Financial Link Services

On March 21, 2009, we were in a severe MVA, which I, Patricia, am permanently disabled. Up until December 2010, we were able to maintain our expenses and spend down our savings account. As of January 2011, we were no longer able to pay our mortgage.

We enlisted the services of Financial Services on January 18, 2011 with an agreement of paying them $2,000 over the next three months. Not until the last payment for the $2,000 was received was our file turned over to BRIT to begin working on a loan modification. As per Financial Links, the payment of $2,000 would be refunded if unable to guarantee a loan modification.

We diligently faxed initially 54 pages of information and every two weeks continued to fax updates of wage earnings and bank statement. Finally in June 2011, we were notified by BRIT that we were declined. (Which is another story.) We were told by BRIT that a refund would be through Financial Links and upon trying to contact them, we found out the company was no longer in existence.

I lost my job due to bad economy, and had to settle for a lower paying job. With me, being the only paycheck in the family it was tough. We got behind in our mortgage payments, decided to call Britloan Services, which deals with Financial Links Services. After talking to a Mr Len **, and giving him all the information we could think of, including telling him we had an FHA(government loan) for our mortgage, he said, "no problem we can work it out for you, and get a great reduction, known as a modification. The only downside was, to pay an up front fee of $2,400, which means 3 payments of $800.00 each month, so he can start the process."

We paid and we hadn't heard from him until the third payment, when I called and asked for a week extension for the last payment and was told, no problem. So after final payment was received, they were supposed get the ball rolling. I was also told not to make any further mortgage payments as they would be working on a modification, and we would get a reduced rate, and after the third month, we would be paying a lower payment.

We followed all steps. After checking every week online to see the results, I noticed that the file closed. I was dumbfounded when I saw that. I called Britloan processing, and was informed that because we have an FHA loan, we didn't qualify for a modification. We did however receive a $19.00 reduction from our lender, who we had talked to before we even contacted financial link services, or Britloan, and after all this we were told, sorry you contacted your lender which voids the deal.

Well we did not contact the lender (Chase Bank) during the process with financial links services or Britloan, so how could we have voided the agreement? Secondly, they knew from day 1 it was an FHA loan we had, and yet they said we qualified with them for a reduced mortgage payment. Now they have my money, $2,400.00, and refused to refund it, or even return, or answer my calls. All I want is for them to return the money I feel they scammed me out of.

Now, my house might go into foreclosure, and I feel like they don't, and didn't care about me. All they cared about was scamming another hard pressed American hard worker affected by this economy.

I, like many, have been struggling to pay the mortgage and my home has depreciated in value drastically over the past few years. I came across an ad explaining "principal balance reductions" and became intrigued. I called and spoke to an agent who got me pre-qualified. He then referred me to FLS who had me send all of my relative docs via express mail and pay them 4k to get it done. I was told that there was a money-back guarantee if they were unable to perform the principal balance reduction so at the time I felt secure.

This was in May 2010. I was assured that they had done many successful principal balance reductions and not to worry. They stated that the process typically takes 30-90 days, sometimes a bit longer depending on the lender. I was told I could check in as much as I wanted to see what is going on with my file at any time. I was initially contacted by a woman named Anissa welcoming me and instructing me to contact her with questions or concerns.

Well within the first week I attempted to contact her via email 3 times and got no response. I contacted the agent that referred me to FLS and it was only through him I was able to get any kind of responses. As the months started to go by, I was contacting FLS or my agent trying to see if any progress had been made and I was getting replies such as "we are in the process of negotiating with your lender". I would wait a few weeks and ask for an update and if I got any response it would be "no changes, still in the negotiation process".

Then the updates started to change, it was like they had never negotiated with my lender because when I questioned the outcome I received no answers. I was sending emails and not getting responses, calling Gary ** (the president) and getting his voicemail (left messages with no calls back). I only got replies when I contacted my agent and he either called them or emailed.

I eventually got an email from a woman named Jackie stating that a man named Phillip was supposed to call me within the next week as he would be qualifying me for a new FHA loan. OK, but whatever happened with the negotiations with my lender, I asked. Well nobody had an answer. I called my bank and of course they had no idea what I was talking about and had never even heard of FLS. They said nobody had called trying to negotiate anything on my behalf. I knew right then and there this was going nowhere.

