Equity Leadership Group ripoff pyramid scheme Cedar Rapids Iowa
I'm just going to copy text from an email to my friend. You can pick out my points from our experience here.
I went to that seminar with Mic last night. It was just like Trek and I swear to GOD it was all planned out and scripted. Even Mickey was saying stuff that I know they all planned out ahead of time. Did they pull up numbers on a financial calculator and act real surprised when talking about how much you can earn diverting money from your mortgage to an IRA? And then act like the lady never used the calculator before or did the calculation?
It was so cheesy and such a hard sell to join their company. Even worse is they had 11 people all together in this room. I found out within five minutes that only 3 of us were not actually employees. That means they filled 8 seats with their own employees! I mean come on that is a red flag as employees don't usually go to introduction seminars for compaies they already work for.
Then they presented this whole pyramid scheme about how you can work for them and you can work up to these different levels and get people working under you to make more money. Sounds like Trek to me. I can make $45,000/monthyeah right.
What was worse is I decided before going to the seminar that I was not going to ask any questions. Reason beingI already made up my mind that I didn't want to get involved and if I did ask questions that would just give them an opportunity to try to sell me and rebute what I know are facts. So I didn't ask anything and the husband and wife couple that were there as well didn't ask anything.
So this Mr. Todd guy says the presentation is over and asks if we have questions. Of course none of us did so he knew he was screwed. So after saying he's done he sits down and starts preaching again about the company and what a great opportunity it is. After that this guy says he was an engineer making tons of money and he went to this seminar in Colorado Springs and would never go back to engineering after that. Another lady said she was in medical supply industry and would not go back. Your not going to quit engineer to sell people on mortgagescome on! It was such a joke and I cannot believe Mickey is involved in this after he knew the bad luck we had with Trek.
It's funny cause they say they can put you into this 1% interest prefered mortgage. If they could do that everyone and their brother would be doing it. I mean financial planning is good and I agree you need to think about 401K and IRA's but you can't rob from Peter to give to Paul and that is what Mickey is doing by diverting money from his mortgage to go to a retirement account.
Furthermore I have a amortization schedule and I amortized it out. If you took a $93,000 mortgage at 6.5% and dropped the rate to 1% you would be diverting $298.49 to your IRA rather than the mortgage. Sound good right? Well here is where it gets sticky.
Your traditional 30 year fixed rate would have you pay $115,057.88 in interest. Yes $115,057.88 is just interest you will pay in 30 years. Now if you drop that rate down to 1% and keep all the original terms you will pay $324,016.52 in interestand you know what it won't stop there.
Reason it won't stop is because according to the amortization schedule your first payment will not pay any principal and it won't even pay all the interest on the first payment. So if your not paying the principal and your not paying all the interest all your are doing is carry your balance and adding the extra unpaid interest.
The result is thisyour mortgage doesn't pay downit actually goes up cause your not paying anything. At no point in Mickey's mortgage will he ever pay ahead. In fact if he keeps it up he will owe $309.938.45 on his $93,000 home after paying on it for 30 years!! Yes I repeat if Mickey keeps it up and stays in his house for 30 yearswhen 2035 arives Mickey will still owe at least $309.938.45. And you know what is funny? Mickey when to an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) so that means you can't even count on the 1% rate as it is adjustable and will go up. So Mickey will have left his fixed rate to go to an ARM and I bet in 5 to 10 years with the ARM he will be paying 3 to 4 times as much in interest.
So take that final $309,938.45 number and add about $150,000 to $200,000 in interest and you can see where Mickey will end up. That is friggin nuts!!
Try explaining this to Mickey though and it's like hitting a brick wall. He is brainwashed and just too far over the rainbow to get back.
Chris
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Mark
Cedar Rapids,Iowa,
U.S.A.
Response to Chris' comments about Equity Leadership Group
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 03, 2006
Just a few quick comments about Chris' comments about the meeting we invited him to last week
1. Sometimes we have three people come to our meetings and sometimes we have more. We certianly did not try to make you feel like the members of our team were "planted" in the meeting to make it look larger.
