Phillips Law Center PLC Con artist offering help lowering mortgage payments Newport Beach, California

i was sent a mailer regarding my mortgage with Bank of America and enrollment in the making home affordable program.  I usually throw out these types of mailers, but I had contacted Bank of America as they were my mortgage company and was unable to enroll in the MHA program myself, so I figured I would give them a call.  I advised them that my mortgage was now handled through a different bank, but they assured me they could help me. 

They explained to me how the MHA program works to lower the interest rate and payment on home loans and that banks don't usually answer honestly when an average customer requests enrollment.  They carefully went over with me how I should not be paying more than 35% of my income in mortgage payment and advised me if I had a recent drop in income that my payments could be reduced due to the MHA program being made available until the end of the year by the goverment.  They even e-mailed me youtube news posts showing how banks lie in order to not enroll people in the program and lower their payments.  They requested my personal bank statements, w2 forms, pay stubs, copy of a utility bill, etc., so they could determine how much my mortgage could be reduced by enrolling.  i had called my bank myself and so everything they said seemed believable.  I paid them the $2995 they requested and mailed them the check along with hard copies of the documents mentioned.  They advised me to write a hardship letter to my mortgage company advising that I would hold off on making payments while the PLC firm was handling overwriting my loan, they advised me to describe my lower income and request those few payments be added to the end of the loan.  They told me the money I was paying them ($2995) would be basically the same money I would not be paying to the mortgage company for the next 2 months while they secure the new payment amount.  They did an excellent job convincing me because I usually do not fall for these types of things.

I began getting calls from my mortgage company when I did not make a payment, and I had been current on my payments when I began this process.  I asked them if they received the hardship letter and they had not, they only wanted me to make a payment immediately and it was a Saturday at the end of the month, they advised I would be turned to collections on Monday.  I was upset and tried to contact PLC and could not get an answer.  I sent numerous e-mails to them, even one to Brent Phillips, the head of the firm, whose information I found online. I wrote a report with the BBB in Newport Beach that day.  I received a call after that from Brent Phillips who advised me they were moving from building to building and the phones were off, and he apologized, he said that the mortgage company/collectors were lying to me and that is how they get people to pay them money and said they were collection agents, not really the mortgage company and that I should not believe them.  I advised my mortgage company at that point to only talk to Phillips Law Center with regards to my file as they had power of attorney.  Now my mortgage company could not get PLC to answer when they called, and they had a note on the file from me stating they were only to speak to them.  My mortgage company began the process of foreclosure and each time i received a letter in the mail, I would call PLC and be advised this is normal and to ignore it, they would be done soon and they were only waiting to hear from the mortgage company.  Once I received final notification from my mortgage company on foreclosure and what payments I would need to arrange to make it stop, I started frantically calling PLC to only get answering machines and no return calls to many messages.  I called the original 800 number where I began this journey and did get an answer, but they would only take a message and promise a call back within 48 hours, I was even given the name of the person who answered and told to call him if I did not get a call back from the rep I was working with.  I did call him back and he gave me the supervisor who promised she would handle it and call me in 24 hours, again, no call back.  At this point, I made the deal with my mortgage company to keep myself from being foreclosed on and losing my home.

I went in to this with $3000 in savings and current on my mortgage.  I was struggling to make that mortgage payment, but I was making it.  I am legally blind, on disability and have suffered a big loss of income this past year.  My husband is awaiting trial sitting in jail for a crime he did not commit so he cannot work right now and contribute to the household.  PLC learned of my hardships and took advantage of it and did nothing for me except almost lose me my house.  Do not deal with these people, they are very good at e-mailing information, but only call on the phone when it is something they wouldn't want to leave in writing where you could use it against them.  They claim on their website to be BBB approved, they are not and have many complaints filed against them.  I have filed a complaint with the goverment, as advised to do by my morgage company, and I surely wish I could get my money back.  Right now, all I can do is warn others to stay away from these people.  I dealt with many of them, and the names I have memory of or e-mails from are:  Lydia Lopez, Henry, Vanessa, Veronica Guitterez, Elizabeth Hinojoza, Carolina Lucas and of course, Brent Phillips.