“Dear Andy,
Tried twice to to get a modification with BOA with no success,have ask a law firm to help, but cant find any info on the firm
Should I retain this law firm from calif. THEY WHAT THREE PAYMENTS ONE TO START, THEN ONE IN THE MIDDLE AND THE REST AT THE END. 1500-1000-500.
Sr. Underwriter
Toll Free: 866-887-4691 xt. 303
Fax: 877-890-5237
Website: www.aslawgroup.com
Email: Joperana@aslawgroup.com
Charles”
Dear Charles,
I cannot tell you whether or not to use All State Law Group. I’ve never heard of them, and I have no first-hand experience with them.
First, you should know that as of Jan 2011 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) implemented a new nationwide rule that regulates how all mortgage relief providers are allowed to operate. Non-attorney’s are not allowed to accept any upfront fees whatsoever, and here is how the FTC words their exemption for attorney’s:
Attorneys are generally exempt from the rule if they meet three conditions: they are engaged in the practice of law, they are licensed in the state where the consumer or the dwelling is located, and they are complying with state laws and regulations governing attorney conduct related to the rule. To be exempt from the advance fee ban, attorneys must meet a fourth requirement – they must place any fees they collect in a client trust account and abide by state laws and regulations covering such accounts. – Source
Does All State Law Group meet all of these requirements? I don’t know, but before you send them one dime, you will want to make sure they do. There are way too many horror stories of homeowners trusting both attorney’s and non-attorney’s to modify their loan, and ending up with nothing in return. If they’re in the business they should be well aware of these rules and transparent about their compliance with them.
The next issue that raises some concern is the fact that you have already tried to modify your loan twice now, unsuccessfully. Why did BOA deny the modification previously? If they have your finances accurately on file, and they denied you for either too much or not enough income, there won’t be much that anybody is able to do to change the outcome. BOA does not have any obligation to modify your loan, you must qualify for the programs available. If you don’t qualify based on your accurate financials, the only option you would have to modify would be to either lie about your income/expenses, or truly increase or decrease your income/expenses.
Before you go hiring an attorney and paying $3000 to make a third attempt at modification, you should get further assurance that you are in fact a good candidate. Otherwise you could end up wasting a lot of time and money that could be better spent pursuing other options.
Good luck and please keep us posted in the comment section below. I am subscribed to this post and can always answer any questions you may have in the future.
Andy
Andy is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts and is the founder of Northeast Properties in Norton, Massachusetts. His brokerage is designed to help homeowners in today’s difficult real estate market, specializing in short sales. Andy speaks with Massachusetts homeowners every day, helping them to address their questions or issues with short sale or loan modification. He enjoys helping consumers arrive at the correct solution to their problem, and believes that the only way to correctly do that is by presenting them with all of their options in an un-biased manner.
If you have a mortgage, short sale, real estate, or loan modification question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.
- How Can We Get Our Short Sale Approved Fast? – Mary - April 2, 2012
- How Can We Get Bank of America to Modify Our FHA Mortgage. We Make Less Now. – Dana - January 4, 2012
- We Are Trying to Buy a House With a Short Sale But It’s Going Nowhere. – Joy - December 15, 2011
Please, DO NOT USE Allstate law group to get a loan modification from any bank. They are HORRIBLE!!!!. They take your money and do nothing. They make a few calls and thats it. I used them but in the end I got used by them. They did not do anything they said they would do. I wasted my money DON”T waste yours. I had to hire a local attorney in my state and pay him as well. He was able to get things done. Allstate Law Firm is a waste of time and money.
i have sent All State Law Group of either irvine,ca. or cerritos,ca.$3400.00 and for the last 5 mo. i have gotten knowhere’s. they don,t answer thier phone or when they do they ask for paper work you have sent before! i don’t know what to do !@#$%^& they got my money and my papers and i can.t get a steady hand on them,
Please
read this article
http://www.dsnews.com/articles/index/california-law-firm-owners-and-attorney-arrest-for-modificaiton-fraud-2012-03-08
We all
have to call FBI on All State Law Group. My loan is still not modified and
never will. By law, bank doesn’t talk to a third party without our verbal or
written authorization, that means the negotiators (that’s the way All State Law
group people call them self) never call to the bank to negotiate our mortgages.
All they did is sent our documents for modification to the bank and we can do
it our self for free. Let’s all cooperate and try to recover our credits and
money.
terry, i have conteacted the real estate board and they told me to get checks or copies from your bank and the real estate board will send you paper to fill out andi am hop[ing that i can re-coup my money. mine is the same thing your going thru. hope this help. real estate boards number is 213-576-6248 Terry L.W.
