It is very obvious that you shun Loan Modification Specialists because they are taking business away from you.

Most Loan Officers that I know of are decent people that try to help others while making a living for themselves. Any business has it's share of crooks. And as attorney's it is very ironic that you think others are crooks. I do believe that attorneys are conceived as NOT the most honorable people around. Also, attorneys charge much higher fees, to justify them going to law school.

The bottome line is: If it benefits the homeowener who cares who does the modification? Only attorneys care, because they are losing money…..and I could not be happier to hear that!

The first situation is legal. The second is not and could fall under what is called capping, fee splitting, and soliciting, and may violate California Business and Professions Code sections. This second group are the cats my firm likes to skin – law breakers.

To be clear, my law firm receives hundreds of phone calls a day, on some days. We have been doing a radio show in Los Angeles every Saturday morning from 10 am to noon and will get literally 200 calls in 3 to 4 hours. We have a highly trained and experienced staff to answer the phone lines. These people work for my firm. We hired them to answer phones and screen potential clients and educate potential clients about what my firm does. There are four lawyers in my firm and we simply do not have the time to answer the telephone and talk with every caller. My team is comprised of people with extensive mortgage backgrounds. Once a potential client seems to be looking more like a client, the lawyer then talks with him or her.

My non-attorney staff does NOT give legal advice but gathers information from a potential client and provides general information on the services my firm offers.

As for a license, my staff does not need any license, as they are NOT giving legal advice and if they do something wrong I get the heat for it under my law license.

- Paul

I have seen companies here in california hire unlicensed people for their sales team to consult the consumer and then hand it over to an attorney. Are they not required to have a license to consult a consumer?

Here in California, our Department of Real Estate website (dub dub dub dot dre dot gov) lists the companies that have DRE “permission” to modify loans… add to this list any licensed California attorney, and that is where you should begin your due diligence search when you seek help in California. Other states probably have similar laws, so check with your own state DRE and state bar.

My law firm has been getting more and more calls recently from homeowners that were victims of predatory lenders who put them into an unaffordable loan and now fell into the hands of those same people who sold the toxic loans but profess to be saviors… DON?T BE A VICTIM TWICE! What?s that they say, ?Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, and I?ll sue your butt!?

Do your homework and THOROUGHLY investigate any firm before hiring them to save your biggest asset and the place you call ?home.? Scammers are popping up like dandelions on a freshly mowed lawn in April. They advertise on the Internet, freeway billboards, radio, television, and print media everywhere, not to mention spamming your email box with those third-world widows needing someone to receive three million dollars for them. Make no mistake, in many cases, these ?loan modification experts? are the exact same loan officers and mortgage brokers who fleeced homeowners the first time around. After losing their jobs with the crash of the mortgage industry, they have found a new way to make ill-gotten profits from hard-working homeowners through loan modifications.

In California, with very few exceptions (and attorneys are one exception? no coincidence there? attorneys make the laws), it is against the law for anyone to take money up front for helping a homeowner who is in default. Don?t trust a company that begins its relationship with you by breaking the law.

HERE?S THE BOTTOM LINE!

Hire an attorney ? and not just any attorney either – one with experience in mortgage law, not just one with real estate law experience but one with experience in both FEDERAL and STATE litigation against mortgage companies, one who doesn?t also do family law, criminal law, admiralty law, and immigration law as well, one who limits the practice to mortgage law (or at least a great majority of it), one who has the experienced staff, training, and know how to take on the big lenders and their top notch lawyers (lenders have attorneys ? and darn good ones ? check out their counsel on the web ? big names top schools, shouldn?t you have a lawyer too?).

We are not talking about a refund on your broken television here, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars and your HOME ? if you don?t think this is the time to hire a highly educated and experienced professional instead of a weekend schooled, almost out of work, broker slash loan officer slash ?expensive water in a wine bottle with alleged magical curative powers? salesperson, I don?t know what would make you take things seriously.

Of course, this is one obnoxious lawyer's totally biased opinion, but one based on many many distressing calls to my office every day. And, yes, my firm loves taking cases against loan modification companies who have violated laws. This field is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing sections for our mortgage law firm.

- Paul J. Molinaro, Esq.