Investors Finance Inc. -HOMR Program review: Scam 173

I believe these A**holes officially quit or were taken out bysomebody, because no one answers the phone calls or returns the e-mails. God is watching people, if you robbing people to feed your kids or pay for you luxuries then you will bear the consequences also. Because we know someone who knows where some of you A**holes live. Start watching your back...

So glad to hear that people are still on this, I lost my home and therefore have been busy getting situated in a rental. I threw out all the lovely photos of my house from when it was being built, pool put in etc. it causes me so much pain to look at them. Mike Monaco and IFI gave me false hope and they took money from me, the bank then took the house and sold it to someone for cheap, my husband and I put our life savings into that house and we loved it so much. We fought until the bitter end to keep it, but to no avail. The fact that people are profiting off other people's misfortunes is a disgrace, and I hope to hear that something has indeed happened to him and his cronies. He promised a refund and of course that never happened, the effort that I and others put into bringing him to justice also failed, it is disheartening to think that he has probably got away with it and there is nothing else we can do. Mike, if you are reading this, remember, God doesn't pay his debts back with money.

I agree with Heather and i m very sorry to hear that you guys lost your house because of people like Mike Monaco. Justice needs to be served, after all we all live in America and not in some corrupt nation where this is a natural practice. I was so glad when I read on IFI's website that how they were very sad that Mike Monaco is no longer with the company. I thought that SOB died and i was about to celebrate but found out that he hyst left the company and his fat disgraceful body is still wondering on this earth. I am sorry to sound so harsh, but all the money that all of us paid to this guy was a hard earned money and didn't come from robbing people, like he does. Latest I heard is that his cancer came back and he had to quit, so i guess Mike is going to be in a place where he belongs (Hell). Everyone who worked for him and knowingly scammed people deserved the same. You know who u are, PAtrick Christina, Robert Cordova and especially the ### Patty torres( who knowingly doesn't return phone calls). People let's not give up and keep this blog going, so God can listen to our prayer and do some justice. And also in a mean while let's contact FBI as well since they raided thier office once, I am sure they already know what is this guy up to.

Thanks for the update, I have not heard anything for quite awhile now. It is very disturbing to know Monaco is still about, hopefully too sick to continue any more harm to innocent people. For my part, I will not give up, and I hope that there is some kind of justice for him and all the others involved.

I referred clients to IFI with the promise of the HOMR program. I felt the idea was not only great but it would help a lot of homeowners, I have been going on this site from time to time reading the complaints and voicing my concerns to my IFI rep but I was always given an excuse as to why things were moving so slow. I didnt feel that this was a scam because IFI had strict underwriting guidelines and if they were only interested in the upfront fees why be so picky?
Now I definately feel that IFI is a scam because my client just recieved a "Revocable Trust Agreement". If any IFI clients get this DO NOT SIGN IT. consult an attorney. I didnt understand it, so I contacted IFI with all of my questions. The guy couldnt give me answers and got frusterated when I kept pressing him, he eventually hung up on me. What made matters worse is every IFI rep that we spoke to couldnt address any of my questions or concerns. I felt very uneasy and advised my client to have an attorney read it. Luckily they did, and basically the attorney explained that by signing this agreement the homeowner would change the title of their home over to a Trust. (this would help delay the foreclosure process and is considered fraud) It gets worse, the client would than start paying the "trust" everymonth. This is the payment that is equal to 8.75% of the value of the home. The homeowner is also signing a lease to the Trust, so if they do not pay the "rent" the TRUSTEE (IFI) has the right to evict them as they own the home.
The problem to all this is THE HOMEOWNER WOULD PAY THE TRUST (IFI) WHEN IFI HAS NOT PURCHASED THE HOME.

Contact the California State Attorney General's office.

The complaint website is http://www.ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php DO IT NOW!

The sales pitch that IFI used to induce brokers to solicit there clients for their service is absolutely ridiculous. Let me give a few reasons why:

1. There is no secondary market. Fannie and Freddie are basically it. If there was a hedge fund or insurance company that would allocate asseture to purchase bad loans do you think IFI is the company they would be dealing with? Of course not.

2. If you WERE purchasing mortgage assets would you purchase sub-prime, default notes (min 60 days per their guidelines), with homeowners underwriting only to a front end DTI? You would have to be incompetent to think that is o.k.

3. As far as I remeber 2/28's were essentially banned in 2007. Nobody was buying them and lenders stopped funding them because wall street did not want them. No matter the level of barbelling these loans you can only hide so much. IFI's initial product was a 2/28 at roughly 8%. Why would wall street or a private investor buy loans from IFI on the very program they were no longer willing to buy just a few years ago WITH a verified defaulting borrower?

4. Lastly, Why take $795.00$1695.00? Here is IFI's financial agreement...IFI would pay it's brokers 3% of the new loan amount at closing for bringing them the client and closing. So on a $400k mortgage the broker would be entitled to $12, 000. Now I am assuming that IFI was receiving at least 3% as well on a closing. Why would risk those types of profits to violate the California Civil Code, Newly enacted legislation (SB 94) and about 9 other state laws when you could get 5 times the amount of files by charging $0.00 upfront? The answer is you wouldn't.

I have to say this. In theory I think this is a great idea. Buy bad notes, give clients new loans based on the actual values of their homes at fixed rates, even if it's at a high rate. The problem is the execution. Misrepresentation, bad business practices and fraud are laced all through this. These are the types of things the boys from Virginia (FBI) come to visit you about at home Mr. Monaco. If IFI was smart they would contact every homeowner they have contracts on refund the money that they were paid and beg Jerry Brown doesn't make an example of them during his campaign.

