Peoples First Financial review: Loan Modification 53

We were guaranteed by Merrick McCartha of Peoples First Financial in San Diego CA that both our first and second mortgage companies would modify our mortgage if we stopped payment and allowed their company to negotiate on behalf of us. We were also told and documented in an email that our mortgage payments would be reduced to $2100 from $3100 per month. We are currently in foreclosure due to the guidance of this company and may loose our house. We were told specifically by Merrick that we would not be foreclosed and that this process would take about a month and a half. None of which was true. We have paid them $1, 167 of the $2, 500 they requested and have asked for all funds to be returned. They do not return calls and have told us lie after lie.

I'm in the same boat except I foolishly paid the entire amount. They told me the same things they told you. This has been going on since June '08. Their website, to boot, is not functioning:

"Notice: This domain name expired on 10/20/08 and is pending renewal or deletion"
www.peoplesfirstfinancialservices.com

If anyone has any information for redress, please post here.

My husband and I have been in the process of loan modification, represented by Peoples First Financial of, San Diego, CA since June 2008, with many of the same concerns and problems as stated by you and others on this site. However, we have spoken to a Mr. Trevor Hutchinson @ extension 121 who transferred our call to ext # 500, Customer Care Department and within a few days we did in fact receive a call back from a Mr. Thanh Yann, from Customer Care. Mr. Yann informed us that our lender has received our loan modification package and is currently working on our modification. He further stated that, we should here from our lender with an offer, within the next two too three weeks, from today, that would be approximately November 24, 2008. I understand your fears and stress levels; we are all going through it at this time in our Nation. And, because of our understanding of the massive snafu to many of us have either fallen prey to or find ourselves in for other unfortunate reasons, I believe we really should give these very hard working young people at Peoples First Financial a realistic time frame to get the job done. It is no small feat we have hired them to perform on our behave. Another bit of information Mr. Hutchinson emailed us was a time frame that addressed each stage of the process and clearly stated that it can take up to 120 day’s or more to achieve fruition.
I am more than happy to keep you informed as we should be complete some time in late November too early December 2008. Keep the faith these are tough times. Also, if it would make you feel any better, you may contact the Better Business Bureau in San Diego @ [protected], who will tell you as they did me, that the company had seventeen complaints in the past year, twelve of which were resolved already. I really do believe it is a matter of over abundant demand. We also have the San Diego District Attorneys Consumer Fraud Division @ [protected] and the Attorney General for the State of California @ [protected]. I am hopeful that our contract with this company in good faith will stabilize our efforts to maintain our American dream.

the same problem here since june 2008 they are frauding people every where we are in michigan

we have paid them 3000.00 dollars for loan modifacations of first and second mortages this was in june 2008 they sais they would not take our money if they did nothing told us not to talk to moratage companys and not to pay them in sept we closed a deal with our first motage company which cost us another 2200.00 dollars now our second mortage wants 2000.00 of which we dont have they also told us that it would only take 2 months at the most please send our money back you frauded us they answer no phone calls

Thank you all for your complaints. I have received an email from them. They get your information from a public record and then send out the bait.
The phone numbers I have from them are [protected] ext 213 Brian Aarestad and [protected]-SAVE-U).

Gave them $3, 000.00 and Merrick said I should stop making my mortgage payment and not to worry they would get me a modification. I now have a foreclosure sale date on my home and I found out that Peoples First Financial has never sent anything to my lender other than a 3rd party authorization.

They are a froud. Come do your loan Mods through Me Tony

Clients that have contracted Peoples First Financial for Research and Analysis of existing terms on a home mortgage are in situations that have been caused either by unfortunate circumstances stemming from either a financial hardship or mismanagment of finances. After completing a pre-qualifying screening, said Clients would have had to agree to move forward with our services. A contract would have to have been signed stating specificially the terms and agreement between said Client and Peoples First Financial. Any breach of contract would null and void the terms and would disallow a refund.

We cannot comment on any aspects of these cases since it cannot be determined specifically which clients these are from limited information provided and also due to client confidentiality. There are many factors that can determine the outcome and results from Research and Analysis provided by Peoples First Financial - this could quite easily be another situation where a disgruntled ex-employee, competitors or a client that failed to meet their obligations are quick to allocate blame or anger towards Peoples First Financial.

