Mass Joinder Mortgage Litigation Secret Shopper Call Transcript. Not Good.

Last week I made a secret shopper call to one of the companies that are advertising for mass joinder plaintiffs. My concern with the mass joinder mortgage litigation marketing is that the massive commissions being paid are going to lead to marketing abuses.

In this call the marketing representative shared some interesting information. They told me that:

• I’d be financially better off if I stopped making my mortgage payments and let the lender proceed with foreclosure;
• I’d get three times as much if I stopped paying my mortgage and the lender foreclosed;
• the majority (93%) of loan modification help sold was not effective and people could get the same results if they tried to do it themselves;
• if I participated in the mass joinder suit I would get some big benefits;
• I could change the terms of my mortgage when I participated in the suit;
• my mortgage would get reduced to 80 percent of fair market value and my interest rate would be reduced to two percent;
• the court case was going to be completed in three to six months;
• the judge is siding with the mass litigation lawyers and not the banks;
• I can get my mortgage completely erased with a “full lien strip” and own my home free and clear;
• I may get $75,000 as an award when participating and awards have been already given;
• the entire cost to participate is $5,000 and no other cost or award fee owed. [Retainers I’ve seen have a 30% legal fee on awards];
• I can pay to participate in the case by taking money out of my retirement plan or using a credit card; and,
• other law firms taking on mass joinder plaintiffs are scams.

My impression as a caller was the benefits sounded much like promises, “this isn’t something that’s an “if” situation, this is a “when” it’s gonna happen.” My concern is that people who get this marketing pitch are going to believe the fantastic rewards being told, especially since the marketing rep says they work for the law firm.

Court documents sent by marketing rep were only partial snippets and did not give consumer all the facts and information. When asked if I could see the entire transcript I was told it is not available at this time.

Steve Rhode: Yeah, hey, [redacted]. I got a mailer about a settlement on my mortgage.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Yes.

Steve Rhode: Yeah, I was…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Give me one second, sir.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: One moment. Okay, sir, are you there?

Steve Rhode: Yes, I am.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay.

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So you got the mailer in. Is there like an ID number on there? Or…

Steve Rhode: I didn’t – I just brought the phone number with me, but it was…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So you didn’t – okay.

Steve Rhode: Yeah, it was against my mortgage company, First Priority Mortgage. So…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay.

Steve Rhode: …you know, when you get things like this in the mail, of course, you’re skeptical, and I was wondering if you could tell me more about the settlement?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Exactly, okay. What that letter’s in regards to – and, I’m sorry, what’s your name again?

Steve Rhode: My name is Bob Roberts.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Bob Roberts. Okay, Bob, my name is [redacted].

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: And, Bob, what’s that pertains to is that we’re looking for homeowners that actually qualify to actually maybe join a lawsuit that’s happening right now, and it’s been happening for over a year-and-a-half.

Steve Rhode: Mm-hmm.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: There’s many violations that these banks have been committing, and also fraud. What we’re looking to see is if maybe potentially in your situation if you would qualify to be a plaintiff in this mass litigation and join our lawsuit against the bank.

Steve Rhode: Okay. I’m current on my mortgage. Does that matter?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: That has no bearing on it. This is not a modification, or anything like that. This is a lawsuit that it doesn’t matter if you’re current, or behind, or in the foreclosure process. All it pertains to violations or fraud that’s on your loan, and the lender has probably, maybe, potentially done to you over the past maybe ten years. So First Priority Mortgage is your company – I mean, I’m sorry – lender?

Steve Rhode: First Priority Mortgage, yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. And what is the balance on it, roughly?

Steve Rhode: About $200,000.00.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay.

Steve Rhode: It’s my second mortgage. I don’t know if that makes a difference.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: It’s your second?

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. All right, and then do you have a first?

Steve Rhode: I do with – gosh, who was that with – it is with World Savings Bank.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. Is it still with World Savings?

Steve Rhode: Yeah, but the odd thing is, I got the same mailer yesterday for World Savings Bank, but it has a different phone number. So I don’t know if you’re handling both banks, or – ’cause I was going to call them next.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Oh, okay. Yeah, I know, it is both. It’s probably just two letters that pertain to each one.

Steve Rhode: The other one has [redacted].

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Oh, okay.

