This company bought our 1st mortgage from Greenpoint. At the time we were slightly behind due to a unnecessarily protracted SS Disability claim (~4 yrs). We were not as far behind as we were the previous summer and then allowed to get caught up by Greenpoint. (previous year: ~5 months behind, current year: ~3 months) We received a letter from Greenpoint that our 1st & 2nd mortgages had been sold to different companies.

There was no purchase notification from Private Capital Group, (PCG). Our first communication was foreclosure papers. We didn't even receive a demand letter from PCG. We were able to get caught up 7-8 weeks before the auction and asked for the balance due. After repeated calls and letters, it took an attorney to get the balance. We requested the balance due and an itemized accounting. We received a lump sum balance two days before the auction - enough time to run to bank & Fed Ex cashier's check, but not to challenge the amount. It took further letters from attorney to get a partial itemization. We were charged $1550 for forced placed insurance. The problem was we never lapsed on insurance; in fact, PCG had contacted my insurance agent and pre-paid my monthly account for the rest of the term. (~$225). They KNEW we had insurance, they paid for unnecessarily, then tried to charge us $1500. There were other overcharges & dubious charges, ~$2500 of overcharges.

I began a dialog with them trying to understand what the charges were and get them corrected. After several months of fighting and making our payments, they quit communicating. Several more months went by of them not responding to me or attorney. The auction date was January 29, 2007. It was now August 2007. I quit paying thinking they would contact me.

{Let me insert here that during these nine months, other than the two letters giving me the initial lump sum and the partial itemization, I only received ONE other document from PCG, a photocopy of an invoice to them from a sub-contractor of a sub-contractor for the ~$700 charge for placing the classified ad for the foreclosure auction, (according to local paper where placed it was a $59.95 cost). In the partial itemization letter, PCG told me where to send payments and they would not escrow property taxes as Greenpoint had done. They also asked for directions for escrow funds. At the time I stopped payment, I had received NO other communication or documents from PCG, no statements, no escrow reconciliation, NOTHING. One month, I used the zip code from a PCG letterhead envelope, instead of the original letter, not knowing there were different. It was 5-6 weeks before the payment returned, during that time, there was no communication from PCG. I DO NOT exaggerate when I say I received NOTHING.}

I quit paying in August 07, by December there was no contact from PCG, I got nervous and contacted my attorney. He was going to send a 'angry attorney' letter. He called me back to ask me to call and verify a name or address from PCG. I got an employee on the phone who had 30 years mortgage servicing experience. She started with PCG when they were founded in late 2006-early 2007. They didn't even exist when they bough my mortgage according to this woman!? She then told me they had went bankrupt and closed a few months before. She was there for 90 days to tell people to call a Florida number. She proceeded to answer EVERY question I asked. An example of her forthrightness: "The young bucks around here would brag about how many phone calls &/or letters they HADN'T return that day. They were computing to see who did the least." I received MUCH more damning info as to business practices.

I called Florida and got a woman on a cell, (obviously outside and harried), as she tried to pull up our acct she explained PCG was a new client and they were trying to open an office and hire staff to handle the 'additional volume'. She looked and looked for my file as I also told her my story. Finally she found it. The problem was I now had a mortgage number of 922 instead of the 16 digit alpha numeric from Greenpoint. Three digit mortgage number?! Volume?! She proceeded to tell me they would work it all out with no late fees, etc and make it right by me on the overages. Never heard from her again.

More months go by. It's now June 08. Someone shows up at the door to verify occupancy. Reason letters were being returned and phone calls were not being answered. I had been WAITING for almost a year to hear from my mortgage company! I was given a N Carolina number. I called them and asked about letters and calls. They had the correct address & phone number. Letters had not been sent certified, even after some were returned. They didn't answer about the phone calls.

At first they were belligerent, demanding payment, but never giving me an amount they wanted. After three different phone conversations, I finally got them to understand I had been banking my payments and simply wanted an itemized amount due and an escrow reconciliation so I could begin a discussion with them about a settlement amount. Once they finally understood that, they changed 180 degrees. I became Mr, and they almost purred at me. They promised an escrow reconciliation and an itemized account statement ASAP.