Peoples First Financial welcomes contact from all clients in regards to their file and case. Even after reading slanderous remarks posted from the client with no validation or information to support these claims - we are willing to review all cases in an attempt to restore said Clients faith in Peoples First Financial.

Thank you for your time in reading and/or responding to our reply.

Clients that have contracted Peoples First Financial for Research and Analysis of existing terms on a home mortgage are in situations that have been caused either by unfortunate circumstances stemming from either a financial hardship or mismanagment of finances. After completing a pre-qualifying screening, said Clients would have had to agree to move forward with our services. A contract would have to have been signed stating specificially the terms and agreement between said Client and Peoples First Financial. Any breach of contract would null and void the terms and would disallow a refund.

We cannot comment on any aspects of these cases since it cannot be determined specifically which clients these are from limited information provided and also due to client confidentiality. There are many factors that can determine the outcome and results from Research and Analysis provided by Peoples First Financial - this could quite easily be another situation where a disgruntled ex-employee, competitors or a client that failed to meet their obligations are quick to allocate blame or anger towards Peoples First Financial.

Peoples First Financial welcomes contact from all clients in regards to their file and case. Even after reading slanderous remarks posted from the client with no validation or information to support these claims - we are willing to review all cases in an attempt to restore said Clients faith in Peoples First Financial.

Thank you for your time in reading and/or responding to our reply.

Clients that have contracted Peoples First Financial for Research and Analysis of existing terms on a home mortgage are in situations that have been caused either by unfortunate circumstances stemming from either a financial hardship or mismanagment of finances. After completing a pre-qualifying screening, said Clients would have had to agree to move forward with our services. A contract would have to have been signed stating specificially the terms and agreement between said Client and Peoples First Financial. Any breach of contract would null and void the terms and would disallow a refund.

We cannot comment on any aspects of these cases since it cannot be determined specifically which clients these are from limited information provided and also due to client confidentiality. There are many factors that can determine the outcome and results from Research and Analysis provided by Peoples First Financial - this could quite easily be another situation where a disgruntled ex-employee, competitors or a client that failed to meet their obligations are quick to allocate blame or anger towards Peoples First Financial.

Peoples First Financial welcomes contact from all clients in regards to their file and case. Even after reading slanderous remarks posted from the client with no validation or information to support these claims - we are willing to review all cases in an attempt to restore said Clients faith in Peoples First Financial.

Thank you for your time in reading and/or responding to our reply.

Nice generic response Peoples First is putting on every complaint!

How do you guys sleep at night?

absolute crooks, I know many of the guys there, they are willing to say anything to get money from clients. Check this out if you have any doubts.

http://www.10news.com/investigations/18002972/detail.html

As Whistle Blower makes quite evident - they are not working with or directly associated with Peoples First Financial any longer. The largest problems we have faced were when we did a house cleaning of poor performing representatives. These were the people that over-promised to clients, lied directly to people when confronted about these problems and stole from Peoples First Financial.

While we are working aggressively to improve the situation of our existing client base - we have no problem addressing unwarranted claims by this person or any organization that feels telling one side of a story constitutes the truth. Whistle Blower may have little or no moral value and/or character - which is the reason they are no longer affiliated with Peoples First Financial. This is an issue they need to work on themselves and we fully support them improving themselves.

Perhaps getting off the couch and actually putting in hard work would be a more positive approach than shutting your mind off and watching biased programming like the rest of the negative people in the world.

We wish this disgruntled Hot Air Blower the best and we will continue to work to improve everything we can about our industry and our customer satisfaction.

We once again welcome an email response with more detail and issues for us to address.

GUESS WHAT PEOPLES FIRST FINANCIAL PHONES GO STRAIGHT TO A VOICEMAIL

oh this is too the management that put up the comment above i have a recorded conversation from your employees you want to hear it or does anyone want to hear it you will be amazed at what he said to me, i am going to set up a free phone number any one can call and hear the whole 45 minutes conversation.

well if your so into helping your customers how come you were refused your business license and how come you take $2500 from a customer and not call to give update or return calls for over 6 months, besides my mortgage company havent even heard about you guys and your phones go directly to voicemail. from your response aabove you say no validation may be you should read the meaning of validation i have recorded messages from you employees especially from DERRICK ask him if he knew i was recording our conversation till 45 minutes into it may be you should call and listen to it.

