Right Start Lending scammed me out of over $1,000, for a so-called modification of my mortgage, due to "hardship". They charged up front to take the case, and they suggested that I don't pay my mortgage until they have negotiated a settlement. Therefore, I didn't pay my mortgage for over 8 months, supposedly to show a financial strain. Then, I wound up getting a foreclosure letter, and it cost me over $5,000 to straighten out the mess they caused. Then, when I questioned them, they suggested that I ignore the foreclosure letter. Luckily, I sought an attorney who saved my house in time. When I went back to Right Start and complained, they refunded all but $600 and stated that, it was for a processing fee. Warning: these people are scam artist and the biggest rip-off. Stay away!
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
On July 21,2008, I contact them to help us to Modify our Mortgage with Guaranty Bank, our Mortgage with them, which we didn't know at the time, was an upside down loan. They send us an application to file, we did, and their fee was $2700. up front, and we paid it. Plus, Guaranty Bank also wanted $765.00 more to have us catch up with the loan, so we did. And they were able to bring down our Mortgage Payments.
On Sat 11-12-2011, we received a Letter from Guaranty Bank stating that they are unable to fully process our regular payment since we owe $5710.26. There is now way! We do not have this kind of money. I have called all the numbers I had from them and the numbers are no good. I've also emailed them. The first guy, Joseph *** and Tracy *** and they have gotten them back.
We paid Right Start Lending $1200.00 to represent us in a loan modification. We were guaranteed that we would get a modification or get our money back. I was also told that we qualified for certain programs since I had just become permanently disabled and was the sole breadwinner for a family of four. The first person we dealt with lost all our paperwork. After the paperwork was resent, we heard nothing for over two months despite our attempts to get updates. After approximately 6 months, we found out that the Right Start rep that was handling our modification was terminated and again, we had to start over with the process. It took over a year to get the modification, which amounted to under $30 reduction in our mortgage due to massive late fees from our lender.
Rightstart Lending contacted me via internet and offered to help me with my financial struggles paying my mortgage through a so called," hardship modification" due to the fact that I was in a financial struggle paying my mortgage each month. In fact, they even told me that I qualified for this modification after a hardship letter that I was asked to write and submit to them. After several failed attempts, Rightstart also tried to get a modification in my wife's name only.
Which is impossible due to the fact that both are names are on the title and she never signed a contract for their services. Upon signing and agreeing to this contract I was under the false impression that I actually qualified for some type of Government "Hardship" Modification; and that I was not told until i stated that i had hired an attorney and was being foreclosed on, that it was an actual "internal negotiation process" which Rightstart referred to as a "modification," at the time I applied. It was also never explained to me that in fact, I did not qualify for any Gov't Modification programs due to the fact that my mortgage payment was less than 31% of my annual income nor that there was a difference in a so called "internal negotiation" and a "Government Loan modification."
According to the Attorney General, "no modification company should be excepting monies upfront for services," nor mislead people into thinking that they qualify for a modification when the actually don't. It has been over six months and Rightstart lending has gotten nowhere resulting in me being served a foreclosure summons and still giving bad advise under false pretenses. I can go on and on about how upset and dissatisfied I am. To that end, I had to hire a foreclosure attorney, ruin my credit to no end, plus have to pay back rears in mortgage, not to mention, attorney fees and court cost. Due to Rightstart's efforts and advice I am looking at paying $5000 on top of the penalties and arrears I owed to the mortgage company, which I could not afford creating more of a hardship for me. After starting the so called modification process, I continued to pay my mortgage and would have continued to pay my mortgage each and every month.
However, Rightstart Lending suggested that if I didn't pay my mortgage I would receive better results in getting my modification approved. And that I could get away with not paying my mortgage just so long as I was in a modification process. I requested that Rightstart reconsider the contract and honor me a full refund. I was fine, (although struggling to pay my mortgage), until Rightstart told me I had a chance and that I was approved for a modification. I requested a full refund due to the fact that I was misinformed and mislead that Rightstart could do something that they knew they couldn't do in the first place. Because I didn't qualify for any modification that exists. Rightstart returned $1400 according to the contract minus the $600 they say they charged for processing. However, I am out of approximately $6000 which I had to pull from my retirement to save my home. Luckily, I did put aside the money that they asked me not to pay the mortgage company.
I paid over $8k for debt management that was effectively stolen. According to my primary debt holders (credit card companies), Right Start never contacted them and never argued for debt relief on my behalf. I have to declare bankruptcy. My credit, which was very good for over 20 years, is now ruined.
