WJ Bradley Mortgage Capital, Rick Sidley Beware of Fraudulent Practices San Diego, Rancho Bernado, Temecula California

I would like to explain my experience with WJ Bradley as I was with the company from August 2011 until August of 2013. After being a very loyal employee and top producer I have seen the beginning and end of WJ Bradley and want all new prospective or current employees to understand what I went through so they don’t make the same mistake.

During the first 8 months of my employment at WJ Bradley it was great, they were still a smaller organization and they really put the loan officers first. Over the course of my employment they acquired smaller broker shops to come aboard as WJ Bradley and then found some larger ones which really affected how the company operated. When HARP 2 came out and when they acquired Legacy and Emery Financial was really when the company changed gears.

Below are a few things that they changed for ONLY the ones who worked at smaller shops: (Remember we started with the company and were the truly loyal ones).

1. Underwriting turn times went from 16 business hours to sometimes over 15 business days!
2. We were unable to submit a loan without it being locked and the appraisal back in on refinances. Purchases we had to have the loan locked, appraisal was not required back to submit the loan at this time.
3. Lock Extensions? Good luck getting one of those credited to you because it was the companies fault. They would find any reason in the book to say it was your fault rather than their insane turn times which caused the extension. I maybe was able to get a couple locks extended with the cost of the company and I was one of their top producers ranked in the top 50 loan officers month after month.
4. Overlays, overlays, overlays – they would have these stupid rules unlike any other lender which prevented you from funding the loans. They were more concerned with the price they were able to sell the loans on the secondary market and wanted “perfect loans.” Many of my clients ended up getting funded from a different company that actually worked under the guidelines.
5. INTEREST RATES! There is an extreme amount of competition between branches and corporate and most of the larger branches had better pricing than the smaller ones. Why? Because they did more volume and were able to secure a better bottom line than the other branches. This created competition even locally between branches and should never be the case. We shouldn’t be competing against the same company; it only causes problems down the line.

These are just a few of the reasons I decided to leave WJ Bradley and it seems like I left at the right time!  

Now to explain what happened to me both during and after my resignation/termination with WJ Bradley.

I worked in the Rancho Bernardo office which Rick Sidley was the branch manager and Nick (Dominic) Carcioppolo was the “Operations Manager” who really didn’t do much. Rick Sidley was rarely in the office and still to this day I can’t understand what Nick was doing there besides creating these really colorful spreadsheets. How did this help our business, I have absolutely no idea and I know for a fact he was paid an ungodly salary for this. This caused an extreme amount of turmoil in our office bringing Nick on board. I have to say that this was the end of our group, not because he was a bad guy but more because of what transpired after he was hired. We had two teams at this branch, what you would call Inside Loan Officers who took leads and Outside Loan Officers which brought in their own business like me. The Inside loan officers did not like the way that Nick Carciopollo was managing them and that team diminished extremely quick, within a couple months of his start date over ¾ of that team left for other companies. In the meantime I was still hanging on because I believed in WJ Bradley Mortgage Capital. From January until the date that I left in August we lost over 28 employees and were only down to about 6-7 people left, 4 of them being loan officers.

During my course of employment with WJ Bradley:

1. I ruined almost every single one of my realtor relationships.
2. Not once did I close a purchase on  time (and I dare you WJ Bradley to prove me wrong)
3. Got absolutely no support with what I needed, built my business completely on my own
4. Lost 2 amazing personal assistants, one because they called out the flaws to help which the branch manager didn’t like and the other because the branch “couldn’t afford her” but COULD afford someone making a 6 figure salary that did nothing but create spreadsheets.
5. Worked for someone who was a compulsive liar, cheater and thief that would come up with a new idea to generate business every day rather than sticking with what worked.
6. Processing was a nightmare, these people would go out on smoke breaks every 15 minutes, never get work done and lie about what they were supposed to get done. Turns out one of the processors was working for another company on the side and was never fired even though Rick Sidley was aware of this going on for months. I never knew how good a processor could really be until I joined the company I’m with now.
7. Illusions that there was an overage account that I could use towards marketing, I never saw anything of this nature.
8. Assistants were lied to and didn’t get the bonuses they were promised, my assistant started out below minimum wage and remained that way for almost a year. Most of the time they had to fight just to get their bonuses and reach out to corporate to make sure it was taken care of.

What happened after I gave my notice of resignation?

1. Was terminated the day after I gave my notice when Rick Sidley led me to believe it was in his best interest for me to remain employed until my start date with the new employer. The day I was driving into the office (not knowing I was being terminated) I received a phone call from one of the other WJ Bradley branches who said “Erik, SO I can FINALLY talk to you now” – This was from David Lippe & Mark Schellhaus with the Consumer Direct division who I researched months earlier and even sent them a few deals just to see how they operate (of course never getting paid). They tried to recruit me to their branch and said “Erik, so should I hold onto your termination” – I said “Sure, why not!” – In the back of my head I was thinking “Are you guys crazy? Do you really think I want to be a part of this organization of lies and deceit? This phone call I received was before I had any idea what I was walking into that day at work, and of course as soon as I walk in the door, half of the processors are fired, another branch manager quit, my assistant and I were both told to pack up our things and leave.
2. Did I get paid on my deals funded after I left from WJ Bradley? No, I was led to believe that I would get paid on all my deals that funded after I left as long as they were within 30 days of my resignation which was mentioned specifically in my contract of employment. After calling multiple times the only answer I received until recently was “You will get paid under the terms of your contract” – 3 weeks went by and I didn’t see a dime and called HR back again, where’s my money? Laurel Timmons with HR at WJ Bradley Mortgage Capital informed me over the phone that I will NOT be getting paid on anything that funded after I left the company. Oh Really?!?!? This is not what my employment contract stated and I will be pursuing not only labor board but also federal labor lawsuits against them as it’s not a small amount of money, quite large in fact.
3. Rick Sidley promoted working overtime but specifically stated that he would not pay overtime.
4. Rick Sidley is actively pursuing my old clients by calling them and e-mailing them as he was recently demoted from branch manager to loan officer as they finally understood his management skills were lacking in quality and experience. He is now grabbing for straws, I know this for a fact because not only did my client reach out to me but I also sent a mock e-mail to see if he would call me back acting as a new client and of course he did!

All in all Rick Sidley and WJ Bradley Mortgage Capital are a bunch of crooks and if you are a current or prospective employee, run for the hills! Make sure to close out your pipeline before you leave and make no mention that you’re leaving before you do that otherwise they will absolutely try and take advantage of you. They unfortunately picked on the wrong guy this time and I hope this information spreads as you need to be aware of who you’re working with. Feel free to contact me directly about this post as it’s the complete truth and I have documentation to support my claims, in no way is this false advice or inaccurate information.

Respectfully,

Former Employee Who Was Scammed & Wants to Warn Others