Green Credit Turns Red

MFI-Mod Squad had a great first week in business. We exposed three mod companies in California that were in violation of California Department of Real Estate regulations. One blatantly ripped off a Tampa couple (scroll down) which claimed to be affiliated with Green Credit Solutions out of Irvine. Although Green Credit claims they were not, the evidence we have suggests they were.

Green Credit does acknowledge another company Sueno Financial was an affiliate and Sueno Financial shared an office with Lionstar Financial and Chris Campbell (the entity who ripped off my client in Tampa). Sueno Financial isn’t even a licensed LLC or Corporation in California. It appears Green Credit doesn’t do much in the way of due diligence when they sign affiliates. My client and I both appeared on CNBC throughout the day talking about it on Tuesday. I received a lot of really positive feedback from legitimate modification companies and attorneys for the piece and for the work I’m trying to do with MFI-Mod Squad especially the below article “Is that a California Wildfire? No it’s a Loan Mod Company!”

The only negative response I received was from Green Credit Solutions. I received a really asinine letter from their attorney demanding I take it down. I would have posted it but my attorney in Boston (my Florida attorney was being a good dad) told me I better not. It basically said I committed illegal acts by saying bad things about her client and they were going to sue me if I didn’t take it down. This lazy attorney emails it to me instead of doing five minutes of internet research to find my address and send it to me certified mail but then again, this is the same attorney who probably thinks this is Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where they cut your tongue out for saying something offensive. All the attorney did was made Green Credit look even more pathetic and ridiculous. I would have expected better from an attorney whose office is on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills.

I did send the attorney a response and that I can share with you. The attorney’s name is left out intentionally. Here it is

Do you honestly expect me to take your letter seriously?

First, can you prove any of what I said was false? Your client did offer to reimburse my client on multiple times while on a conference call with my client and then retracted it. Your client is not licensed with DRE. Your client also tried to entice me with business to get this matter dropped. So tell me, which one of those statements is false or can be proven false? I also never said your client received funds from the transaction. Matter of fact, you should go back and read the article again, it says the opposite. I don’t know what they taught you at the Lewis & Clarke Law School, but I can assure you my actions do not constitute “illegal” activity. Being a graduate of law school, you know that just because I printed a negative opinion of your client based on my dealings with them that does not constitute defamation nor does it constitute libel and I can assure you what I wrote is legal and protected by the U.S. Constitution.

If Green Credit does not like what people are saying about them and it appears I’m not the only one, they need to address it amongst themselves because only they can improve their poor public image. Dr. Howard and Ms. Struthers were on CNBC multiple times today talking about this due to my connections at NBC Universal and other media outlets. These connections are due to my reputation in this industry for being a fraud investigator. I have turned Dr. Howard’s report over to both the Florida Attorney General’s office and the California Department of Real Estate for further investigation. I suggest your time is better spent helping your client become compliant with DRE then wasting your time, my time and your client’s money on futile and asinine threatening letters. Oh, and if you’re still wondering, the article stays on both sites until a Palm Beach County or Federal Judge orders me to take it down.

Stephen Dibert

President, MFI-Miami, LLC

President, MFI-Mod Squad, LLC

I’ll keep you posted if they have the testicular fortitude to follow through with their threat.

CNBC Features MFI-Miami Owner

Steve Dibert, owner of MFI-Miami, appeared on CNBC on Tuesday, January 27, 2009.
Click here to view the TV segment featuring Steve.

25 People Responsible For The Economic Meltdown

The UK Guardian has an interesting article about the 25 people responsible for the economic meltdown. I am happy to see someone else agreed with me on a couple of them. British PM Gordon Brown made the list which surprised me but then again he was Chancellor of Exchequer while Tony Blair was Prime Minister.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy

Is That Smoke From A California Wildfire? No, It’s A Mod Company!

I just finished doing an investigation for a client in Tampa, Florida who got taken for $3500 by shady loan modification company in California.  You can see the report in the articles section over at www.mfi-modsquad.com and tomorrow on CNBC.  The guy who conned them was Chris Campbell of Lionstar Financial who claimed to be an affiliate of Green Credit Solutions.  I had to do some digging after Brian LaRuffa and Curt Melone at Green Credit Solutions gave me a lot of double talk, offered me not so subtle bribes and phoney promises of mortgage fraud files for MFI-Miami.   I dug through all the bull (which was pretty deep) and worked my way through all the smoke and mirrors when I was able to piece this all together.

Chris Campbell owns an LLC in California named Lionstar Financial.  He worked out of the same office as Debra Sugden who claims to own Sueno Financial.  I know they worked at the same office because she signed for the certified letter I sent Chris Campbell and Lionstar.   Neither one of these companies is licensed through California DRE to do mods, mortgages or real estate in California.  According to Green Credit Solutions, Sueno is a broker affiliate.  Sueno Financial is not only not licensed through DRE, they are not even a registered business in California.   This now leads us to Green Credit Solutions who charges $3495 upfront for their loss mitigation work.   There are two problems with this, first their fee agreements have not been approved by DRE which violates DRE guidelines and second, part of this fee according to their contract, is a retainer for an attorney which is a violation of California Business And Professions Code Section 6152.  It’s a big no-no for a third party to collect retainers or solicit clients for an attorney in California.   The excuse both Brian LaRuffa and Curt Melone gave was priceless, “We don’t have to be licensed by DRE because we are attorney backed so we answer to the state bar.”

I then asked if they were attorneys and they said, “No”

I will give them credit, they did try to really hard to convince me they were right.  Guess what, boys? If you are not attorneys you need to follow DRE guidelines.

When I first contacted Green Credit Solutions, Brian LaRuffa claimed Chris Campbell and Lionstar were affiliates, then a few days later, I get a call from Curt Melone pretending to want my services as a forensic mortgage auditor and he can bring me all kinds of business because advertises on ML-Implode (a website for mortgage brokers) before he tells me who he is.  The conversation switches to my client and this whole sad affair when he tells me Chris Campbell was not an affiliate but they were looking for him as well because he stole a stack of their client agreements and was passing them out all over California.    I tell him I have to speak to my client and then he says, “I hope we can get this settled soon so I can send you business!”

After listening to their back pedalling and used car salesman tactics.  I finally told them I was going to make this an article for the site.  They naturally threatened to sue me.  Like threatening me with legal action has ever worked for anyone.

Next Page »