- Report: #64591
Complaint Review: Fairbanks Capital - Salt Lake City Utah
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Fairbanks Capital
3815 SW Temple, P.O. Box 65250 Salt Lake City, 84615 Utah, U.S.A.
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801-293-1883
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Fairbanks Capital, W. Craig Kenney, Brian Barr C. Kenney, "Turncoat" advocates; horrific mark-up of forced place insurance premiums, ripoff Salt Lake City Utah
Warning: this is a long, long post. Please be patient, absorb the information presented, and weigh in with your opinion if you like. And JOIN the Yahoo group if you are a victim of Fairbanks; your participation (or lack of) is being monitored and used to generate Fairbanks propaganda!
What a difference a few months can make to some people's ideals. Craig and Brian, formerly known as consumer advocates for victims of Fairbanks Capital, now seem to be the strongest of Fairbanks supporters!
There is much fanfare surrounding the "fact" that Craig and Brian are "unpaid by Fairbanks". How are these two living if they are unpaid?
Brian is farting around building houses for Habitat for Humanity (AKA PMI) and rubbing shoulders with Haughton. And writing "positive PR for PMI". Craig seems to be hiding out in Maryland, spewing out pro-Fairbanks press releases!
If these two folks have figured out how to live in today's society with NO MONEY, I wish they would share their secret. That would render the whole Fairbanks issue immaterial. Meanwhile, I have to assume that they are receiving funds enough from somewhere to at least pay their electric bills.
The letter below was written in November, 2002 by Craig Kenney to Roger Haughton (link is provided for verification purposes to ensure that no changes have been made to this document by me):
http://www.conti-fairbanks.com/PMI-Haughton-FOR-RELEASE.doc
W. CRAIG KENNEY
November 19, 2002
VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS
Mr. W. Roger Haughton, CEO
PMI GROUP, INC.
3003 Oak Road.
Walnut Creek, California 94597-2098
RE:Fairbanks Capital Corporation
Dear Mr. Haughton:
As a concerned shareholder of record of PMI Group, Inc., and in the sprit of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, I would like to bring to your attention my concerns surrounding your majority ownership of Fairbanks Capital Corporation as well as the 120 million dollar outstanding loan. As I am sure you are aware the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that you fully investigate allegations of corporate wrongdoing. Failure to do so could involve civil and criminal penalties.
I have been investigating the business practices of Fairbanks for the past two years via my website www.conti-fairbanks.com. The behavior and conduct of this company is outrageous and I feel it is time you address the issues and justify your at risk financial involvement. The current mountain of State and Federal borrower litigation is very alarming. It is not out of the question that The California Attorney General, as well as the AG's of other states, may join the recent California Class Action of Anders, et al v. Fairbanks Capital Corporation. The San Francisco law firm of Jenkins and Mulligan is representing the Plaintiffs. Mr. Mulligan was the lead Plaintiff's counsel in the successful action against First Alliance which resulted in the liquidation of the company and was involved in the recent CitiFinancial Mortgage and Household settlements.
Just consider the economic impact of the three aforementioned high profile settlements on the sub-prime lending industry and the resulting loss of shareholder equity: First Alliance over $70 million, CitiFinancial Mortgage over $210 million, and Household over $550 million. These three settlements alone represent more then three quarters of a billion dollars in lost equity. There are fighting similarities between the allegations brought against these three companies and that of Fairbanks. Most likely Fairbanks would not survive a comparable settlement. As a result, I believe PMI's investment in Fairbanks is at great risk and your continued support of Fairbanks is inappropriate. Additionally, your involvement in Fairbanks could expose PMI to shareholder litigation.
November 18, 2002
Page Two
Learning what I have about Fairbanks in the past two years, including their operation of shadow companies owned by Fairbanks and/or their corporate officers, are the topics of a massive amount of State and Federal litigation. Although these ancillary activities are profoundly profitable, the courts may find these shadow companies to be highly illegal. I would also question how the revenue derived by companies, including RRReview, Mountain West Real Estate, ALTA, and NSF of Atlanta, is being accounted for, exactly where the revenue is shown and who may be personally profiting.