Steve Rhode: I don’t know if that’s your number.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay, ’cause I’m just curious, ’cause I know World Savings Bank has been selling a lot of their loans off to other banks.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So I was just curious if it was still with them. Okay, what is the balance on your World Savings one?

Steve Rhode: About $450,000.00.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. And do you know what the value of the home is, roughly?

Steve Rhode: Right now it’s just about the value of both mortgages. So it’s about $675,000.00, actually.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. Thank you very much for that.

Steve Rhode: So if this case goes through, if I read the notice correctly, I could eliminate my mortgages.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Correct. What’s happening right now – let me just go ahead and dive in. Thank you for that information. Bob, what’s happening right now is that these mortgage companies __ violations, and ultimately the lawsuit is filed so that you as a homeowner can change the loan terms, and take recourse against your lender once and for all, and get what you actually deserve. The problem here is that all these violations they’ve committed that would qualify you would be things like they were participating in predatory lending, misleading homeowners, discrepancy of how the loan was originated. I’m sure you’ve maybe heard about the robo-signing of documents that were popular. Anything associated with the MERS – the Mortgage Electronic Registration System – that’s a big one as well.

Steve Rhode: Mm-hmm.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: And this is the main one that, obviously, you’re probably aware of, with the way this economy has gone down, is that the banks, they falsely inflating the housing market, and they’ve fully known the correct value of these properties, selling these homes under the inflated price to thousands of homeowners.

So, again, the banks were fully aware that the housing market would crash, and it would trap these homeowners in these outrageously inflated properties, and with no way to really finance out of the loan because of the significant loss of equity.

Steve Rhode: Mm-hmm.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So they are the reason why the housing market crashed. So what this whole lawsuit is about is just getting homeowners the recourse they deserve, because they were put into these loans where they already knew that this market would crash, and these inflated high, high, high loans amounts.

Steve Rhode: Mm-hmm, okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So that’s the main reason for this, so homeowners can get the recourse they deserve. So what you did see on there is that there are cases where homeowners, yes, they have had full lien strips, meaning that they own their home free and clear, because they’ve had so many violations.

Now here’s the reality of this entire lawsuit, that if you were to be named plaintiff in this lawsuit, and do qualify to join, along with the other homeowners, this is the reality of the whole situation, is that you would get a principal reduction of your loan to 80 percent of the fair market value, and you would have a 2 percent fixed rate for the life of the loan.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: That’s the reality of this entire lawsuit right now, at the moment.

Steve Rhode: Okay. So if I join, then that happens?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Correct.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: And the reason why is because, like I said, this isn’t something that’s an “if” situation, this is a “when” it’s gonna happen. Now when a plaintiff gets submitted, and every time – every day we submit a plaintiff and that qualifies, within 30 days we send a notice to the lender – the bank – law office – the attorneys send it out, it’s a 997 form, and what that is a settlement offer to the bank immediately saying that the new case is Roberts – you know – we’re demanding a 80 percent principal reduction to fair market value; a 2 percent fixed rate for the life of the loan. That is what’s being demanded. If they fail to respond within 30 days, the homeowner then would go join the lawsuit as a plaintiff, and the plaintiff, along with the other homeowners that in that – the thousands that are in it, and then be award the amnesty, which is the 80 percent/2 percent, when the whole court case is in trial, it’s completely finished, which is probably going to be within three to six months.

Steve Rhode: The 80 percent/2 percent sounds interesting. Have the banks agreed to any of these yet?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: They have, and when we hang up, just so you know, Bob, I’m going to be sending you all this information; everything you need to look at, I’m going to send you live court documents. This the real thing that is happening with these lenders. And the reason why is that – just to give you quick play-by-play. Over the past year-and-a-half, the banks have literally been kicked out of the courtroom four times – their lawyers over the past year-and-a-half, the most recent one – the last motion was January 11th, two months ago. And Bank of America’s lawyers, and a few others, were kicked literally out of the courtroom – the judge laughed at them ’cause the banks keep trying to drop the case. And the judge said – is telling them – literally telling them, “You guys better have a good exit strategy. You better have that settlement that’s getting ready to be awarded to these homeowners, because you guys are at risk of losing this trial.” He’s more or less telling them, “Get out of the courtroom. We are not dropping this case. It’s going to trial. And you guys do not have a leg to stand on; all the odds are against you. I would not want to be in your shoes right now because, you know, you guys have nothing – no logistical reason why you’ve committed these violations – you can’t back it.”