THESE ARE FROM http://www.stopfraud.gov/report.html#mortgage

To report Mortgage Fraud or Loan Scams:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Phone: 1-800-CALLFBI [protected])
Online Tips: FBI Tips and Public Leads Form

To file a complaint with the FBI contact the nearest FBI field office. Locations are listed at www.fbi.gov/contactus.htm or https://tips.fbi.gov/ or for major cases, you can also report information by calling toll-free number 1-800-CALLFBI [protected]).

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General Hotline
Phone: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
Email: hotline@hudoig.gov
Address: HUD OIG Hotline (GFI), 451 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410

PreventLoanScams.org: A project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law
Website: PreventLoanScams.org
Phone: [protected]-HOPE

PreventLoanScams.org - was launched to serve as a nationwide clearinghouse for loan modification scam information on complaints filed, laws and regulations, and enforcement actions. If you think you’ve been scammed or approached by a company or individual promising to help you with your foreclosure, report it today.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Complaint Assistant
Web Site (Spanish): https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/Consumer_HomeES.htm
Phone (for complaints against companies, organizations, or business practices): (877) FTC-HELP
Phone (for complaints about identity theft): (877) ID-THEFT
Email Address (for complaints about spam or phishing): spam@uce.gov
The Federal Trade Commission collects complaints about fraud, companies, business practices, identity theft, and episodes of violence in the media.

The last post was taken from another site, and I am not the author. I just wanted to add it to this thread, because of how important it is. Keep up the good work guys, Mike is going down, and I must add that it's going to be painful. But he made his bed and now he has to sleep in it. The good Lord shall prefail.

Investors Finance has been shut down and Mike is no longer running it out of the Rancho Bernardo office. To bad the poor souls that signed their houses to him have to deal with the mess that hurricane Mike Monaco left behind. Once he is gone the mess will be left to his family, who have never been involved in his shady business transactions. It is very sad that there were so many people that worked for Mike that really believed in him, and really thought he was going to help people save their homes. The truth is most of the people that worked for Mike didn't know he was lying, they always held that straw of hope that some how he would come through and everything would be ok. But when he started getting greedier, greedier and things looked worse and worse people began to bail, what could they do. Mike was a run away train, soon to become a train wreck, the people just couldn't stop him or make him fix everything. Mike is not a person that you can talk sense to, the only thing he listens to is the sound of money being deposited into his bank, even if it is stolen money and he has no intention of ever paying it back or coming through with his principal reduction program. Mike is a thug in a suit and the only thing that will change that is meeting his maker, which ever one that is.

The only time I ever saw Mike Monaco was when he was being interviewed for T.V. in San Diego, I saw a man squirming in his seat as he tried to tell one lie on top of another and worm his way out of some uncomfortable questions. I feel bad for those that were duped by him. I spoke to him twice by phone and received some emails, he sounded so sincere and honest. His family too must be suffering and that is a shame. I am glad IFI is shut down, but it doesn't help those of us that believed in him, knowing we don't have any chance of getting our money back. I am fortunate that we didn't sign over our house to him, my husband and I didn't like the way the plan was set up, it had red flags all over it, especially the part about sending money every month to a trust fund. At that point we new all was lost and we went forward with the short sale. What goes around does come around, I just hope in this case it is Mike that pays the price and not innocent bystanders that trusted him.

I beleive that towards the end most of the people who worked with him knew that he was a fraud and robbin innocent people, but they chose not to let that out to the people and still collected rent money on the properties that they never owned. Eventhough Mike is no longer with the company, I am surpries that thier sister company Fireside Equity the one who suppose to purchase these properties is still up and running. Well from all of us let's pray and wish Mike a Horrible death so he can sell his HOMR plan in Hell.

TODAY IS OCTOBER 9/2011 I HAD BEEN TRYING TO GET
IN TOUCH WITH PATRICK SAVAGE, HE TOLD ME I WAS
GOING TO GET MY MONEY BACK, NOOOOOOOTHING
AND I THINK MIKE MONACO IS IN HAWAII

Amazing, Monaco got away with it, and I am afraid Patrick Savage lied to you Oswaldo, none of us got our money back. The justice system failed us too, how frustrating.

hmmm, i wondered what happened to IFI. i had a client set to go with IFI, but i could tell that IFI was not likely to do the work. so i just did the work myself. amazingly, my first and only note purchase to get a principal reduction for my client worked. i bought the note for 40% or so of its face value, the client was left with 60% ltv based on an appraisal from a 30 year veteran appraiser in the area, and a payment more than $2500 less. imagine being out of the money over $200, 000, embroiled in an 18 month deadlock with the lender, foreclosure looming, claims flying around, etc, and wake up one day *in* the money by $200, 000, the old lender is long gone and the nightmare is over? i wish i could do this for everyone. but the reality is to pull this sort of thing off depends on a set of highly specific circumstances. what IFI didnt know (or pretended not to know) is what i discovered in the process of helping my client. it is amazing to me that the one thing any person in business needs to do that will help them stay out of trouble is just tell the truth up front. "This might not work. The probability of success cannot be measured because there is not enough data to reach a conclusion. On paper, we love the model, but in practice we can run into a dead end. so if you want to move ahead and put money on the table, be aware that you are likely not to get the result you are hoping for, even though we will pursue it to achieve an exceptional result" etc. how many sales will you get speaking like that to a client? maybe not so many, but then you always end up with great clients, no problems and money nobody shows up to take away from you. But how many ppl prefer someone to lie to them and sell them a false promise? lots. most ppl love lies, and there are plenty of salesmen to meet the demand. i would rather sell less to ppl that can handle the truth. and if i do a good job, sometimes i just get lucky, and it feels great to win one for a client.

Mike Monaco has passed away from cancer.