In January 09 the company Hope Now Modifications, LLC reached me by letter and said they could fix my late payments and have my mortage changed from an ARM to a fixed rate. After checking with several banks and BBB I was told this was a good company to deal with. I spoke to a Brandon Rota who said I would need to send Hope Now 2499.00 in order for them to help us. Rota claimed this was for attorney fees. I have spoken with one other person since January and that was in April 09 and was told I had been caught in a scam and my money would be returned, within 30-60 days. I have tried since then to call however all I get is a full voice mail or no one at all. I have found out since then that Hope Now has taken several thousand dollars from homeowners trying to save their homes. These people need to pay for what they have done, my mortage company HSBC has not heard from them. I would have never contacted them had we not been in fear of losing our home. My husband and my son have had 5 major surgeries between the both of them in 08 and my husband is now out of work from another emergency surgery. We need our money back. The company and attornys firm should be taken to court, and made to pay me and the others I have read about back their money. My question is also why is our Governers and President not doing anything about this because I have written to both.

Called Hope Now Mods LLC back in November, 2008. I talked to a guy name Eric Simkin extensively as I was very unsure about the validity of their claims but at the same time I needed help. Eric went a VERY LONG way to assure me that they were legit. He spoke of honor, claimed he was a family man and that HNM saved his home. He would reply to my emails mostly from his Blackberry, never received an email from him that wasn't from the Blackberry. I asked him to talk to me man to man, I have a family and was wary of putting them in harms way trusting them to help me. I told him that if I gave him the 2000 I would not be able to recover easily and I would fall further behind in my mortgage. He said all the right things. I looked up HNM on BBB and there were no reports filed but that seemingly was only the case since they were new. Eric continued to answer every question I had being very accountable and forthright.

I agreed to sign up for the modification and gave them the 'escrow' payment. I was told that I would have results in 72 hours or at least an update. A week went by and nothing. I called and left voicemails for a week and sent emails. No response. Eric would email me back once in awhile assuring me everything was moving forward and about once a week I would get a call from some Indian sounding guy telling me my mod was still in negotiations.

This same pattern went on for months. I got a letter from my lender saying that HNM did send the paperwork over to negotiate on my behalf but this was months later. I kept calling and calling. Always had to leave voice mails. Finally spoke with a lady named Mgdalia and she was sweet as pie! Sounded like an older soft spoken woman who claimed she also had her home saved by HNM and talked my down from my rage on the phone. She assured me that the only reason things were taking so long was because lenders were so backed up with mod claims. I spoke with Mgdalia a few times over the course of 2 months or so and she always was able to convince me that it was still in process.

5 months later I got a letter from my lender stating that the modification package that was sent was denied because of 'no response from 3rd party negotiators'. I was FURIOUS and immediately called Mgdalia. She was again apologetic and gave me the name, email address and phone number of my supposed case worker. I proceeded to email and call this person numerous times over the next months and I got absolutely ZERO reply from her. COMPLETELY ignored and now they've been shut down by the FTC.

I would gladly join any class action lawsuit against these THIEVES. I have everything documented. I have every email ever sent to and from the company saved with dates, names, everything. Please contact me to help in any legal action being taken I will do everything in my power to help bring them down. They deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and goto PRISON.

HNM should be ashamed of themselves and I truly hope they take a good look in the mirror. What goes around comes around and they will get their if I have anything to say about it.

In February 2009 I applied with Hope Now to get my loan modified and was told that everything was was going to take 60-90 days to process. They even told me not to pay my mortgage because it will only go to back of loan. I've been calling Clifford Grimes and emailing him and no answer, voice mail full and now disconnected. They have taken my money and something really need to be done about this company. They even have the attorneys in on it @ 215-241-8888.

Well, we are joining this whole complaint. I truly feel for all of you. We are in the same boat. We started with Hope Now back in September of 2008 BEFORE we were even late on our mortgage. Chris Croce from their office was great until he got our money. $2900 later and I can't reach anyone on the phone, I get anonymous phone calls with updates saying "everything is in the process and going well" . They told me it would take 60-90 days. In January when we couldn't get through to them I finally contacted our mortgage company again who said they NEVER talked with anyone from Hope Now. So as of January we were 3 months behind with no way to catch up...Hope Now told us to absolutely have NO CONTACT with our mortgage company and to NOT PAY OUR PAYMENTS as it would jeaporadize their authority to modify our mortgage for us. We have written, called, demanded and pleaded but get no where. Now I can't even leave a message as the only phone numbers we have either are never answered or their voice mails are full. We sent a certified letter requesting our money back as per the signed contract. They signed for it, but we have heard nothing. I filed a complaint with the BBB in New Jersey, and the Attorney General, but we have heard nothing. Our bank has now taken our home. 12 years and no missed payments till my mother ended up with terminal cancer and we had no way to pay all the back payments. We tried working with our bank Charter Bank, but they would do NOTHING for us. Said it was too late. We have lost everything we ever built up in our lives because of these people and I am just sick. At 55 it is too late for me to every repair my credit after this and ever buy a home again. I just want to puke. THe only thing I can tell you all, is check with your banks. Our bank is trying to work with us to refund the money since we used our Visa debit card and received No service. I have filed a complaint with them and hopefully they can help us. It's all just so sad that at a time when the whole economy is shattered and people like us try to do the right thing, we still get screwed. I hope you all have better luck than we did. Any updates on any success you all have getting refunds, please let us know.

I had someone call me and want to help lower my interest rate on my house and all they did was take my money and not help me do anything!!! Their number was disconnected and no one is returning my calls to the other companies in other states with the same name!!