Complaint Review: World Savings Bank

My name is Gene. I am 69 years old, collect Social Security, and work full time selling books on the Internet. I have a wife, stepson, and three grown daughters who live separately. My oldest daughter is a senior employee in the banking division of World Savings, so I thought World would be a responsible lender. Instead, they are the worst business I have ever dealt with, as I hope you will see below. For the past five years (my first loan with World was signed in 1999) they have cheated me, and lied countless times, by phone, by letter, and in person. I have been so severely traumatized that it is difficult to do my job. So I apologize for any obscurity in this complaint.

1) World impounded a property tax payment I had already made for which they owe me interest and penalties.

2) The manager of the Arcadia, California branch discussed my banking information with my daughter, an employee of World Savings.

3) A World employee entered my property between 4:30 P.M. and 6:15 P.M., October 31, 2005 without notifying me. I was home but resting. When I awoke I found a note slipped under the front door telling me to call World. It was Halloween night.

4) World's CEO, Marian Sandler, solicited me in writing for an equity line. She sent a letter and an enclosure. The letter and enclosure have contradictory loan terms but both promise a low introductory rate and a fixed interest rate "THEREAFTER." Then, in fine print at the bottom of the letter, it states that the rate is variable with a cap of 18%. I applied for this loan and received verbal assurance by telephone from San Antonio, Texas that I would receive a fixed rate and no loan fees.

Then the loan seemingly vanished. No one I spoke to in San Antonio would disclose any information. So I asked my daughter if she knew a responsible loan officer who would help me. She referred me to Joie Hernandez, the loan officer in the Northridge, California branch. Ms. Hernandez arranged the loan, assuring me I would receive a fixed rate and no loan fees. I trusted her so I didn't even read the final loan documents (a bad mistake). Instead I ended up with a variable rate and the 18% cap, and a loan fee of $50.00 annually.

5) According to the rather strange ledgers World sent me, there are major accounting irregularities for both my current loans. I have never seen such garbled bookkeeping including principal-applied-as-interest and outright thievery on my equity line and strange bumps in the interest on my first mortgage when a late charge is due. World has refused in writing to resolve these problems, and has refused to provide complete records for my loans.

6) My first mortgage with World was orginally procured by a broker Peter Guss, an associate of REMAX, Whittier, California. He colluded with a World loan officer. This latter individual also inspected and appraised my property. Mr. Guss did no work for he already had my personal information from previous loan procurements. Mr. Guss told me by telephone that World had a "LOAN REFERRAL PROGRAM." It was known to Mr. Guss and the World loan officer that my daughter worked for World. Yet the HUD-2 statement carries no mention of Mr. Guss or REMAX. World used REMAX title and escrow services, and I signed the loan documents in the Whittier REMAX office. World has refused to provide to me the nature of their business relationships with REMAX and Peter Guss.

7) The consequences of negative amortization / deferred interest of my first mortgage were never properly explained to me. World's loan boilerplate is confusing and, I believe, misleading. I also believe their settlement charges are grossly excessive, especially for refinances (2) when they did little work. I literally do not know how much money I borrowed from them.

8) World's communications with me have been deceptive and deceitful. I have been lied to countless times by letter and by telephone. They have stated in numerous letters that they would help me when I fell behind in payments. They said the same thing by telephone from San Antonio, Texas. But when the payment plan arrived, it was always a demand for full payment.

In particular I fault Kim Hall for her maliciousness. She lied to me twice on the telephone. On another occasion, witnessed by a teller in the Arcadia, California branch, another San Antonio "counselor" told me a spurious charge on my equity line was a "payment." In fact this charge is a rebilling of their annual fee which had already been paid! It says so in their own ledger!"

9) Rather than resolve any of these matters World has ruined my credit rating and foreclosed on me. I believe they have acted maliciously because I protested for more than two years their various frauds. PLEASE DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH WORLD SAVINGS.

Gene
San Gabriel, California
U.S.A.

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