A fantastic reader / tipster (send in your tips here) sent me the following press release. Anyone know what Linda Remsberg is doing now?
I looked at noteworld.com and that redirects to Evergreen Note Servicing (notecollection.com) (which appears to actually be Evergreen Escrow, Inc.)and Meracord.com goes to a non-existent site. Interestingly, Evergreen Note Servicing sounds a hell of a lot like the original NoteWorld I knew back in the day.
I have no idea if there is or was any connection between the two companies. Both are or were registered in Washington and both were in a similar line of business at one time. Who knows, maybe the noteworld.com domain name just expired and Evergreen snatched it up.
It’s a real shame that NoteWorld met it’s fate with the debt relief industry. I had known of them before they got involved with debt relief and they were a great company. But I never could figure out why they were so blinded by the debt settlement industry. It was apparent from day one there were non-licensed debt settlement companies that NoteWorld (later Meracord) were involved with. It seemed pretty damn obvious they were playing a critical role between obtaining money from consumers and distributing it to problematic companies. And in the end, it’s part of what caused the enterprise to crash and burn.
After the heyday of debt settlement passed I think I remember Meracord getting into working with student loan debt relief companies.
Here is how Meracord still identifies themselves on Linkedin.
I Don’t Think Anyone Can Survive a $1.45 Billion Default Judgment
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a consumer-protection law firm, today announced that United States District Court Judge Benjamin Settle issued a $1.45 billion default judgment in the firm’s lawsuit against Noteworld LLC (“Noteworld”), which has since changed its name to Meracord. Hagens Berman, along with co-counsel the Paynter Law Firm, filed its lawsuit in 2011, on behalf of consumers nationwide, claiming the company violated Washington law and the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) by conspiring with debt settlement providers to defraud consumers through trust accounts related to useless debt-settlement programs.
Following years of plaintiff victories in the District Court and in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, Judge Settle granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and default final judgment against the Tacoma, WA company after Meracord ceased defending itself from plaintiffs’ claims.
“Meracord was the lynchpin in a broad criminal enterprise which directly facilitated the fleecing of hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting consumers who only wanted to pay the debts they owed,” said Steve Berman, managing partner at Hagens Berman. “Meracord sent hundreds of millions of dollars in exorbitant and unearned fees to fraudulent debt-settlement companies and charged its own inflated fees on each and every transaction. This judgment will help to put those fees back in the pockets of consumers who were misled while trying to settle their debts.”
“While it is unlikely Meracord, which is now defunct, will provide funds directly to consumers under the judgment, it does serve two important purposes,” added Hagens Berman Partner Thomas Loeser, who managed the litigation. “First, it sends an unmistakable message to companies that knowingly facilitate consumer fraud that they will be held accountable. And second, with this judgment, Hagens Berman will pursue class members’ damages through the surety bonds that various states required Meracord to maintain.” Hagens Berman has identified about $20 million in bond coverage, and those amounts could be substantially increased through insurance bad faith and interest claims.
Mr. Loeser added, “In the end we hope that we will be able to return some portion of the losses to these consumers who, while struggling financially, only wanted to do the right thing.”
According to the lawsuit, Meracord claimed to act as a fiduciary, independent from front-end debt settlement companies (“front DSCs”). In reality, the complaint argues, the front-DSCs used predatory tactics to sign up distressed borrowers for debt settlement plans, and then Meracord conspired with the front DSCs to loot consumers’ debt settlement accounts through exorbitant up front and per-transaction fees, leaving little or nothing for actual debt settlements. – Source
- Who Knew TitleMax Sucked This Bad? - February 23, 2023
- Litigation Practice Group Lawsuit by Business Partner All Service Financial – We Want Our Money - January 24, 2023
- HomeAdvisor and Angi to Pay Up To $7.2 Million and Stop Deceptively Marketing its Leads for Home Improvement Projects - January 23, 2023
Meracord shut down at the end of November 2013 after they were fined by the CFPB and unable to reach resolution on the class action law suits. This is after they sold the servicing rights on the seller finance notes to Evergreen.
When the court closed Fidelity they immediately continued to collect payments under the names of Mizner Grande Law and Cloud Legal and instead of using Meracord they used the very same person to process all payments from Meracord, but they were instead processed thru Evergreen. This started within 48 hours of their shut down. This is when I knew things weren’t smelling right any longer because in the beginning they played it off as if the Gov’t was against them because they were beating the banks and protecting homeowners. I’m not affiliated with these people, but I factually know with 100% certainty that they still collect payments from these people under the flag of Mizner Grande Law, Cloud Legal, and other names I’m sure and still use Evergreen and other means to collect as well.
Well Mizner Grande Law has joined the ranks of the fallen. Cloud Legal Services, which was incorporated in 2/13 right after the Fidelity fiasco, looks to be just another incarnation from the scumbags that previously brought you Elimi-debt, The Center For Legal Justice, August Belmont and Co, Fidelity land Trust, Hess-Kennedy, etc.. The govt is not against them because they are beating the banks my friend. The govt is against them because they continually take advantage of consumers/homeowners in need and prey on their situation making them worse off just so they can scam the few dollars these people have left to continue to live a lavish lifestyle in sunny Florida, land of the criminal.