I shared my concerns with my agent who, at this point, got me Philip's number (the man who was supposed to contact me). I called him and he had never heard of me. Once I explained everything he basically told me that lenders are not even doing principal balance reductions to his knowledge but may possibly start doing them by mid October (it was the end of September at this point). I really didn't know what to do at this point and again I shared my concerns with my agent.

So he was emailing/calling Gary trying to figure out what is going on with my file and we just kept getting ** answers. "Everyone in the office is sick this week". "This one's on vacation, that one's on vacation". I had it at this point! Gary finally gets back to my agent and questions my credit score to see if it has changed since I had initially applied for the program. Well it hadn't really but I had accumulated a lot more debt, part of it was the 4k I had paid them on my credit card. Now Gary wasn't sure if he could do anything for me after all this time (at this point it is end of November).

Fine, I told my agent that I'm fed up and I just want my money back! He convinces me to send a copy of my credit report so everyone can look it over and see what can be done. So I sent over my credit report, bank statements, pay stubs. It was like I was beginning the whole process over, only now it has been six months and I'm furious! So two weeks go by and nobody can give me an answer whether I still qualify or not so I said this is unacceptable and I want my money back.

I told this to my agent and he said my contract is with FLS and I will have to deal with them myself. I emailed Gary, Jackie, Anissa and Mike requesting a refund. No response. I kept emailing Gary and last Monday he finally replied. He stated that he is sorry but FLS is filing bankruptcy. There is nothing I can do, I am out 4k! I literally threw up then spent the rest of the day in tears. I later went on the BBB website and they are already listed as being out of business. Is there anything I can do?

I, like many, have been struggling to pay the mortgage and my home has depreciated in value drastically over the past few years. I came across an ad explaining "principal balance reductions" and became intrigued. I called and spoke to an agent who got me pre-qualified. He then referred me to FLS who had me send all of my relative docs via express mail and pay them $4k to get it done.

I was told that there was a money back guarantee if they were unable to perform the principal balance reduction so at the time I felt secure. This was in May 2010. I was assured that they had done many successful principal balance reductions and not to worry. They stated that the process typically takes 30-90 days, sometimes a bit longer depending on the lender. I was told I could check in as much as I wanted to see what is going on with my file at any time. I was initially contacted by a woman named Anissa welcoming me and instructing me to contact her with questions or concerns. Well within the first week I attempted to contact her via email 3 times and got no response.

I contacted the agent that referred me to FLS and it was only through him I was able to get any kind of responses. As the months started to go by, I was contacting FLS or my agent trying to see if any progress had been made and I was getting replies such as "we are in the process of negotiating with your lender". I would wait a few weeks and ask for an update and if I got any response, it would be "no changes, still in the negotiation process". Then the updates started to change, it was like they had never negotiated with my lender because when I questioned the outcome, I received no answers. I was sending emails and not getting responses, calling Gary DiMatta (the president) and getting his voicemail (left messages with no calls back).

I only got replies when I contacted my agent and he either called them or emailed. I eventually got an email from a woman named Jackie stating that a man named Phillip was supposed to call me within the next week as he would be qualifying me for a new FHA loan. Okay, but whatever happened with the negotiations with my lender I asked. Well, nobody had an answer. I called my bank and of course they had no idea what I was talking about and had never even heard of FLS. They said nobody had called trying to negotiate anything on my behalf. I knew right then and there this was going nowhere. I shared my concerns with my agent who at this point got me Philip's number (the man who was supposed to contact me).

I called Philip and he had never heard of me. Once I explained everything, he basically told me that lenders are not even doing principal balance reductions to his knowledge but may possibly start doing them by mid October (It was the end of September at this point). I really didn't know what to do at this point and again I shared my concerns with my agent. So he was emailing/calling Gary trying to figure out what is going on with my file and we just kept getting bs answers. "Everyone in the office is sick this week", "This one's on vacation, that one's on vacation" etc. I had it at this point! Gary finally got back to my agent and questioned my credit score to see if it has changed since I had initially applied for the program.

Well it hadn't really, but I had accumulated a lot more debt, part of it was the $4k I had paid them on my credit card. Now Gary wasn't sure if he could do anything for me after all this time. At this point, it is end of November. Fine, I told my agent that I'm fed up and I just want my money back! He convinced me to send a copy of my credit report so everyone can look it over and see what can be done. So I sent over my credit report, bank statements, pay stubs, it was like I was beginning the whole process over, only now it has been 6 months and I'm furious! So two weeks went by and nobody can give me an answer whether I still qualify or not so I said this is unacceptable and I want my money back.