Steve Rhode: Mm-hmm.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: “There’s no reasoning on what you guys have committed to these homeowners.”

So the banks have their backs into a corner right now. Now the thing is that the reason why this is a win situation is because they’re already settling out the 80 percent/2 percent have done it; have done full lien strips, and also have awarded punitive damages up to $75,000.00 to homeowners. So it’s not like something that’s just created out of thin air, it’s happening as we speak.

So with that being said, that these banks are preparing right now – they’re preparing to go to 80 percent to fair market value, and 2 percent fixed rate for the life of the loan: that is the demands of these attorneys.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: They are demanding this. It’s not a request. It’s nothing like that. And the judge is on the side of these lawyers, because the judge is looking at them going, “You guys” – like, again, “You don’t have any defense on what you guys have done or committed.”

Steve Rhode: Now obviously you’re not doing this for free, so I got to ask the obvious question: What does it cost?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Mm-hmm. The law office does charge a retainer fee, just to get the ball rolling, or $2,500.00 to be retained…

Steve Rhode: Uh-huh.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …and enter into the lawsuit.

Steve Rhode: So is this like a class action suit where I don’t have to pay anything unless you win?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: No, it’s not a class action. Class actions were like if you were to hire an attorney and represent you on a one-on-one basis to challenge a person or entity, and usually class actions you would have no say in the settlement, and the lawyer would get rich off the situation, and the homeowner or the – in this case the homeowner – but the client would get very little. In a mass-joiner lawsuit – the mass-joiner litigation lawsuit such as this, every homeowner comes together as one, and they go together, and go to bat the same exact – you know, they’re fighting for the rights against the same topic. Since everyone’s coming together – the homeowners – everyone gets to share in the cost, but everyone’s awardings would be individualized to their specific situations; hence, you would be awarded whatever’s individualized to your situation.

So if your home’s value is, say, $675,000.00, to put your home that you owe – I’m sorry, the value of your home – fair market value, 80 percent, would be about $540,000.00. So your payments would be right around $2,000.00 a month, at a 2 percent fixed rate for life. That would be your specific awarding from the case.

Steve Rhode: Oh, it sounds pretty good. So…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: And also…

Steve Rhode: Go ahead.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: I’m sorry.

Steve Rhode: You were going to say something, and I cut you off.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Oh, there’s something most recently, so you’re of, that in December of 2010, just most recently, Wells Fargo, in agreement with the California Attorney General, has agreed to modify $2 billion worth of loans, and pay $32 million in damages up to 15,000 homeowners. That was just recently. That’s been in the courts.

Steve Rhode: Well, I wouldn’t mind having a share of that.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Right. So there’s all kinds of stuff happening right now. I mean, this is the big thing. This case is going to be coming to a halt very soon; it can’t stretch on. They’re thinking worse-case scenario, towards the end part of this year, but they’re thinking the reality of this case ending is going more from three to six months is what they foresee. Whoever is on-board – whoever’s a named plaintiff in this lawsuit that qualifies to join will be awarded. And also, getting back to your question, you said class action lawsuit, you got to be behind or current? If you were to qualify, you know, homeowners – subowners – they fall behind, they just don’t care, because they’re part of the suit because they have that protection. Here’s the thing, by law if you are any plaintiff that enters into a lawsuit, and your home was foreclosed on, you could be awarded up to triple damages. That is by law.

Steve Rhode: Oh.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So these banks – that is the least interest of them, is to foreclose on someone’s home if they’re in a lawsuit.

Now what I’m saying is that it’s up to you what you choose to do. You can chose to make your payments, not make your payments, either way, you would have legal representation if you qualify.

Steve Rhode: Mm-hmm. Well, I mean, it sounds like if…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: [Crosstalk] discussion.

Steve Rhode: Sounds like if I joined, I have a better return if I just stop making my payments.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Again, that’s at your discretion. There’s homeowners that are just like, you know, I’m going to stay current, but I want to join the suit because I want to get these awardings when they do get handed out.

Steve Rhode: All right, but let me just make sure I didn’t misunderstand what you’re saying. You were saying that if, for some reason, I was behind on my payments, and I was in this suit, and they went to foreclose on me, that my award could actually be higher.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Yes, you could be awarded up to triple damages.

