“Dear Steve,
Received a call from a Mr. Chapman from Meracord offering to get us a loan modification for less than what we pay on two mortgages now. Claims that there is no charge for this they get paid by the company they work for? He just asked for $1,060. in escrow and told us not to pay next months mortgage. In checking things out I read your article about it formerly being Noteworld and that they did not have a good reputation and that all the “players” at Mercord were the same as at Noteworld. We are seniors and a terrified of being scammed yet again.
Please verify that Meracord is legit and we are not yet again being taken down the garden path. We are desperately in need of help, but the right kind of help not another scam. Thank you.
Noreen”
Dear Noreen,
Well that would be odd indeed. I have no idea why a third-party escrow company would call to sell you a loan modification program.
Asking for money in advance and telling you to not pay your next mortgage payment is highly suspect.
Before you do anything I suggest you contact a free HUD Housing Counselor and discuss your situation with them. Alternatively if you are eligible for a loan modification you can contact your lender yourself.
Asking for advance fees for mortgage assistance does violate the FTC Mortgage Assistance Relief Services rule that says:
Know your Rights
The FTC’s MARS Rule gives you rights – and sets out requirements for people who sell mortgage assistance relief services:
You don’t have to pay any money until the company delivers the results you want. It’s illegal for a company to charge you a penny until:
- it’s given you a written offer for a loan modification or other relief from your lender; and
- you accept the offer. The company also must give you a document from your lender showing the changes to your loan if you decide to accept your lender’s offer. And the company must clearly tell you the total fee it will charge you for its services. – Source
What I’m hoping is that this is a mistake and the person who called you did not work for Meracord but instead used their name without authorization or permission.
The folks over at Meracord are generally very good about responding to posts on this site so I’m hoping they will respond to this one and shed some clarity on the issue.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
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And Mr.Chapman is not working for but with Meracord as a 3rd party broker!
I just want to thank him and his team for all the SAVINGS!!!
I would like to know what “the different way of doing things” is also? I got the same call from Mr. Chapman. He preapproved me for a new reduced loan and principal reduction. He said it would take 4 months for this to go thru and in that time I would send my mortgage payments thru Meracord to be held in escrow. I am not very comfortable with that and not paying my mortgage. Please advise.
They don’t do loan modification… They have a different way of doing things.
They have helped me out tremendously!! Thanks DSS
What is the different way of doing things?
Dear Noreen,
You were correct to be cautious about the information you received and do a bit of checking on your own. I’d like to assure you that no person by that name works for Meracord. More importantly, selling loan modification programs isn’t even a business our company is engaged in.
Meracord, formerly NoteWorld Servicing Center, is a 3rd party payment service provider. We provide payment processing services according to the contract instructions between two parties. This means that we receive, process and post payments from customers, hold payments in a trust account and disburse the funds based on the instructions provided by the parties. We’ve been in business for over 30 years and have built a reputation for taking extra steps to provide secure and accurate service to our customers, as well as ensure that we are complying with state and federal regulations for our customers’ protection. If you want to learn more about us, please feel free to visit our website at http://www.meracord.com or give us a call at (800) 535-9192.
Steve has offered you some great advice and information and I’m happy that you reached out to find out more information before moving forward. We love to see consumers taking the steps to ensure that their money is safe.
Thank you Meracord for responding.