I told this to my agent and he said my contract is with FLS and I will have to deal with them myself. I emailed Gary, Jackie, Anissa and Mike requesting a refund. No response. I kept emailing Gary and last Monday he finally replied. He stated that he is sorry but FLS is filing bankruptcy! There is nothing I can do, I am out 4k! I literally threw up then spent the rest of the day in tears. I later went on the BBB website and they are already listed as being out of business. Is there anything I can do?

I, too, have been scammed by this company. I approached them about modifying my mortgages with promises of this process taking only 90 days or "longer depending on the mortgage company". I started this process a year ago and throughout this time until the beginning of October, I had been contacted by them stating they needed updated paper work etc. which I promptly provided to them. It has been almost two months and emails as well as phone calls have not been returned.

I requested my fee be returned as per the agreement, however the certified, return receipt letter was returned to me as undeliverable as their office space is vacant. I also have filed a complaint with the attorney general about them. Please everyone who has been scammed by them contact the attorney general. Maybe if enough complaints are lodged they will open an investigation. I will also file a claim in small claims court. Let us all band together to try and get out money back!

Two years ago I paid $3000 with a money back guarantee, for a loan modification through Steven ** and Gary ** of Financial Link Services Inc. After a year of waiting, there had been no activity so I contacted them to request a refund. They gave me the run around, telling me there was a waiting list for refunds, and that my name had been put on the list and I would be receiving my money shortly. This was in May of 2010.

I signed a contract on May 15, 2009 and paid Financial Link Services $3,895 to do a short refinance on my house. This was a money back guarantee if they could not do it. They did not do a thing and dragged it on until now. I am unable to get in touch with them now and they will not refund my money. I lost out on $3,895 and wasted almost two years while I could have been working with my mortgage company instead.

I was recommended by a friend who had done business with this company before but apparently, he did not know that he was dealing with a couple of thugs. I was also told that this company could help me with a short home purchase which the fee was 2,195.00. They did not do anything but take my money which this occurred in October 2010. They would never respond to any calls but a few times they did respond to my e-mail to them.

Everything they told me, I called the mortgage company to see if what they said about the status of my application was true. They never contacted anyone but e-mail me that everything has been sent in and the company was going to be operating virtually. I contacted the person who recommended me to them and he got frustrated because they never was call him back or e-mail him.

It was February 2009 when I first spoke with Allan (with FLS) about their services. It was 4/5/2009 when I started filling out paperwork to get prequalified. On June 18, 2009, I expressed mailed all the requested paperwork along with a cashier's check for $2,495 to FLS. For 9 months following that date, I did everything I was asked to do and in a very timely manner. I have kept a detailed log of every email, every phone call and all correspondence. I was more than patient with the process that went no where. Finally on March 15, 2010, I requested from Ben the needed paperwork to request a refund. On March 30, 2010, I sent another request for a refund to Jackie along with a detailed explanation.

In May I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The last part of the response from FLS through the BBB was, "He will get the refund but it might be another few weeks." That was sent to me on May 26, 2010. The BBB has now suggested that I contact the Small Claims Court in Las Vegas, NV. It is now November 8, 2010. Financial Link Services has had my money for 1 year, 4 months and 21 days. I'm still waiting! I trusted this company to help my family in a time of financial hardship. They claim that they are able to help people in financial need. I only see that they are quick to collect people's hard-earned money and cause more stress in their lives.

I also was scammed by Financial Link Services of 4,000 dollars and also all the time, they asked me for updated profit and loss statements which cost me around $400.00 because these are done by a CPA. They have been working on it for over a year now but these last two months, I have gotten no response by phone or email. I dealt directly with Jackie **. She seemed like a nice person until recently, she just vanished. She always told me that her negotiators are getting closer, they just needed updated statements. A friend of mind who worked for Gary Dimattia, president of FLS, was told by Jackie that he can't pay for a pot to ** and continues to look for a comeback but keeps failing and ** people over.

My friend doesn't work there anymore once he found out what Gary was all about and none of his clients were getting results or refunds. I'm tired of waiting for a response, I'm going to district attorney's office, Better Business Bureau, Channel 13 and whatever I gotta do to get a refund or even better, have him charged for fraud charges and who ever else who works for him, because they know exactly what's going but continue working for him. Thank you, Jackie!

