to me agent every time I was calling to them. From one side I can't get those rejecting letters, from the other, I didn't had to even do that. What's the solution?

I too saw the ad on craigslist, became interested and called. The gentleman who answered was very polite. I asked him to explain to me how their program worked and he did. I pay a 199.00 fee for access to all of the preforeclosures in my area, I select which home I like, they make arrangements for viewing, I go to the bank (one they are working with) and the bank explains the terms to me, the title and deed are signed over to my name and bammm I'm in my new home. He told me all I needed to qualify was a job and a bank account. I told him that I have never heard of assuming someone's mortgage before without having to go thru a prequalification with the bank and a credit check. He assured me this was legit and gave me the website and said they were with the BBB. He didnt hassle me for anything, like I saod he was polite, but I advised him I will do my research first and would contact him again if I felt it was legit. Asked him for a direct line and he gave me "his direct line" along with an agent ID. Can't say that I received bad customer service, he provided excellent customer service, but I think the services provided by Anchor Financial are a scam and definitley too good to be true.

My experiences with Anchor House so far have been more like Margie's than others. I have progressed to the point where I received the agent's info and informed him I will call back. But there were NO hassles and he was quite polite and I asked him many questions. I also told him if I call back, that I will have many many more questions. He had no problem and hoped that I would call back. He never asked me for my banking info or any of that. Then again, I am also like Margie in that it just feels too good to be true and my 'scamdar' is definitely going berzerk right now lol! I will continue to do some research and find out what is up and report back in the future.

I spoke with "Paul" about this process, and after I started asking questions I was disconnected. Then I called back and the same person answered the phone. When I very nicely told him it was me calling back because we got disconnected, he stated, "It wasn't on my end." Rudely. A weird response for someone wanting your business. Then he asked if he could put me on hold. I was on hold, then got disconnected. I called back and got a guy named Carol. He was patient and answered lots of questions. Having previously worked processing real estate I had lots of questions. He had lots of answers. Most of it made sense. Having told him I needed speak with my husband, he gave me a number to call him back. He had a bit of difficulty deciding which number to give me...however is not too unusal with telemarketers having to figure out a call back number. So I am on here trying to research whether this is a scam. So far a lot of fears, but I am like the person above who wanted experiences AFTER having paid the $199. With those who did not get their refund, were there other conditions that maybe you felt wree unfair, but they were in agreement? SOunds like a scam. Also, I know when the market has trouble that lots of new business, and ways of doing business pop up. It is so hard to determine the legit ones for the scams!

shut them down people dont have money to give away these day

ANCHOR HOUSE FINANCIAL, AMERICAN FINANCIAL ONLINE AND FIRST STEP EQUITY IS ALL ONE IN THE SAME. THE PARENT COMPANY IS MDSQ PRODUCTIONS LLC out of Santa Barabara, California . The Corporate registration NUMBER is...[protected]. Call the California Dept. of Corporations and check it out.

If you need to sue them, the Law firm of Charter Claiborne Hughes will accept process.

The phone numbers are [protected], [protected]-5369 and [protected]

Call the US Attorneys office and the DA of Santa Barbara and report them.

Well I have to say I did not read thru all this but "hank" works for them that is swhy he is talking them all up...but I called them just to ask questions cause it seemed to good to be true and ususally it is but they really were adament on me payin that money right away I told him I wanted to do a bit of research on it online first and I would call him back and he was like no you shoud just do it now because of all these reasons and I know some people get commission on stuff so I was like what is your name he told me and I said well listen I am not handing over hundreds of dollars to somethig that I don't know what it's about that would be like buying a house I've never seen so I was nice to him and said Hank (lol) I want to do some looking around and if I do call back I will be certin to ask for you...well sadly to say he hung up on me...figured it was a bogus scheem!

ANCHOR HOUSE FINANCIAL, AMERICAN STANDARD ONLINE AND FIRST STEP EQUITY ARE ALL ONE IN THE SAME. RAN BY THE SAME PERSON MIKE DAVENPORT OUT OF SANTA BARABARA AND MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA. HE USES THE NAME MDSQ PRODUCTIONS LLC AS THE CORPORATE ENTITY. LOOK THE COMPANY UP WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF CORPORATIONS IN SACRAMENTO AND REPORT ALL THE SCAMMING.

