American Law Firm Amercian Law Firm is a firm full of scam artist preying on desperate consumers looking for ways to save their homes. Santa Ana, California

On February 2010, I contacted the American Law Firm, and I initially spoke to Joseph Shalaby, Executive Director of the Firm, and at the time I was about one month behind on my mortgage. He advised me to skip a couple of payments on my mortgage, because it would look more favorableto the lenders giving me a loan modification. I had no idea I was going to have to pay nearly $5000.00 in the hopes of getting a loan modification for 2 properties that I was looking to get modified. However, the deciding factor for me was the fact that I was lied to by one of the employees assuring me that if they weren't able to assist me on obtaining a loan modification, that I could get a full refund. Hearing that was what convinced me.

Over the course of 10 mths I supplied the American Law Firm with every piece of documentation they asked for. The first Processor that was assigned to my case was Kim Shipp. She was actually very professional and I heard from her on a regular basis. After about 6 mths, my case was assigned to someone by the name of Joann (Last Name unknown). Needless to say, once she took over my case, It was nearly impossible for me to get a response to any of the emails I sent to her on any questions I might have had.

I was always receiving emails from the initial processor, Kim Shipp informing me that my house was not in the process of going into foreclosure. Then when I received a foreclosure notice in the mail, and I scanned it to the processor stating my concern, my email was ignored. I scanned that letter 3 times, and all 3 times my email was ignored. At that point, I decided to take it upon myself to call the lender to see what was going on with my house, and that's when I discovered that my house actually had a sale date of the 7^th of December. Mind you it was already the 2^nd of December, and the letter was scanned to the Processor the 1^st week of November, which was more than enough time to contact the bank to see what could be done to avoid or postpone the foreclosure.

On the 6^th of December, the day before the sale, I was on the phone with a customer service representative from my lender, and when she discovered that I was a U.S. Army soldier, overseas serving my country, that was my saving Grace. I got absolutely no sleep that night ensuring that I faxed every piece of documentation possible to ensure my house was taken off of the foreclosure list. On themorning of the sale, the 7^th of December, I was on the phone with another Customer Service Representative for 2 hours ensuring that my house was removed from the Sale List...and in the end, I was successful...Again.....I was successful. Quite naturally the American Law Firm tried to take credit for being the ones responsible for stopping the sale at the last minute, stating that it was the documentation that they faxed at the very last minute was what stopped the sale, and when I contacted another Customer Service Representative to verify if this was in fact true, they confirmed what I already knew, that the American Law Firm faxed and did nothing at the last minute to stop the sale....But it was infact everything that I faxed to them the day before that stopped the sale.

I just so happened that the very next day, the 8^th of December, I was going home to the States for the Christmas holidays, and there was a note on my door from the people who actually purchased my home stating that I needed tovacate the premisesASAP or start paying them rent. When I contacted my lender, it was discovered that my house was actually sold on the courthouse steps the day prior, but the sale was rescinded at the last minute because of the docs I faxed.

When I emailed a letter to the American Law Firm seeking a refund for services that I felt were not rendered, I received an email from one of the Managers Tony (Last Name unknown) basically berating me for beingthe irresponsible one forfalling behind on my mortage, and in so many words ensuring me that I would not be getting a refund. A few weekslater, just as I had expected, I received a letter from the American Law Firm stating that they basically did their job and I am basically not due a refund and my case was closed. Again, I am not the least bit surprised by this, because it's firms such as this that prey on desperate hard working people such as myself who have fallen on hard times willing to pay an astronomical amount of money in the hopes of saving their property from foreclosure, and in the end, when people have lost their homes, they refuse to keep their promise of refunding the consumer.

I would like to believe that I was one of the fortunate ones that was able to save my property from foreclosure, but I have read countless complaints on the internet about people who have sought the help of the American Law Firm in the hopes of saving their property, and in the end they still end up losing their homes as well as their money.

As a result of this, I am prepared to take this firm to Small claims court in the hopes of receiving some form of refund...any amount would be worth it...but I wanted to tell my story in the hopes of putting an end to this firms continuance of scamming hard working people out of the money that they don't have.