I referred two clients to Gary ** as an affiliate. I was supposed to get paid a fee for the complete submission doing my work, which took an entire day, etc. He never paid me. However, my client paid him $3895. What he was offering sounded good. I do negotiate with lenders and I know principal reductions to happen and they do take time. However, you have to do the work. Gary started on my clients' second loan. There is no reason to start on an underwater second loan when they have no standing to foreclose. He never submitted anything to the first lender. Also, I referred a very large loan refinance to him and he never paid me there as well. Very large commission.

This is not slander if it is through my experience. I would not work with him. He offered a cancellation policy of a percentage of work done. I sent in a complaint for my client to the CA and Nevada Attorney General. I don't want anything tied to my name like this. I never even got paid! I did go on to do my clients' modification for free. I didn't have the heart to ask for $10.00. Now I know they don't have a foreclosure but I will still try to get their money back.

This is to report Financial Link Services, Inc (FLS) of NV and AZ with Gary ** as president. The company is offering principal loan reduction thru short payoff or loan modification if short payoff is not possible. The company is also offering money back guarantee if they are not able to do as promised. The fee is $3895. I submitted my application back in Dec. 2009. Up until this time nothing was done and I am about to get foreclosed on in Nov. 16 2010.

In June 2010, my house was listed for sale. The plan is to do a short sale with lease option. The buyer of the property is Gary ** and I will lease option the property. I signed the Contract for Sale but Mr. Gary asked for earnest money of $1000 to submit the offer for purchase. After a few days, I received an email that Mr. Gary changed the agreement and was asking for $10000 down payment. This was not in my contract and I don't have $10000. Mr. Gray claims that he was able to negotiate a short sale.

This is not true; the real estate agent did not submit the offer for purchase because Mr. Gary backed out as a buyer. I called the bank; there is nothing on file that they submitted a recent third party authorization associated with the short sale. Clearly, FLS did not try to negotiate or help me. Mr. Gary is refusing to refund the fee I paid on the basis that they negotiated a short sale and I am not able to follow thru. For all the people that have been ripped off this company, I would like to get in touch so we can fight this together. Please email me at **. There is a group of other victims; fax your info to ** and somebody will get in touch with you. I will get in touch with them also.

I, along with my agent, attended a seminar put on by FLS, laying out their Mortgage Balance Reduction program. We entered into an agreement and sent documents along with the fee to FLS to begin the process. The Cashier's check was deposited by FLS. We were told the process would take 60-90 days to complete, maybe longer in some cases, depending on the lender. We inquired numerous times over the next few months through our agent, and all he was ever told, if he ever got a return call, was that it was in process. About 3 months into the process, we received an email from Paul **, apparently one of their negotiators, stating that he needed updated financials, including bank statements, pay stubs, etc.

I contacted my Agent to ask if he was legitimate, because it just seemed odd to me that Paul would contact us directly, and not through our agent. Our agent confirmed that Paul was legitimate. When asked why he needed the info, we were told that our case was currently on the table, and a settlement was in the works. I followed up a few days later when I hadn't heard back, and was told that Paul had never received my e mail. I sent it again, this time with a "cc:" to my agent, and asked for confirmation of receipt.

My agent confirmed receipt, but I never heard another word from FLS. At that point, I was in contact with my agent on a weekly basis, and received no information other than it's being worked on. Our agent became very frustrated and finally asked if we could be put in touch directly with the President of FLS, because he was not getting his calls returned, and when he did speak to someone, he was getting the same story, "it's in process". I received Gary's phone number and put in a call to him. My first attempt, I got Gary's voice mail, and left a message. I never received a call back. After a couple weeks, I tried again, this time I actually spoke to Gary. During our conversation, he gave me the impression that he knew who I was. At that point, I was putting in weekly calls to Gary, sometimes he would answer, sometimes I would get voice mail. At this point I kept having to remind him of who I was. He seemed clueless, and kept telling me he needed to review our file.

After about two more weeks of this, he finally told me, that they had no file on us because their server had crashed. Not once throughout this process were we told of this. We were flat out lied to. After a heated conversation, I asked for a refund, and he told me to contact Jackie, the office manager for a release form and that the refund would take 60-90 days. I received an e mail from Mike ** the next day asking me for a copy of our cashier's check, because some clients were asking for refunds, that never actually paid.

