Category: CBSK (American Home Loans)

Thursday, June 01, 2006

CBSK - American Home Loans out of business?  Counsel withdraws

According to the Beaugureau, Zukowski & Hancock 5/10/06—Motion to Withdraw as Counsel of Record and counsel Amy Schwartz Certificate: “CBSK has failed to substantially fulfill their obligations to Counsel regarding Counsel’s services.  I have advised CBSK on numerous occasions, both verbally and in writing, over the past three months, that Counsel will withdraw unless CBSK’s obligations are fulfilled.  To date CBSK has failed to fulfill its obligations, or even respond.”

Hmmm, sounds like they didn’t pay their bill.  Any info on the CBSK situation is greatly appreciated.

I sent this URL to CBSK attorney Russell Grandy for comments.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

My CBSK (American Home Loans) discovery requests

I posted my requests at CreditCourt—those are my first discovery requests and I think I screwed up because AZ doesn’t allow any sub questions in the interrogatories.  It’s not a big deal though - but don’t just copy what I do.

Watch what happens and read YOUR rules.  I think in some states they have only 30 days.  I worked off samples from another state, didn’t come up with that legalese myself.

I haven’t posted the CBSK Answer and Inititial Disclosures yet, it’s a lot of scanning and I run out of time—been very busy lately.

Mandatory court arbitration is scheduled for late August. 

The arbitrator requested that the CBSK attorney extend professional courtesy assisting with some joint filing prior to the hearing - as everybody knows, I don’t have a CLUE what to do and hope that the publication of my legal ventures helps other pro se litigants.

Updates, my DRE complaint, the faxes and communications are posted at CBSK (American Home Loans) at Fight Back!!!

CBSK had offered to settle the 4 junk faxes for $500 and they obviously expect to do well in arbitration—Kingman isn’t exactly the consumer rights capitol of the nation. 

I’m looking forward to see how CBSK responds to the discovery requests, should hear from them within a couple of weeks.

As I read the AZ rules, the arbitration order IS binding unless I want to risk paying the CBSK legal fees if I don’t get at least 10% more in court.  So unless the award is really low, I’ll just file in Cal against Infasource, Hyatt, Molnar and whoever else is responsible for the 4 junk faxes for whatever I didn’t get from CBSK.

Infasource and Hyatt got dismissed because I don’t have personal jurisdiction in AZ as they don’t do business in AZ and faxed to my WA fax #.  CBSK originates loans in AZ, so they didn’t put up a fight and at issue is the dollar amount.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

4/8/05—my DRE complaint about Infasource and Hyatt, CBSK, Bob Molnar, Archer Finance, Prime One

You can expect a junk faxer like Hyatt to lie and to commit perjury. 

The conduct of the DRE brokers sure is perplexing.  Is the DRE just another agency working to protect its members, the brokers?  Is that why Laura Archer (broker Archer Finance) and Todd Dalton (broker Prime One Financial) decided to simply ignore my suit?

CBSK, dba American Home Loans, apparently condones the illegal marketing.  My correspondence with their attorney Russell Grandy is posted at Fight Back!!!

Grandy is a liar, another scum sucking bottom feeding attorney.  I will never talk to him on the phone again unless I have his permission to record. 

We shall see what happens.  The long promised press release is next.  Wish I could triple the hours in my day.

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Monday, February 14, 2005

CBSK - AHL attorney Russel Grandy’s comments to be included in the press release

The 2/8/05 CBSK / AHL letter

It looks like Mr. Grandy’s contribution to the press release will be something like:

“In response to Ms. Baker’s request for comments to be included in this press release, Russell D. Grandy, attorney for American Home Loans, dba CBSK, stated categorically that Ms. Baker is totally wrong, misconstrued and misinterpreted his statements and that he did not want to take the time to go over each erroneous point.”

It’s amazing that they don’t try a little harder to represent themselves more positive.  I guess it’s cheaper to order more illegally obtained leads than to take the time to provide a specific response to ensure an accurate representation of the facts in the press release.

Could it be that Mr. Grady really is not taking the time to be specific because there is *nothing* wrong in my call summary?

My 2/4/05 call summary

I’m hoping that with enough publicity many people will sue, I’ll be happy to provide to litigants an affidivit declaring that my call in response to the fax was transferred to AHL’s Bob Molnar.