2. You mentioned somthing called TREK. It appears you had a bad experience with this organization? Would it be safe to say you came to this meeting with a closed mind?
3. The financial concepts we teach are based on sound concepts. These concepts are taught and endorsed by some of the leading financial experts in the United States.
4. As I stated in the meeting, we offer many types of mortgage products that can be used to fund a plan for building wealth. The mortgage is one of many ways to build a financial plan.
5. Your numbers are way off! You didn't recieve enough information to make the calculations you made. Each client's situation will vary and has to be analyzed separately.
6. Equity Leadership's compensation system is not a "pyramid scheme". Everyone is compensated based on their performance and their team's performance. Not unlike any other mortgage or financial services' compensation system.
In summary, I'm sorry that you were so turned off by our presentation. We were simply trying to communicate the fact that Americans are not saving enough for retirement and many do not have a plan. Social Security and Pensions will not be enough for future generations to count on for a secure retirement. Equity Leadership Group address' this very important issue with sound financial concepts. We also have a terrific business opportuntiy for people who have a passion for helping other people attain financial independence. Sincerely
Mark
Cedar Rapids,Iowa,
U.S.A.
Response to Chris' comments about Equity Leadership Group
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 03, 2006
Just a few quick comments about Chris' comments about the meeting we invited him to last week
1. Sometimes we have three people come to our meetings and sometimes we have more. We certianly did not try to make you feel like the members of our team were "planted" in the meeting to make it look larger.
2. You mentioned somthing called TREK. It appears you had a bad experience with this organization? Would it be safe to say you came to this meeting with a closed mind?
3. The financial concepts we teach are based on sound concepts. These concepts are taught and endorsed by some of the leading financial experts in the United States.
4. As I stated in the meeting, we offer many types of mortgage products that can be used to fund a plan for building wealth. The mortgage is one of many ways to build a financial plan.
5. Your numbers are way off! You didn't recieve enough information to make the calculations you made. Each client's situation will vary and has to be analyzed separately.
6. Equity Leadership's compensation system is not a "pyramid scheme". Everyone is compensated based on their performance and their team's performance. Not unlike any other mortgage or financial services' compensation system.
In summary, I'm sorry that you were so turned off by our presentation. We were simply trying to communicate the fact that Americans are not saving enough for retirement and many do not have a plan. Social Security and Pensions will not be enough for future generations to count on for a secure retirement. Equity Leadership Group address' this very important issue with sound financial concepts. We also have a terrific business opportuntiy for people who have a passion for helping other people attain financial independence. Sincerely
Mark
Cedar Rapids,Iowa,
U.S.A.
Response to Chris' comments about Equity Leadership Group
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 03, 2006
Just a few quick comments about Chris' comments about the meeting we invited him to last week
1. Sometimes we have three people come to our meetings and sometimes we have more. We certianly did not try to make you feel like the members of our team were "planted" in the meeting to make it look larger.
2. You mentioned somthing called TREK. It appears you had a bad experience with this organization? Would it be safe to say you came to this meeting with a closed mind?
3. The financial concepts we teach are based on sound concepts. These concepts are taught and endorsed by some of the leading financial experts in the United States.
4. As I stated in the meeting, we offer many types of mortgage products that can be used to fund a plan for building wealth. The mortgage is one of many ways to build a financial plan.
5. Your numbers are way off! You didn't recieve enough information to make the calculations you made. Each client's situation will vary and has to be analyzed separately.
6. Equity Leadership's compensation system is not a "pyramid scheme". Everyone is compensated based on their performance and their team's performance. Not unlike any other mortgage or financial services' compensation system.
In summary, I'm sorry that you were so turned off by our presentation. We were simply trying to communicate the fact that Americans are not saving enough for retirement and many do not have a plan. Social Security and Pensions will not be enough for future generations to count on for a secure retirement. Equity Leadership Group address' this very important issue with sound financial concepts. We also have a terrific business opportuntiy for people who have a passion for helping other people attain financial independence. Sincerely