First Guarantee Mortgage They're liars, ripped me off and continue to give me the run-around! Saratoga New York

Where to start,,, I received several phone calls from a Michael Rabbit, "senior loan officer" with First Guarantee Mortgage. Michael told me how much FGM could help my financial situation by paying off my debt doing a refi on my home. After several calls and several promises about how M. Rabbit and FGM could save me money and better my credit situation I decided to trust him. M. Rabbit discussed with me which bills would be paid off and mailed me the paperwork showing the bills they would pay off. I was told that they had the perfect program for my situation, "The Stepping Stone Program" as he referred to it.

M. Rabbit told me the program was used to help get credit back in order(my credit wasn't too bad, but i had a couple late payments while I had been recovering from surgery that had hurt my credit). He stated that if I paid on time mortgage payments for 6 mos. that I would be refinanced at a lower rate with no more closing costs incurred and that this program would be great for me because he saw that my only real negative credit was during that timeframe I mentioned above.

As I continued through FGM's dishonest process things were continuously changing. Of course my interest rates increased because they claimed my credit scores got worse since the original quote but yet they couldn't explain from where the decline in scores came from. Anyhow, I produced all the paperwork required and faxed them over to M. Rabbit. The process took longer then I was told it would. I held off paying my car note as they said I would be closing before it was due and as they agreed it was being paid off by them.(BTW, FGM never did pay off that debt)

Now during this whole process I kept in touch with M. Rabbit to verify that things were happening as promised to which he said things were happening as he said it would. The day before the supposed closing date M. Rabbit called me to inform me that my debt ratio was too high and that they would have to split the one loan into two loans, that it wouldn't cost me anything additional and that the loans would close back to back and all terms would stay the same. This made me very nervous but again he claimed everything was on the up and up. He and another employee at FGM went over the details of both loans with me including which loans would be paying off which debts and they went over all the numbers involved.

Closing date came and of course I was closing on the larger of the two loans first and then was led to believe I would then close on the second loan. Of course the numbers weren't as promised but I continued through the signing of the first loan. After I was done signing I asked the closing agent if we were doing the second loan to which she replied she didn't know anything about a second loan.

I called M. Rabbit with the agent sitting right there and asked him why the lady knew nothing about the second loan. M. Rabbit told me at that point that we couldn't close on the same day and that we would close either Monday or Tuesday of the following week as it was now Friday. The loan agent said she could come back and close the second loan as well.

On Monday I called FGM and M. Rabbit was not returning my calls, I knew my car payment was going to be late if I didn't close in time. I finally got through to M. Rabbit and I told him I was going to back out of the first loan because things weren't happening as he said they would. He assured me that everything was still a go and that I would be closing the next day on Tuesday, so I trusted him again and didn't pull out of the first loan, now my 3 days had expired!!

Come Tuesday, nobody showed up for my closing and M. Rabbit was not returning my calls. I called his supposed supervisor to complain and he got M. Rabbit to call me back of course with all his excuses. M. Rabbit then told me I would be closing on Thursday. Thursday came and went and nobody showed up to do the closing. At this point I now got my 30 day late on my car note because the second loan that was paying that debt didn't happen.

I tried all week to get ahold of M. Rabbit and he wouldn't return my calls so once again I went through his "supervisor" and then through the supervisor's "supervisor" only to be told that there was no other "second loan" and according to him there never was, so......I at this point was beyond upset. I told FGM what I had been promised and that I never would have done the first loan without getting the second loan as it was the second loan that was going to provide my financial relief.

I told them that I called and talked to M. Rabbit on my last day to pull out of the first loan as that was my intention only to be lied to by M. Rabbit about closing the following day, he stopped me from pulling out of that first loan. I was told there was nothing they, FGM, could do except to fire M. Rabbit ,which they claim they did, until after my bills got paid off and then my debt ratio would improve and then they could do the second loan but of course not with the same terms promised to me.

Well it has now been almost a year past and many calls and more promises, I don't need the second loan anymore but I am now left with a higher interest rate and a higher mortgage note. I have continued to complain to them and around the 6th month mark I started getting calls from FGM about refinancing like they had forgotten that I had already been through the ringer with them.

When I informed them about my previous #@*#% job the fellow put me on the phone with another supervisor so I went through the whole story with him and I let him know that I was not finished with them at this point and that I would pursue legal action if necessary. They asked me what they could do so I said the least they could do was get me out of the loan I was in and since at this point it was now over 6 months so therefore they could refinance my loan at a better rate with no closing costs since after all that was the "Stepping Stone Program" that I was in!!!

He tells me he would see what he could do to make better what M. Rabbit and FGM had done. Well his name was Brandon Cott and he didn't come through for me and he didn't even call me back so I called and threatened legal action and I finally got a call back from another guy who claimed he was at the top of the line in the company( he actually claims he helped start the company) and that he could make things better. He said he could give me a much better rate (6%) as mine is now over 7% and that the closing costs would be minimal ,ie.. a couple hundred dollars.

He told me he ordered my file and that he would call me in a few days with a resolution. He said he had to see if there were any pre-payment penalities with the loan I now have. I said there wasn't any because that is what I was told by M. Rabbit and not to mention the whole idea the the "Stepping Stone Program" is that one would be refi-ing in 6 months to a year under the program if they made the payments on time, therefore why the hell would anyone be given a pre-payment penalty loan when in that program. I didn't hear back from him even after I left several messages until today and this is what I was told.

BTW, this guys name is Jeff Silvestor and he carries the same title as M. Rabbit (senior loan officer, go figure, but yet he started the company!!). I was told today that there is a pre-payment penality, lots of $$$, and that there is nothing in my records saying I was in the program, but he could still get me that 6% interest rate.I have several letters from M. Rabbit saying I am in the program but yet they claim it is not mentioned in my folder. To refinance under what he offered would now cost me about $16,000 in penality fees.

Sounds like a deal, yeah right!!!! I will be trying to go after FGM legally and wish that any others that got messed over by FGM would get in touch with me because the more people that go after them legally to reclaim the money and bad credit FGM has caused them the better the chances of winning the claims against them. Oh and one more lie was the money I would get back after closing such as my closing costs being tax deductable and some money back from FGM that had to do with closing costs, never got that money back and I was told that my closing costs were not tax deductable. Guess now I'm just not surprised anymore!!

Theresa
Huntingtown, Maryland
U.S.A.