As I have been unemployed since April 2008 and could see some impending financial difficulties approaching I contracted with Peoples First Financial for a Loan Modification in September 2008. Living in Michigan my property value had decreased to a level lower then I the mortgage amount I still owed. They assured me that in this situation they could get a significant reduction in Mortgage Principle and Interest and reduce my mortgage payment to ASC by about $500. They also so that they could eliminate my small Second Mortgage to Old Republic.

After 3 months and several attempts to contact my representatives at Peoples First Financial (Joe Aguon, Brandon Skiver and Hing the customer relations manager) I received a call yesterday saying they can't help me because I do not have enough income. They knew my financial situation up front so this is ludicrous. All my phone calls and e-mails to them were ignored. When they did respond they said it would take 48 hours to get back to me but no one ever did.

They have refused to refund my $3000 which I have discovered they must return to me. I have reported them to the Michigan Attorney Generals Office, the California Attorney Generals Office, the office of the Governor of California, the current U.S. Attorney General and the incoming U.S. Attorney General. I discovered too late that Peoples First Financial has an "F" rating with the BBB and I also reported my experience to them.

Don (Warren, Mi)

7 months and i am still waiting kevin wilcox told me 2 months or my money back which i have a recorded conversation, i have a 45 minute conversation with derrick fuqua maybe some one should call and listen to it he swore he was keeping my money and other things i cant even put here.

In May of 2008 I was contacted by People's First Financial in regard to a loan modification. At the time I had already started to negotiate a re-payment plan with my mortgage company. I was advised by People's First Financial that the arrangement I had with my lender would only cause me to fall behind once again due to the size of the payment. They told me I would be much better off if I let them negotiate with my lender as they have ways of getting the lender to reduce the principal balance and/or the interest rate. This would significantly reduce the size of my monthly payment. I was also told that People's First always pre-qualifies you to be sure they will be able to negotiate with your lenders before they accept payment. After I was told that People's First Financial had checked with my lenders and they found the loans were negotiable, I paid People's first $3, 000 to conduct a loan modification. I was also told by People's First not to talk to my lender at any time during the modification process, to fax all mail and other correspondence to them, and that if I interfered in the process by speaking to the lender it could terminate everything they set out to achieve. In November 2008 People's First had to get an extension on a foreclocure sale date. They told me the extension was for 45 days and they were still negotiating numbers, however it was only for 30 days. If I had not called my lender due to a Fed Ex package I received less than 48 hours from the actual sale date, my home would have been sold to foreclsure without my knowledge. People's First Financial has not returned any of my calls or e-mails since this date. I am corresponding with the lender currently, and have been told they NEVER do modifications in any situation, and have told People's First Financial this from day one.

We hired, People’s First Financial (PFF) in San Diego, to help us modify our loan. The person who worked for the company, Dan Short, stated that they had a 99% approval rate, worked with our mortgage company in the past, and could our loan modified. They also mentioned that we needed to be at least 2 months late on the mortgage because that would prove a hardship in paying the current loan- we were a month behind at the time. We submitted our application and were given the option to pay $3500 in full, or make payments. We choose payments and made 4 or 5 payments until the balance was paid in full. We complied with all the their request to submit bank statements and other loan related documents to complete the modification. During the process we had a difficult time contacting PFF and would get bounced around from person to person and excuses. After about 4 months we receive a “Sale Date” Notice and contacted PFF. PFF stated not to worry that they could get the “Sale Date” postponed as long as we were current on our property tax, fire and homeowners insurance and that we need to fax it the mortgage company. We were then instructed about 3 weeks later to send $8000 to the mortgage company by Western Union to prevent the foreclosure and get the modification approve. Here is a quote we received from PFF:

“You should have your modification within 10 to 30 business days, when you receive it you need to fax it to me at [protected]”

Then we receive another email stating:

“Well unfortunately they have sold your loan what is your fax number I need to get a new authorization form over to you so you can sign it and fax it back so I can give them a call. Remember the sale was cancelled so lets not worry just yet”.

“Corrin Francisco- Loss Mitigation Manager”

Then we receive another email from a person claiming to be a Move Out Specialist from PFF stating that they could get us cash to move out or more time in the house.