This comment might be a little late for your situation, but for future reference, I would certainly NOT RECOMMEND DOING BUSINESS WITH STATE LAW GROUP. My husband lost his job back in Nov 2010, therefore lost our main household income. We contacted our mortgage lender to try to get a loan modification on our own without much success since they kept giving us the runaround until our mortgage went onto default in March. That’s when we were approached by State Law Group who stated our lender had referred them to us. They told us we would certainly qualify for a loan modification program, that the process would take no longer than a couple of months, and that payments and interest would be much lower than our original payments, for a fee of $3500 in 3 installment payments. At that point we signed a contract with them and gave the 1st installment. We did not hear from them for about a month or so, this was April 2011, we called, they replied the representative taking care of our case was no longer with their company and asked for 2nd installment in order to proceed, we paid and they advised us not to make payments since it could jeopardize the modification request. Did not hear from them for another 1 1/2 months. We called and demanded answers, June 2011, and requested the 3rd installment to proceed but we refused until they did what they promised they would do, they replied the 2nd representative had also left due to illness. Playing mary-go-around, finally got a response from the lender end of Oct 2011 with a payment trial period of 3 months, we questioned the amount since it was no different than the original amount we usually paid, State Law Group “Mr. Acuna”, to be more specific, stated “this will not be your monthly payment under the modification agreement, your payments would be much lower, these 3 payments are just to show you are willing to go through the process, and requested the final payment, and we paid. We just got our lender’s offer for the modification, but monthly payment amounts as well as interest rate remained exactly the same. When requested State Law Group’s advise and asked where was the modification made, they replied they did their job our case was closed. $3000 short, credit ruined…”modification” I don’t think so, rip off/scam, absolutely. I am totally convinced if we did not keep swamping them with calls and emails almost on daily basis, they would have disregarded our case and left us in the dust. Just want to inform anyone in need that has been approached by some “lawyer”, get credentials first, get very informed, and if possible go to a lawyer referred by someone you trust. We will still pursue other means in regards this matter, but don’t just trust anybody who approaches you and promise to help you. We learned our lesson…
i was referring to State Law Group, not All-State Law Group. I am sure they are not the same, at least not that i am aware of.
Just to
let you all know that our loan is still not modified, since May. By the way the
All State Law Group checked our documents before we send them $4,500.00. They
promised that our loan will be modified in a time frame from 60-120 days. I am
calling them every week for 8 month and the answer is always the same: “We
are working with your lender, you have to wait”, but for how long…
I think
the next time I ‘ll call them, they will tell me: “Thank you for your generous donation , Happy
New Year”
this entire blog seems a little odd. i have used State Law, i live in New York. They never told me it was guaranteed, or how long it would take, and i respected that. how could a law firm guarantee anything? they charged me, i paid them. fair and square. Alex returned all my phone calls and updated me once a week. i was modified in 3 and half months. again, i googled state law out of curiosity, and now am very suspicious about this “get out of debt guy”. who should i trust more? a law office with licensing to lose? or “get out of debt guy”.
from a homeowner’s standpoint, i wouldn’t be surprised if this guy is hired by the banks and servicing companies to trash law firms protecting homeowners.
I used State Law Group and had no problems at all. Everything went through, even though nothing was gauranteed. They even let me make three payments to pay my retainer fee while they worked on my file. I’m now saving $680/mo. on my mortgage with Wells Fargo. I was a little skiddish before, but would definitely recommend them now.
Joe, how long did the process take you? Any names of arbitrators you worked with that you can share just so I know it’s the same people?
Joe, how long did the process take you? Any names of arbitrators you worked with that you can share just so I know it’s the same people?
Odanis – It was a little less than the 90 days they quoted me. I don’t remember exactly how long it was. My hardship analyst was a gentleman named Dana (like the girls name, lol). He was great in getting our file into their processing department where I had a nice lady by the name of Kay assigned as my processor. It was so much better than trying to deal with Wells Fargo myself.
I used State Law Group and had no problems at all. Everything went through, even though nothing was gauranteed. They even let me make three payments to pay my retainer fee while they worked on my file. I’m now saving $680/mo. on my mortgage with Wells Fargo. I was a little skiddish before, but would definitely recommend them now.
I used State Law Group and had no problems at all. Everything went through, even though nothing was gauranteed. They even let me make three payments to pay my retainer fee while they worked on my file. I’m now saving $680/mo. on my mortgage with Wells Fargo. I was a little skiddish before, but would definitely recommend them now.