Steve Rhode: Okay, so who would my attorney be?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: [Redacted], they’re the attorneys that are on this, along with a few others.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Again, I’m going to send you all their information, you can look up their Bar numbers. I’m going to send you live court documents of the conversations that have been happening in court. You’ll be able to have all this information.

Steve Rhode: Okay. Well, can I give you my email address?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Yes.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Absolutely, that’d be perfect.

Steve Rhode: I actually lied about my name, ’cause I didn’t trust you.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Not a problem.

Steve Rhode: My email address is [redacted].

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So your name is Hunter?

Steve Rhode: Hunter [redacted], yes.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Hunter [redacted]. Okay. Hunter, do you have pen handy?

Steve Rhode: I do.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. My name is [redacted], and my number to my direct line at my desk here if you have any questions would be [redacted].

Steve Rhode: Okay. And what’s your email address?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: My email here?

Steve Rhode: Yes.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Is [redacted]

Steve Rhode: Okay – at?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …hold on one second here. Is your – I’m just trying to send it through.

Oh, okay, there we go. There we go. I’m trying to send it right now, the information.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Okay. There, that’s it. Okay, I apologize. I apologize, my name is “[redacted]” like the first letter of my name “[redacted] is my last name.

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Oh, okay. All right, no problem. So…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: [Crosstalk] to.

Steve Rhode: I know, I’m not a multi-tasker myself. So besides the $2,500.00, is there any other percentage that I have to pay the lawyer, or any other money that you’d ask for me, or is the $2,500.00 it?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: That’s just to get retained. The total of the whole entire suit is $5,000.00, but just to get the ball rolling would be retainer would be $2,500.00.

Steve Rhode: Okay, is that $2,500.00 on top of the – I mean, $5,000.00 on top of the $2,500.00?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: No, no. The total cost is no more than $5,000.00. That is “the” actual cost.

Steve Rhode: Okay. And…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: [Crosstalk] the entire suit for every homeowner.

Steve Rhode: How can I pay that?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Homeowner’s pay that – there’s multiple ways they have paid. They’ve either used like maybe a credit card, either a check, or they used a cashier’s check. Some homeowner’s have actually had to say, “You know what, I’ll just take it out of my 401K and pay that back, or my IRA.” It just depends. However you want to pay it; whatever’s most feasible for a homeowner to get involved.

Steve Rhode: Okay. It’s a lot of money, I understand. Is there any sort of idea about: Am I throwing money away, or is this a big risk? Or what?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: No, it wouldn’t be throwing money away whatsoever. See, the thing is, is right now no homeowner really has any recourse with their bank – they really don’t, and people always talk about modifications, but I don’t know if you’ve ever attempted it yourself have you?

Steve Rhode: No, but, I mean, I had friends that paid companies for modifications and never got anything.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Right. And the bottom, so you know, just ’cause, again, I just want to give you all the information that you have at hand as far as to make a great decision. But the bottom line is with homeowners, loan modifications, they don’t work.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: They need expert help and legal help to fight for their rights __ the banks and the lenders. Because these banks – think about it – they have deep pockets; they have trillions of dollars. If they don’t want to modify a loan, they don’t have to. And that’s all it comes down to. You don’t need a third party to do it. A third party maybe knows how to be more aggressive and knows how to dig deeper, but that’s maybe a little bit about it. But homeowner’s are paying these $3,000.00-$3,500.00-$4,000.00 – whatever it costs to do a mod, but, “Oh, sorry, sir, we can’t do it for you.”

Steve Rhode: Right.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: But now you’re out $4,000.00, because mods, I mean, literally if you want the real statistic, there’s only about roughly seven percent of homeowners that apply for a mod – doesn’t matter if it’s a third party or not – that really, actually, truly get a modification that is beneficial to them. And that is it. That is it.

Steve Rhode: Since I’m talking to you about my mortgage, I’m a little bit behind on a couple of my cards, is there anything you can do to help me out with that? Or is – I’m looking for a one-stop solution here.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: [Laughter.] So you have some credit card debt?

Steve Rhode: I do. I do. I mean, I’m current on my mortgages, because, you know, I don’t want to get behind on that. But…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Right, right.