Milagros Cruz
Keith B Dixon

I have read a lot of complaints about this company, but let me tell you my story. In July 2008, I started to fall behind on my house payments, we had several very costly repairs to my 2 homes, and gas prices were sky high. I contacted Saxon Mortgage, my mortgage company, since I had a nasty ARM at 10.6%, which kept going up, not making payments any easier on a $270, 000 home. I sent them EVERY piece of paperwork they asked, requested my loan % be reduced, they only wanted to set up a repayment plan at twice what I was paying currently, and then they would never return my calls. In August I sent them $7500 to catch up my loan, still no loan reduction or relief. I was falling behind again, and in desperation contacted People's First Financial.
I work full time, and can not spend 12 hours a day on the phone talking to 10 different people about my situation. The nice folks at PFF took over and after paying them a fee of $2400, they started working with me and Saxon. Sadly, Saxon was being as inefficient as they ahd been with me, and they took me into foreclosure, so by Jan 2009, I shelled out another $7500 to Saxon to stop the foreclosure sale on my home, and all the while PFF was behind me, sending in the same paperwork I had sent in months before, and only in Dec 2008 had they, Saxon, started talking to PFF, claiming they had no information on my wanting PFF to represent me, even though I'd sent Saxon the limited power of attorney to their office stating PFF was my representative.
Needless to say, we are still working with Saxon to get the loan modification, but my home was not sold. My rep at PFF helped me through all this.
Nothing happens over night, and a lot of these mortgage companies want nothing more than you to keep paying their high fees and high interest rates. They don't care what your situation is, or that they are getting moneys from the US government so people can stay in their homes, they only care about their bottom line.
Sorry, I can't understand why the mortgage companies are so strict, and want you to be 6 -9 months behind on your payments before they will work out any sort of deal, but PFF helped me out. I don't have all day to talk to a dozen people at the mortgage company, all who seem to have no idea what you have faxed them, or what agreement you have made with the rep before. Maybe if the mortgage companies were more efficient, had more folks working for them, or even if they seemed to care about the borrower, we wouldn't have to have companies like PFF.
I even worked with a non-profit group prior to hiring PFF, and Saxon knew nothing about nothing, but my beef is not with PFF, but with Saxon. Please don't short change companies like PFF, they do help.

Diane

OH ! This is word for word what were going through.I just wish i would have found this sooner. Mrs Hill

I know Merrick personally and he is a two-bit card shark at best. Disgustingly immoral and as arrogant about it as is possible. I don't think he works at Peoples First Financial any longer. If an organization could have standards so low as to offend even good ole Merrick then it really must be low on the totem pole.

There are good modification services; I work for one now. Peoples First Financial just isn't one of them.

Please send me an e-mail if youa re interested in aclas action suit against PFF.

I talked with People's First Financial on helping us with our mortgage they said they could definitely help us. We got no response, so I called our HSBC they worked with me and lowered our payments on Oct 31. Now I need and want our $1700.00 back our house is in jeopardy.

Peoplesfirstfinancial is a complete Fraud. They stole $1000 of our money and never even contacted our mortgage company. They told us to stop paying our mortgage and wait to hear from them. Well never heard back from them and if I hadn't taken some action on my own by contacting our mortgage company to see if any one had contacted them on our behalf regarding a loan modification only to find out that no had ever contacted them. So at that point we were nearly 3 months behind on our mortgage and if it weren't for our mortgage company working with us and offering a modification we would have lost our home. I think it is just terrible that Peoplesfirstfinancial is allowed to get away with what they are doing to people. I am still trying to figure out if there is anyway I can get my money back.

How can we get in touch so I can join your complaint? I have the same problem with them, including some provable errors they made (in regards to billing me).

Watch 20/20 next Fri March 20th

OMG. I have been working with this company since 11/08. All of the paperwork is in process, blah, blah. Oh we need another month of this and that because it is taking so long. The rep I was working with Rudy McCloy doesn't answer the e-mails anymore since they received all of their payements in full. I sent 'NEED A STATUS' to main e-mail and never heard back until I re sent e-mail about 40 times in a few min. Then they came back with your Mortage company is reviewing the paperwork, could take up to 30 more days... I am just realizing after seeing these responses I had better get ahold of my morgage company before I lose my house! I'm ticked!

Peoples first did the same to me and i gave them $2, 249.00 and they never did nothing. They always have new employees and the old ones get fired. How can they sit there and take people's money and not care and leave all of us in a jam. they should refund our money and give us money for emotional damages.

It seems I am not the only one that lost a lot of money and I'm about to loose my home because of these people.