DONT DO IT. ITS A SCAM. They took my money, said my loan was modified and then when I called my lender to accept they said I had not been approved for a modification. Now SLG wont return my calls or emails.
This discussion refers to ALL State Law Group and State Law Group. Are they one and the same. I’m working with State Law Group (no All in front of it) and am having some concerns.
I have been talking to a Senior Arbitrator from All State, but for what I read below its the same story. $3000 retainer, put in a trust with a guaranteed 2%-4% modification rate. Now I am hesitant to sign anything after reading the posts and seeing that Amy hasn’t posted an update.
Nothing is going on. I lost my hope and money. I don’t think I ever going to have any result. Don’t trust them.
Jennifer,
Please keep me posted as to the outcome working with State Law Group. I am currently in contacyt with them and ready to sign the retainer but I’m very hesitant while searching for a reason not to move forward. The lawyer they hae assign to my case is passing my reasearch and her California Bar Number shows no sign of a scam or posted examples of mis repensentation on the State Bar of California website. Although what they say and what you posted is very promissing, I would love to hear about a success story working with State Law Group…
I
have the same problems as Jackburns, Amy and Boston. All lines are busy, no one
ever gets back for over 6 months. They got my money and they mission is accomplished.
This company is a scam and we all have to do something to get our money back.
The company is a scam, they need to be in jail.
I can tell you first hand these folks are about as clueless as it gets. I took the bait for the same reasons many of you out there want to; banks have no incentive to help unless we are walking away and even then they’d rather have the property to resell than help folks like you and I stay in it. All State promised resolution in six weeks to three months. It’s now month six. I’ve been through three legal processors (glorified paperwork jockeys just out of high school it seems) and all of them are no longer with the firm. Nobody contacts you except when the bank requests all your documets again in a classic stall tactic hoping you’ll give up and nobody is available to give you an update…ever. Worst law firm I’ve ever been associated with hands down. Save your money. – Burned in Boston
I totally agree with Boston.I am in the same situation from May 2011. As soon as I send them money overnight, they never call me back. Nobody contacts me for a 120 days, not even a bank for additional documents. Don’t trust them and don’t send them money.
I am in the same boat as Amy and Boston. I have been working with them since June and they were great at the beginning. Now I cant get through for over a month, no one calls you back and even all email for them is supposedly down. I have emailed all contacts I have for them and they come back undeliverable. Not sure what is going on over there. Not to mention calling all numbers I have for them tonight, all 4 lines are just ringing busy. Save your money. Seems this company is a scam.
My husband was referred to State Law Group and we are currently working with them. They did require a prescreening to ensure we were candidates and after qualifying took us as clients. Myself and my husband have had a loss in income and Wells Fargo said they were working with us by putting us in a modification…yeah, right !!!! Wells Fargo really messed up our credit and our payments didn’t go down AT ALL even though we made payments according to the modification Wells Fargo had reported us delinquent for 3 yrs while in their wonderful modification program. (sarcastically speaking). State Law group asked for $3,000 as a retainer/fee and we are in our second month with them negotiating with our lender, Wells Fargo, and so far so good. At least the headaches of dealing with Wells Fargo have been diminished, but my husband and I feel that this law firm is doing well. We were informed that it would be approximately 90 days before all is said and done. We weren’t made any promises of low rates but given expectations that it would be lower (around 2 maybe 3%) but told no guarantees. They seem to be honest and aren’t looking to take on a client unless they feel they will be able to do something in the clients best interest. We will know next month what an outcome will be for us but I will let you all know. As of this point, we are happy we have State Law Group on our side.
Jennifer,
Please keep me posted as to the outcome working with State Law Group. I am currently in contacyt with them and ready to sign the retainer but I’m very hesitant while searching for a reason not to move forward. The lawyer they hae assign to my case is passing my reasearch and her California Bar Number shows no sign of a scam or posted examples of mis repensentation on the State Bar of California website. Although what they say and what you posted is very promissing, I would love to hear about a success story working with State Law Group…
Jennifer, Do you have a success story for us? I hope your loan modification went through.. Please advice…
Hello Jennifer, I am currently working with them as well, and I was wondering how it went with you and State Law Group.. I don’t know if I should fully trust them either but I’m hoping that they keep their word.
Andy – did you go with All State Law group? Were you able to modify your loan?
NO update from Charles? I’m very curious if he went ahead with them? And if he obtained a loan mod via them for BoA.
NO update from Charles? I’m very curious if he went ahead with them? And if he obtained a loan mod via them for BoA.