I received an email several days later saying the account info was mailed, give it 10 days. Never showed up. Upon contact, they admitted it wasn't sent certified and then asked, "What was it you wanted about the escrow account?" An annual escrow accounting is federally mandated in the Fair Debt Collection Act and they didn't know what I wanted?!

It is now Nov 2008, I did finally receive an "escrow reconciliation" on July 30 '08. It was a Word doc with three items listed:
9-28-06 Escrow Balance from Previous Servicer ($961.68)
1-29-07 Forced Place Insurance $2575.69
7-02-08 County Taxes $5549.92

The date of the Forced Placed Insurance is the auction date? and should be 09.20.06. Also, it is now ~$2575.69 instead of the already outrageous $1550. What's suspicious about this is I had gotten the amount incorrect in my mind and I had been telling them the overcharge was "about $2500". It looks like they took my amount and added some to make it 'look' right. They had also been hounding us to fill out voluminous credit applications and personal history information - info they should have had?!

The third entry is a property tax payment a few days before they sent the 'accounting'. My taxes were NOT over-due. I knew from my records I had applied the escrow amount to a. property taxes as a partial payment, b. if they wouldn't accept a partial, apply it to a monthly payment. I had deducted the amount from my last payment after not hearing from them. So where was THAT info?!

The final straw hit just before the third call with N Carolina. I received a 30 day demand notice from a California sub-contractor. It was pre-dated 16 days prior to the postmark. Giving me 12 days to satisfy a 30 day demand. (was sent registered) I called the California company and challenged them, after being told they were a legal firm and then they weren't a legal firm, they said couldn't produce the person signing the letter and promised I would have 30 days. The amount they demanded was from Dec 07 to July 08 and was 2x's my normal payment for that period. Two TIMES? Wait, I quit paying in August!

So, there is now a mail fraud charge on top of indicating these people have little or no INFO about my loan. No wonder they can't give me an accounting or balance due.

By today, Nov, 2008, I have learned about RESPA and the Fair Debt Collection Act, and Oregon's mortgage company laws requiring registration with the Commerce Div of Oregon and certain mandatory escrow and mortgage acct mgt practices. I have not made a payment, have not received a demand or amount due, not an invoice, anything. They call and finally after a few days I'll pick it up and tell the collection dept "I'd be happy to pay, what is the amount due?" They tell me they'll have to get back to me. I go nuts and tell them to mail it and not call me until they send it. They quit calling for a few weeks and nothing arrives. Then it starts again.

From what I have learned about the above mentioned RESPA and Credit Act(s), PCG has NOT SATISFIED one law related to the mortgage, collection of or the escrow. Then there's at least two mail fraud charges I'd file against people acting on their behalf given the chance. Again, I'm claiming & can prove Private Capital has violated EVERY STATE and FEDERAL law the pertains to them in RESPA, the FDC Act and Oregon's laws. Multiple counts on some.

I have tracked down the bankruptcy info on the parent company of PCG, Copperfield Investments and it appears a former Bear Stearns hot shot is involved, and some Bahamas money, as well. Copperfield is a huge bankruptcy based on the trustee and attorney's fees; started as a re-org and now is a liquidation. It also seems the Bear Stearns guy was the supervisor of the three Bear Stearns traders in jail for insider-trading. Some simple Google work will tell you the same story I have found.

I have contacted the FBI and US Asst Attorney and while they listened intently, without interruption for about 30 minutes while I told the complete story, they told me they couldn't do anything!?

I desperately would like to be contacted by ANYONE WITH A PRIVATE CAPITAL MORTGAGE. Post here with a complaint and we'll figure out how to connect.

My theory is they bought a group of distressed mortgages for pennies on the dollar, then used them as collateral, (at full value), to buy more securitized loans. Part of the Wall Street meltdown is due to 'kiting' of the securitized mortgages. Buying them and using them as collateral to buy more, on and on, just like con-men will kite checks. Criminality and illegal use of my and other mortgages to obtain value from them is the only thing that explains the laisse faire attitude about payments from me. They've already got their money and don't care. Finding others is the only way this will come to resolution with the criminals in jail.