In May of 2008 I was contacted by People's First Financial in regard to a loan modification. At the time I had already started to negotiate a re-payment plan with my mortgage company. I was advised by People's First Financial that the arrangement I had with my lender would only cause me to fall behind once again due to the size of the payment. They told me I would be much better off if I let them negotiate with my lender as they have ways of getting the lender to reduce the principal balance and/or the interest rate. This would significantly reduce the size of my monthly payment. I was also told that People's First always pre-qualifies you to be sure they will be able to negotiate with your lenders before they accept payment. After I was told that People's First Financial had checked with my lenders and they found the loans were negotiable, I paid People's first $3, 000 to conduct a loan modification. I was also told by People's First not to talk to my lender at any time during the modification process, to fax all mail and other correspondence to them, and that if I interfered in the process by speaking to the lender it could terminate everything they set out to achieve. In November 2008 People's First had to get an extension on a foreclocure sale date. They told me the extension was for 45 days and they were still negotiating numbers, however it was only for 30 days. If I had not called my lender due to a Fed Ex package I received less than 48 hours from the actual sale date, my home would have been sold to foreclsure without my knowledge. People's First Financial has not returned any of my calls or e-mails since this date. I am corresponding with the lender currently, and have been told they NEVER do modifications in any situation, and have told People's First Financial this from day one.

This company is definently a scam. We were contacted by James (ext. 216) in August '08. He promised that if we paid PFF 2495.00 that he could guarantee that Homecomings Financial ( mortgage company ) would settle on a 3 - 6% Fixed rate. We sent a money order to PFF and since then, have been chasing them down for details and callbacks. James also instructed us not to talk to, or make any more mortgage payments to HF. Last month (Nov.) we talked to Marcell (ext.145) and Trevor (ext.500) and both said that James should not have promised those numbers! ( which means he lied ) We had authorization forms signed and notorized sent to PFF which were never returned or forwarded to HF to be processed so they could assign a mitigator to our case. We were asked in mid-Nov to update our bank statements and P&L which we did. Talked to HF on several occasions (they call everyday) and asked about the authorization from PFF to which they replied "we do not accept fax authorizations". So PFF never mailed the proper paperwork to HF to take the process to the next level. Today, 12/17/08 after leaving another message for Marcell (ext.145) got a call back from Leslie (unknown ext.) who stated she had been assigned our file. She said that PFF was still waiting on certain documentation from us before they could move forward. I told her that as per my last conversation with Marcell that they did not need any more paperwork from us and we were just waiting for HF to assign an agent to the case. In the same conversation with Marcell he passed the call to Trevor who for 30 minutes tried to sell me on the idea of declaring bankruptcy and that they could get me cash to move out and could put off foreclosure for up to six months so "you can live rent free". This is bad business and not to mention bad ethics. I am not, and have no desire to dodge my payments. We are just trying to get a more resonable interest rate. (Currently 9% and rising monthly) So today, after demanding a refund Leslie calls back and tells me that HF had actually come to an agreement of 7.6% ( not the promised 3-6%) and would be sending a new loan agreement via FedEx. I told her this was unacceptable and not what we paid for and demanded a refund. Leslie said she had contacts at HF that she would call and see what she could do as well as personally walking over to the refund dept. and requesting that we get our money back. I am days away from blowing the whistle to every television station and online media outlet that I can about PFF bad business pratices and fraudulent sales techniques. Not to mention my good friend the D.A. for Catawba county and the Attorney General of N.C.. All my hope rests with Leslie being able to not only get my money refunded but working out a deal with HF that is in line with what was promised to begin with. ...just got off the phone with PFF and somebody I've never spoken to who informed me that we will not be getting a refund because they did get us a loan mod.(7.9%) regardless of what we were told in August by James (ext. 216). Basically... screw me for not reading every bit of the contract, even though James said don't worry about those terms because we will without a doubt be able to get you a new interest rate of 3-6% and it will only take up to 60 days. Apparently the new loan is in the mail ( again ) from HF and PFF reccomends I take the deal even though it's not what they promised. They are liars. End of Story. Shame on me for buying what they were selling. Which was a huge pile of B.S. I'm out 2495.00 and will now forclose on a house that is worth 50, 000 less than what the loan is for. Ain't America great!!

Gave them $3, 000.00 and Merrick said I should stop making my mortgage payment and not to worry they would get me a modification. I now have a foreclosure sale date on my home and I found out that Peoples First Financial has never sent anything to my lender other than a 3rd party authorization.

We were guaranteed by Merrick McCartha of Peoples First Financial in San Diego CA that both our first and second mortgage companies would modify our mortgage if we stopped payment and allowed their company to negotiate on behalf of us. We were also told and documented in an email that our mortgage payments would be reduced to $2100 from $3100 per month. We are currently in foreclosure due to the guidance of this company and may loose our house. We were told specifically by Merrick that we would not be foreclosed and that this process would take about a month and a half. None of which was true. We have paid them $1, 167 of the $2, 500 they requested and have asked for all funds to be returned. They do not return calls and have told us lie after lie.