I was contacted by this company shortly after President Obama announced his program for reduced rates and/or modified housing loans to assist folks in need due to loss of job or income in an effort to avoid foreclosure.
I am a disabled person who became a widow in April of '09, reducing my income by about 2/3. The Law Offices of Brian J Colombana (Housing Law Center) promised that I qualified for this program due to the death of my husband and the loss of his income. They basically led me to believe that once they had my financial statements, they would call my lender and within a few hours or a few days at most would be able to secure a new loan for me. They promised a great reduction - possibly even as low as 2% due to my circumstances. They charged me $3000 to act on my behalf negotiating with my mortgage lender. Since June of '09, I paid them $2500, as they agreed to payments because I could not afford to pay all at once.
I scanned all the necessary paperwork - financial statements, P&L statement, bank statements, tax records and a hardship letter, as well as an authorization letter allowing my bank to discuss my loan with them. Once I sent this to them I expected that they would forward to my lending institution. Weeks went by and the bank never received my paperwork. I updated and sent to LOBJC these papers 4 times - and each time the bank did not receive them. Finally in October - a full five months after I contracted with LOBJC, the bank received my paperwork - but only after I researched the bank and came up with the proper fax number and the fact that the bank does not accept electronic faxes. To date - six full months after signing on with them, LOBJC has never contacted my bank, and only managed to get one set out of four faxed to the bank.
During the phone calls I was lucky enough to have answered, I managed to collect five or six names and email addresses - NOT ONE of these people knew what the status of my case was, nor knew what the others had said or claimed. I have discovered that they are completely unprofessional, that they tell lies, do not update your information and that they do not use lawyers to negotiate, but rather real estate agents or other uneducated (in legalese) hires. I was actually told by one gal that they "were attempting to do the services for free" while another said that ''she is not all there''. This is professional??? I have gotten nothing but a runaround from this company, and no progress whatsoever.
They have, however, called several times trying to get my final payment - I wrote to all of the contacts I have with LOBJC, informing them that I would not pay the balance until I had some action on my case. They have a bully on staff named Bertha, who has called with threats. She is uncaring, ignorant, arrogant and besides threatening me has actually hung up on me - regardless of my pleas for some action and some help.
In six months time they only managed to fax my financial statements to the bank once. They will not return my calls, or my emails. They do not keep records, they have not called the bank as promised. They have not done any thing that they promised to do. They have in effect STOLEN my money. Money that I cannot afford to lose. Now I find on the internet, countless complaints against this company. I have been the victim of a scam. These people are nothing but ambulance chasers - they want your money, but will not do what they promise. That is my experience with them - they have defaulted on their contract and promises.
I am disabled and I am a recent widow. I watched my husband die of cancer. It took eight months. I am now fighting for my home and I am the victim of a huge scam by a company of uncaring, arrogant bullies who are interested only in my money. If YOU are one who claims to have been helped by this company - good for you, count your lucky stars. If you have also been scammed, like me... lets join together. Perhaps we can start a class action civil suit.