Steve Rhode: …in order to stay current I’ve kind of had…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Dipped in the card.

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Yeah, that’s understandable, and that’s what homeowner’s doing, they’re depleting their cards, they’re depleting their 401Ks, all their retirements funds, to keep current. And it’s an unintended situation.

But we do have companies that we can recommend you to…

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …that we can refer you off to that, obviously, to give you assistance. We don’t handle that in-house here, obviously.

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: We are, you know, a representing attorney firm and have those so that you can actually pursue this mortgage route.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: But we do have companies that would handle that…

Steve Rhode: Right, so…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …and that are very successful with that.

Steve Rhode: I’ve never heard of this – what is it – [redacted] – what?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Yes, [redacted] is the company.

Steve Rhode: Okay. So do you work for the attorney?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Yes.

Steve Rhode: Oh, cool.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: We are one of the only two legal intake firms that are allowed to work with the attorneys that are in this lawsuit. As you will see on the website there, [redacted] – you will see, they’ve only approved two companies to be intake ambassadors for their law office, because obviously they don’t have the time to do that, because they’re busy litigating this entire lawsuit.

Steve Rhode: Right.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So it’s our company, [redacted], and it’s [redacted] Law Firm, are the only two companies that can do this. If you are not with either one of these companies, you are not allowed to legally enter any homeowner as a named plaintiff in this lawsuit, unless you are either one.

Steve Rhode: In any lawsuit? Or…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Not any lawsuit, but this specific one against the banks in this mass general litigation lawsuit.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: There’s already, you know, it’s already been going on for about a year-and-a-half now.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: So if anyone talks to you about litigation, if they’re not either [redacted], or [redacted] Law Firm…

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …then it’s not worth talking to them, because they’re probably just going to take your money. Because there’s been copycats that are out there that are attempting to jump onboard, but they are not legally approved to intake homeowners. So as you will see when I send you this information…

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …that you will see that we are literally one of the only ones that can take this on.

Steve Rhode: Well, I mean, I looked around a little bit and I saw that there was another company, that’s why I didn’t recognize your name, who said that they are helping on this [redacted] – something?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Uh-huh.

Steve Rhode: …but are they not taking on cases? I mean, should I go through you, or…

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Well, my whole thing is that if you look on [redacted] website, you will only see two approvals – two approval called “counsels” that are allowed to be intake ambassadors for their law firm to enter into this lawsuit as plaintiffs. It’s [redacted], which is us, and then there is [redacted] Law Firm.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Those are the only two that they’ve approved. Now that’s just from my knowledge, that’s based on their site, and that’s what they’ve told us.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: That anybody else, you know, they’ve sent an Cease and Desist letters to companies that have been trying to mock – mock as far as being a [redacted] or [redacted] Law Firm, or even a [redacted], they’ve been trying mock them….

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: …and pretend that they’re actually representing them and taking in plaintiffs. And they’ve had to send out a lot of Cease and Desist letters to a lot of companies that were doing that. So that is…

Steve Rhode: How do I know who I can trust because, I mean, these [redacted] people are telling me to go to them, and you’re saying that you’re the intake people?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: Well, we’re one of the two, that’s all I know.

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: That’s all I know, and it shows on the [redacted] website they’re attorneys that are representing this lawsuit.

Steve Rhode: Okay, so if anybody else is telling me that they can help me on a mass – what is this – mass joiner, or joinder – thing about my mortgage, that that’s just not true?

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: At this time I would say “yes.” I’m ___ put a 100 percent on that, but the only proof that I know that we can show homeowners that holds true, is that if you go on [redacted], their website, it just shows on the homepage, it says, “Approved Counsel Members to Intake Plaintiffs,” or whatever it says.

Steve Rhode: Yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: It will have us, and it will have [redacted] Law Firm.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: And that’s it. So that’s just how I know that we can show proof, and it also protects homeowners as well, that are maybe out there maybe getting scammed by other, you know, little copycat-type setup companies that are going to be in this for a year, and then run with everyone’s money, and then homeowner’s are, you know, out of money.

Steve Rhode: Yeah, yeah.

Mass Joinder Marketing Rep: It’s just another one of those scams. So I do want to make you aware of that.

Steve Rhode: Okay.

I can always use your help. If you have a tip or information you want to share, you can get it to me confidentially if you click here.