Only when the cost of litigation exceeds the profits from the illegal marketing will they stop the illegal marketing.

I’m also going to submit my complaint to the DRE about the CBSK illegal marketing and especially their failure to report the agents who supposedly ordered the illegal marketing.  At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if in fact it is the agents who are responsible and if CBSK ever fired anyone for illegal marketing.

It will probably be a couple weeks until I get the press release out, just got over a cold/flu and now I got an eye infection. 

So much to do ... but I’ll definitely do whatever I can to expose the junk faxers.  The Dana Capital press release was accessed at PRweb 74,000 times, Ameriquest 65,000 times, with over 2,000 media pickups each.  There is a lot of interest in how mortgage companies do business.

Here’s my e-mail to attorney Grady:

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Friday, February 04, 2005

My factual summary and announcement of press release to attorney Russell Grandy, CBSK aka AHL

I’ve been talking to Russell Grandy, CBSK aka American Home Loans attorney, for about a week and he assured me that they were absolutely against junk faxes and that he never wants to have to talk to another person like me to have to settle these claims.

Well, I’m going to make sure that the word about CBSK gets out and here’s my e-mail to ensure that I’ve got the facts straight for the press release.

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2/4/05

Russell,

Let me start by apologizing for being so naive, I was very gullible and actually believed that CBSK is doing whatever it can to ensure that nobody orders junk fax leads. I guess you offered me only $500 because I came off as a little on the stupid side, immediately offering to release you from my claims for only $3,000.

My offer to settle with CBSK (American Home Loans) for $3,000 is hereby rescinded and I am now seeking $12,000 + costs and any other relief I’m entitled to from CBSK and the other defendants, jointly and severally.

It is time for a press release to give the rest of the world a badly needed clue about CBSK and its marketing and business practices.

Of course I want to be sure that the release is accurate and I’m sending you this e-mail so that you have the opportunity to correct any misunderstandings.

1) I received 4 junk faxes advertising mortgage rates, unsolicited and with header violations, and my calls were answered by Keith Hyatt’s call center.

2) One of my calls was transferred to Robert Molnar, CBSK branch manager.

3) You stated that Molnar resigned in mid January and that you would have fired him if he was still employed.

4) You stated that you would not provide me with Molnar’s address even if requested through discovery to protect his privacy.

5) You don’t actually know that Molnar arranged to purchase the leads, the person responsible could be another CBSK employee or officer.

6) CBSK was served on 1/6/05, prior to Molnar’s resignation, and as of 2/2/05 nobody had investigated who ordered the leads and CBSK does not intend to investigate, sue the fax broadcaster or take any other action to determine what exactly happened and ensure that the responsible parties will at least be identified.

7) CBSK has settled numerous junk fax claims.

8) CBSK has no written agreement with its agents to ensure that all agents know that it is not only illegal to purchase mortgage leads, but that they may be liable for many thousands of dollars in damages.

9) CBSK does not advise its agents that it will report any illegal marketing to the DRE for disciplinary action.

10) Despite the junk fax (and other illegal marketing) settlements, CBSK has never reported a licensee to the DRE for disciplinary action as required by law.

11) The DRE Regulations and Law as of 1/05 at http://www.dre.ca.gov/relaw_pdf/Regs.pdf:

“2725. Broker Supervision.

A broker shall exercise reasonable supervision over the activities of his or her salespersons. Reasonable supervision includes, as appropriate, the establishment of policies, rules, procedures and systems to review, oversee, inspect and manage:

(e) Advertising of any service for which a license is required.”

http://www.dre.ca.gov/relaw_pdf/Relaw.pdf

“Broker Must Report Discharge of Salesperson for Violation

10178. When any real estate salesman is discharged by his employer for a violation of any of the provisions of this article prescribing a ground for disciplinary action, a certified written statement of the facts with reference thereto shall be filed forthwith with the commissioner by the employer and if the employer fails to notify the commissioner as required by this section, the commissioner may temporarily suspend or permanently revoke the real estate license of the employer, in accordance with the provisions of this part relating to hearings.”

The advertisement of mortgages requires a license and these 4 junk faxes violated numerous provisions of the DRE advertising guidelines.