After a few days, I calmed down and apologized to Gary, he informed us of a new program specific to our lender, so I told him that we were considering continuing the process. Jackie emailed the document packet along with their FedEx account number. A few weeks passed, and after much discussion with my wife, we decided we did not want to continue with FLS, because of their lack of honesty, performance, and poor customer service. We called to ask for our refund. It has been 2 weeks since we asked for the release form, and have yet to receive the form, or a call back from Gary. We have sent multiple emails, and left multiple voice mails daily with him and his office, and still can't get a return call. We were told by Mike, that Gary has not responded to his emails either.

Bottom line, this has been going on for close to ten months. They cashed our check in December 2009, and have performed absolutely no service on our behalf, and have failed to follow through on their 100% satisfaction guarantee. They have 100% failed! They cashed the check, and we are out over $3,000.00 plus interest. We are both very stressed out over this, which has resulted in physical, and mental duress.

In response to this complaint, Robert S. signed up for our balance reduction program. We were in process with the balance reduction negotiations when he decided to cancel and ask for a refund. He states that it is past the time period but it is not. Our agreement clearly states what the time period is. He is lying. I have attached a copy of our agreement. It clearly states 90-180 days or longer depending on the lender. Sometimes resolutions take much longer due to the lender as explained in the agreement.

We make sure all important points in our agreement are disclosed. This is why the client initials, reads, acknowledges and signs our agreement. We are abiding 100% by our agreement. They are not entitled to a refund. Our refund policy is very clearly stated as well. If we cannot negotiate a balance reduction or short payoff, then we will refund. If we are in process and a client cancels, there is no refund. Incidentally, this agreement is our old agreement. We now only have a no advance fee policy.

I have been scammed by a "finance" company which has left me in a worse situation then when I started. I have lost $3895 and am now closer to losing my home. Barbara is a friend and realtor who tried to help us when we were first in danger of losing. She is now continuing to help us resolve this horrible mess my wife and I have gotten into. These are the events leading to my unfortunate situation.

01/31/2010 - Filed paperwork through Barbara. 02/01/2010 - signed final paperwork and paid $3895 to begin process. Between 02/01/2010 continued contact with Barbara about status of Balance Reduction Program continuously through 06/18/2010. She had made numerous phone calls and sent emails without any response on our behalf. On 06/18/2010, I first made contact with Gary *** and asked about progress. He had stated that he would have answers for me on Monday (06/21/2010).

06/21/2010 - I called him again and he said he would have answers for me at 5pm. Again, I called at 5pm and he needed to be reminded of who I was and why I was calling. He didn't have answers again and said he needed to speak to his negotiator Joel. 06/23/10 - Barbara received an email response from Mr. *** saying that a balance reduction request letter was recently sent to my lender Bank of America. That is nearly 4 months and 3 weeks after we first filed. The email stated we should be receiving a response letter from lender. It never came to date.

07/05/2010 - I sent an email asking for a request of funds form and got no response. I spoke to him on the 12th of July and was told to send the email with a fax number so he can fax the form. I've sent the email on the 13th of July and never received the fax. I did receive an email response telling me that FLS doesn't have a cancellation policy and was told to review the contract.

07/16/2010 - I contacted Mr. *** again and was told again to call back at 5pm. I called @ 5pm as instructed and was told by Gary *** that there is nothing that he can do (he denies ever saying that) and was then put on speaker phone and found myself in a conversation with a Mr. Benny *** about how he would represent me as a realtor to short sell the property to FLS. I informed Benny that we'll use Barbara to represent us. He then stated he would represent the buyer, FLS, in the short sale transaction. Per my request he reached Barbara *** on conference call and he explained to Barbara what was to happen.

My wife and I were unhappy with that solution and requested our money back on the grounds that he could not complete his end of the contract and we neared the 90-180 day agreement. Barbara has sent emails reminding him of the contract agreement and he continues to say that our case is in progress. On 06/25/2010, he responded to Barbara saying that a letter was sent out to all clients to negotiate a settlement. He then goes on to explain the process of what is to happen again.

I have continuously asked him for proof of any contact with our lender and he has failed to do so. Whenever I've reached him on the phone I have to remind him of who I am and what my case is about. Barbara has gone as far as to notify him that letters would be sent out to you, NVMLD, Consumer Affairs and The Better Business Bureau. His response was, "Don't really care where they have sent letters to. I will look into the situation." I am $3895 in debt and my wife and I have been under duress resulting in physical health problems for my wife.