THE REGISTRATION # IS [protected]

And to serve a law suit the process agent will receive them at CHARTER CLAIBORNE HUGES
21 E. Canon Perdido St. Suite 218
Santa Barbara, CA. 93101

AND CALL THE DA ATTORNEY IN SANTA BARBARA AND THE US ATTORNEYS OFFICE.

PLEASE FILE YOUR COMPLAINT WITH THE FTC (FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION)
AT

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

I was in the mortgage business for 16 years. DO NOT fall for this SCAM. There is NO way they can rent or sell you a house in foreclosure or "pre" foreclosure without going through the bank or mortgage company that holds the note. Of course, any such note holder will want a credit report and proof of income, some kind of earnest money and more details before getting into the same situation again. THINK ABOUT IT.
American Standard or Anchor House Financial or whomever they are this time, can NOT offer you someone's house simply by you taking over the payments. It is a matter of Deed and any encumberances. Certain details will have to be satisfied in order to transfer a real property to another. American Standard says "don't worry about those things, you can take care of them later. Just give me you credit card information." That alone should raise a red flag. It's another TO GOOD TO BE TRUE warning.

This company is a SCAM... They owe me $199 and every time I call they tell me to call back tomorrow. They have owed me the money since Oct. 28. Please do not fall for it like I did.

I have a charge on my cc that I did not approve. I don't know how this place got a hold of my cc information but I have a $199.00 charge that I did not agree to. What can I do besides cancel my cc?

They lied on the phone about what services they provided in regards to renting a home. Once I gave them $ and logged onto their site it was NOTHING what they said. THEY ARE A SCAM. I do not say this lightly either. I know how I was treated on the phone then what I found out on the website. It's too complex to go into but I am absolutely certain they are a SCAM.
DO NOT GIVE ANCHORHOUSE FINANCIAL ANY MONEY. REPORT THEM.

saw a similar posting online and did a google for their phone number - thanks for posting this concern!

My husband and I got sucked into this scam as well. We saw a home on craigslist and once we contacted the person we were directed to Anchor house. I will agree with one of the people who responded yes they were great about explaining the $199, however we paid our fee on Feb.13, 2009 and have sent letters a number of times and still have not gotten anywhere. We have had them do what they call custom searches, and again no luck. It's not about a person having $199, it's about not just throwing money away for no reason. As I said it has been over a year and we have gotten nothing. We called a number of times, and were told we would have to submit denial letters, but we don't get any type of response from the supposed homeowner or Anchor house. We have know begun the process of taking them to court.

OMG this has happened to me what do I do to get my money back?

What do I do to get my money back? Who do I call? Is there a class action law suit against them? If not why not?

They have changed their name to American Standard Online.

I would like to say we were in the process of relocating to anther state, and were getting quite desperate when we came across the company called Anchor House Financial. We paid the $199 money back guarantee and they emailed us the first 3 lists of houses, however they were in completely different states then we were looking to move to. After speaking with a woman who was very nice and apologized through the whole conversation, she sent me 3 other lists all in the area we were looking. We were given a template of a letter to send to the owners of the home and they were supposedly going to contact AHF to set up a meeting with us. We sent out letter after letter and never got a response. Our moving date came and went and we ended up going to a little tiny apartment just to get in the area where the new job was. We continued to look for a house, AHF sent us new listings every time I called. We finally gave up because we never heard from anyone. When I told them I would like a refund they told me it would not be a problem as they worked with me the whole time and knew we never heard from anyone. However in order to get a refund we were told that the acct department needed to see copies of all the denial letters we received from the home owners. We went round and round with this for 2 months. In the end I was told the only way to get my refund is if I give them the denial letters, which 1. The home owner would have gotten in touch with them not us 2. We never even heard back from anyone 3. The company verbally agreed they knew we never received any contact from any home owners because the only number listed on the paper we mailed was theres. This company is a major scam and unfortunately this was over a year and a half ago and I see despite complaints and reports...they are still allowed to operate, and apparently now, under another name!

Absolutely all true. Total scam. Spoke with several different people who all told me different things. Now I had to close my credit card to be sure that they don't have my number anymore. Waiting to see if it was in time to cancel the charge or if it will go through anyway. If the charge goes through, then I get to try to claim fraud. Who knows if that will work. Wish I had thought to google the phone number from their CraigsList ad. I did flag it to be deleted, and will continue to flag all their ads if I see them. :(