I believe that these are the points we can agree on, please let me know if I misunderstood anything. The following are my conclusions:

While CBSK pretends to not condone the purchase of illegal mortgage leads, it has done absolutely NOTHING other than to fire employees for violating this policy after a suit was filed against CBSK.

The reason for CBSK’s disinterest is obvious: CBSK profits from the illegal marketing.

How many employees have actually been fired?

How many loans did Molnar close from junk fax leads?

How much did CBSK make on those loans?

How many other CBSK agents received and CONTINUE to receive leads through illegal marketing?

I looked up Molnar at the DRE, and as of 2/4/05 he’s still licensed with CBSK with NO disciplinary action.

http://www2.dre.ca.gov/publicasp/pplinfo.a...nse_id=00757456

I tried to call the DRE to find out why it takes several weeks for them to update the records, but I could not get through. So *I* will take the time to report Molnar’s illegal marketing (since CBSK NEVER reports any illegal activities by its agents despite the legal requirement to do so) and I’ll see where that goes.

Of course I can name Molnar in my suit, but I’m definitely looking for a judgment against all parties involved, jointly and severally. Your repeated assurances that I can recover the difference between the $12,000 and the $500 you offered by litigating against Molnar and the broadcaster were such an eye opener.

You failed to mention that a California real estate broker such as CBSK is liable for its agents’ actions.

Generally every employer is liable for the employees’ work related actions, but the real estate law is especially explicit.

I suppose you think it’s the right thing to do to mislead a pro se litigant and to save CBSK a few thousand bucks. Well, that backfired. And you can’t say that you didn’t know what I’m doing and why - you had my cover letter with the summons and my previous e-mail. Do you think all people are liars like the corporate scumbag lawyers?

During our negotiations, you accused me of extortion when I asked for up to $3,000 per fax. Please have a look at http://www.junkfax.org/fax/action/how_to_sue.html and especially at the $40K in small claims judgments at http://www.junkfax.org/fax/action/Judgment...stChartered.pdf

Now please explain to me why it is extortion to ask for what’s been routinely awarded by the courts?

Of course you argue that CBSK did not know about the junk faxes, but that’s not a convincing argument to me.

CBSK did NOT even report agents who ordered leads in violation of the law to the DRE and instead SETTLED the other claims in order to avoid having to take any action.

As I told you, MY motivation isn’t just money. Plaintiff’s attorneys may not appreciate this, but I am sincere about wanting to STOP the mortgage junk faxes. It’s not just about my resources and statutory damages, it’s about the FACT that people who engage in illegal marketing also engage in other illegal activities, such as low quoting, changing the rates and fees at closing, etc.

I have hundreds of e-mails from consumers pleading with me to help them because their lender lied to them. Even if I was an attorney, there is nothing I could do for them - they can’t prove the lies. Many end up with serious financial problems, become depressed and suicidal and/or get divorced. To you it’s all about money, to me it’s about changing the mortgage business.

So now I’m taking a different approach, a mix of litigation, publication and complaints with regulatory agencies. I am very unhappy with the lack of enforcement by the DRE - are they just overwhelmed with complaints or are they on the payroll too? I hope to find out.

This is an open letter, posted at my websites, in the spirit of sharing my CBSK experience. I hope that many others will sue CBSK and will file DRE complaints, hopefully consumers will NOT get their loans from such a corrupt company and maybe one day my publications will cost CBSK so much money that the decision makers will find it more cost effective to comply with the law.

That’s why I don’t mind going through discovery, finding out what’s REALLY going on at CBSK and sharing the information on the web.

Please let me know if I misunderstood any of your statements or drew incorrect conclusions.

Sincerely,

Christine Baker

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

12/29/04 Press Release: Mortgage Banker Dana Capital Group Named in Junk Fax Lawsuit

I may end up with the record for the longest press release.  I tried to shorten it, but there was just so much I needed to get in for proper search results:

NAMES - lots of names, of the people and companies involved.

PHONE NUMBERS - the numbers on the faxes.

I almost limited the release to Dana Capital, but I think it’s important to show how I’m dealing with numerous junk faxers and I had promised Keith Hyatt a press release.

In the future, I’ll try to limit myself to just one scam and I’ll send out releases a lot more often. 

PRweb is God’s gift to consumers.

I didn’t have any attachments this time, so I went with the $30 distribution. 

Below is the entire release as well as at
http://prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb192051.htm

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