Use your attorney general’s office. It’s consumer complaint division specifically. I’ve relied on its services to correct some wrongs and found the office to be prompt and effective. I even received a follow-up letter to make sure I was a satisified citizen and to thank me for using their office.
The AG folks want you to call. They are there to help and wish more people would step forward. Because when people don’t, they know the scammers can rip people off and get away with it. The more the AG office knows, the more it can do.
And the scams are on. Marsha and I have been the targets of several lately. The more recent ones first began with phishing calls from someone saying we could face prison for Medicare fraud if we didn’t call now and provide them our information so they could “help.”
But these phishing calls and similar attempts don’t have to be so peculiar. Many come from familiar, respected places. Mr. Cooper, formerly Nationstar, a home-loan agency based in Dallas, that despite my attempts sat for months on thousands of dollars in escrow money that was mine. I contacted my Arizona senators at the time, Jeff Flake and John McCain; I wrote Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and finally, and most effectively, the Arizona attorney general. I documented my case via email and in 10 days I got my money and a “What did you do that for?” response from Mr. Cooper.
I wasn’t done with Mr. Cooper though. Nooo. When interest rates fell, I asked about a refinance on a dwelling I owned to pull out some cash. An agent said, that’d be fine but you have a $43,000 balloon payment on top of your principal amount so I probably wouldn’t be able to get much. I asked about the origin of this balloon payment and was told that it was attached as part of a loan modification. I said I had never seen, signed or authorized any such thing.
After getting nowhere speaking to various figures up the bank’s food chain and anticipating a months-long foot dragging, I emailed the attorney general. In a week I had a letter of apology saying the balloon paymen was stripped from the loan and various documents that proved my side of the case.
I’m investigating whether Mr. Cooper has made a practice of putting similar lofty balloon payments onto home loans of those not confident or aware of how they can fight back. My feeling is someone at Mr. Cooper tacked on this balloon payment intentionally and if they get caught, say it was all a mistake, and if not, cash in on the gravy. If so, I’d like to prove it.
My wife Marsha also has been targeted, ranging from magazines we did not order yet get an invoice for, to a $600 bogus cosmetics order. When Marsha called and pressed her case, the superviser said to keep the cosmetics and accept her apology. Something similar occurred with a different company, so we’ve think these companies have concluded that it’s better to send these products out and get back what they get back. If they get a payment, that more than pays for the give-away of the less successful phishing attempts. Marsha was a target of the Wells Fargo scam; and another where a high-end Scottsdale clothing store signed her on to an American Express Card that she did not want. She also discovered Bank of America had charged her $6/month for an ID theft protection that, again, she didn’t sign up for. It was a deal where BofA sent Marsha correspondence that read if you don’t want it, check this box. It’s doubful the correspondence was ever read, so the box went unchecked. I noticed the charge on her statement and questioned her about it. It had been going on for years. BofA paid Marsha over $600 for the bogus charge.
The lesson here is you can stand up for yourself where you can and when those forces against you seem too powerful and too manipulative, know that a powerful ally is an email or phone call away that loves to bring these forces to heel.