I have written to the State Attorney's Office in California with my complaint:
Attorney General’s Office
California Department of Justice
Attn: Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA [protected]

And also to the State Attorney in my State of Florida. I will not rest until these people go to jail.
I have emailed the supervisor of the processing department a Mr. Bill Brickston...you can email him and drive him crazy. bbrickston@peoplesfirstfinancial.com

The funny thing about this was that my mortgage company sent me three different loan modifications themselfs in December when I went into foreclosure and because they told me that they were working on it I ignore these documents. I have been waiting for Peoples First Financial to get back to me or send me something in the mail. Today I got a call from Brian Aarestad (there bad news guy) that my mortgage company will not do a loan modification. I called my mortgage company and was told that Peoples First Financial had never sent them any correspondence and that the only call they had received from them was the one they received today from a Leslie Thorson, who could not inquire on my account because since they had not forward the authorization form that I complete for them in January, she could not get any information. So, she only asked one question and based on that answer they called me to say that my mortgage company would not do a loan modification. These people should be hung from the highest pole that can be found.

I have kept all the emails and documentation that I have sent these people and I'm going to forward these things to the State of Attorney of California.

You got to love shmucks like this last guy "hang them high" these are the same people your tax dollars are having to bail out. They got in over their heads and now are complaining to everyone that it is their fault. Why dont you take some responsibility upon yourself and stop blaming everyone else. How is it a Loan Modification Companies fault you are losing your home you shmuck? You couldn't afford your over priced stucco box and now are blaming everyone else. What a country this is -God Bless America

This the offer made to "Deveaux" from their mortgage holder. They were already past due $18, 000:

HOMECOMINGS CAPITALIZED $18, 000 (past due payments)

$3144 CONTRIBUTION PAYMENT

$3178/mo - REDUCED RATE FROM 6.99% TO 5.94% ON THE FIRST

Complaints Board - please take the time to remove this posting based upon facts provided.

Please contact Peoples First Financial directly so that we can offer a resolution to your situation.

Your file is currently being reviewed to determine what happened.

Thank you.

Mr. Shea

Please email Peoples First Financial as the attempts to reach you have not been successful due to emails not being returned and phone numbers being disconnected.

Thank you for your help.

"Twhat"

Please contact Peoples First Financial directly with accurate and detailed information regarding your complaint.

A posting under an alias does not provide any useful information that will allow us to improve or correct this situation.

Thank you.

Please contact Peoples First Financial directly in order for a suitable resolution to be reached.

Thank you for your help.

I was solicited by Peoples First Financial in October 2008. I was just beginning to fall behind on my mortgage and tried to get help from my lender. I was looking for help and they said all the right things. I thought they were my only hope. I agreed to pay the 2995.00 fee (on a payment plan). I filled out the paper work, financial and was told to stop making my payments. I was told that I was not yet far enough behind to qualify so I needed to place the money I would pay into a savings account and hold it in case my lender wanted a good faith payment. Looking back listening to that advice was extremely naive but I was desperate for help. I kept asking for proof that they had contacted my lender. When my lender would call I directed them to PFF as I was told to do. My lender said that they never were contacted by PFF and when I asked PFF about that I was told that my lender was lying and they were doing all they could. I was still directed not to discuss details with my lender directly because this would jeopardize my modification. I attempted to contact PFF to get assurance that they had contacted my lender. The more I pushed for proof, the more I was neglected. They stopped returning my calls, the stopped answering my emails and then when I finally talked to someone I needed to send in more paperwork, which I did. Then the dodging continued and the only contact I received from PFF was telling me my lender needed more financial information. Still they refused to supply me with evidence that they had even contacted my lender. When I finally spoke with Derrick I was told that by calling for proof I was wasting their time that they could be focusing on my modification. I just wanted proof. After three months of this I finally took it upon myself (allbeit to late) to contact my lender. I was told that they never had been contacted and that it was now too late for them to help me (even though I had the good faith payment in the bank). My house was sent to foreclosure. I can’t afford to pay the fees to get it back. While I know I used poor judgement in dealing with this company I know that they scammed me out of money and my home.

I still receive solicitation emails and phone calls from this company. Which is like rubbing salt into the open wound.
This is a deceitful scam and legal action needs to be taken.

"Kelly"

Please contact peoples first financial. Postings under an alias does not allow anyone from Peoples First Financial to take the steps needed to correct or investigate your case.

Thank you for your help.