NSF of Atlanta, ALTA and Keystone are three additionally named entities together with several un-named entities which we believe Fairbanks may have a concealed ownership in for the purpose of providing services such as title work, title insurance, and property rehabilitation. I believe Fairbanks' senior officers regularly accept high value incentives including airline tickets purchased with cash, hotel accommodations, fishing trips to Alaska and other entertainment items from title insurance providers and others. Additionally, I believe Fairbanks is provided zero cost employees by vendors. These things of value could be a clear RESPA violation, and depending on the total annual value could present an IRS reporting issue. Fairbanks' horrific mark-up of forced place insurance premiums is also the topic of litigation. A public statement made by Bill Garland, President of Fairbanks, indicates they retroactively apply forced placed insurance premiums to borrower's accounts. I am sure you recognize the potential issues raised by making insurance premiums retroactive
RRReview is nothing more than an Internet website, which is owned by Fairbanks, and is operating from a fictitious physical address in Hatboro Pennsylvania. It appears it was designed to create the appearance that the property valuations and appraisals are being preformed by a neutral and independent third party vendor. Whereas the real estate agents who are sub-contractors to RRReview, and who are performing the valuations for RRReview, may be unbiased, the fact is the requests made for property valuations are originated by Fairbanks' employees and then go directly to the RRReview website. The completed valuations are then returned to Fairbanks' employees though the same website. This process allows unconscionable and concealed markups on BPO's and appraisals which borrowers are forced to pay. Investors also pay these marked up fees on a routine basis. I believe many times the borrower and investor are both charged for the same BPO that in turn double the excessive markup. Many asset purchase agreements relieve Fairbanks of the requirement of having to pay servicing advances to their investors when BPO's come back near or below the unpaid principal balance of the loan. I have documented proof of a property with a market value of $1,200,000.00 and where the BPO's consistently came back at or near the loans unpaid principal balance of $350,000.00. It is a short leap to conclude that the RRReview system allows for internal manipulation of property valuations, a process that is very detrimental to investors who need to accurately manage the collateral protecting viability of their loan portfolios.
November 18, 2002
Page Three
I believe that Fairbanks may be using the understated valuations created by RRReview to allow them to buy back foreclosed properties at auction, take their unearned fees off the top, and give the investor what's left over. It appears Fairbanks then resells the properties at a great profit. This process not only harms the investor but at the same time robs the borrower of excess equity. I have many examples where borrowers have been robbed of their equity. One recent example involved a Michigan homeowner who had an unpaid principal balance of $89,000.00. The property sold at auction for $88,000.00. I suspect Fairbanks deducted about $7,000.00 in fees (plus real estate commissions) leaving about $77,000.00 for the investor. It appears that two weeks later BankOne sold the house for $131,000.00. I feel the borrower's negligence in this example caused a justifiable foreclosure, however I am not sure that the borrower's actions justified his loss of equity.
Mountain West Real Estate is another shadow company that causes me great concern. Mountain West requires the selling agents and/or brokers of foreclosed properties to kick back 1% of their sales commission. I have evidence that this fee splitting is not reported on the HUD disclosure statements at settlement which is a clear RESPA violation.
I have documented proof that Fairbanks applies between $1,000.00 and $5,000.00 in legal fees to a borrowers account when the borrower is between 30 and 60 days delinquent. Borrowers are forced to pay these fees as part of bringing their loans current. The issue here is that no legal fees have been incurred by Fairbanks at the time the borrowers are required to pay them as a condition of bringing their loan current. These legal fees far exceed the statutory maximums allowed by most all states. Additionally, most judicial foreclosure states and many non-judicial foreclosure states require that a court approve all legal fees in conjunction with foreclosure actions. The fact that many of these legal fees are applied to a borrowers account long before a foreclosure action is even referred to outside counsel and obviously long before as formal foreclosure action is filed with the court, makes this practices even more egregious.
I have what I believe to be documented proof involving a Missouri borrower where it appears that a loan document was altered and the original due date for the first payment was changed by six months. The loan document in question was produced by Fairbanks who sent it to their foreclosure law firm, who in turn sent it to the borrower's attorney. These sorts of actions cause me grave concern regarding the ethical behavior of Fairbanks as well as that of their foreclosure attorneys.
I fully realize that companies such as Fairbanks are necessary evils in what has become a very complex playing field. Unfortunately many borrowers leave lenders with no option short of then foreclosure and the system must have an efficient method of liquidating hopeless loans. However no matter what the task, it needs to be preformed both legally and ethically.
November 18, 2002
Page Four
The question is simple: When a borrower falls 30 to 90 days in the arrears he or she is naturally obligated to pay 100% of the of P&I due, as well as all late fees, in order to bring the loan current. It would not be unreasonable to ask the borrower to pay a reasonable fee that would allow the borrower to enter into a workout or forbearance agreement. Typically a borrower owing two $600.00 payments, plus late fees, is offered a forbearance agreement, but not before Fairbanks adds thousands of profit motivated and unearned fees. Therefore rather then having to pay a hundred dollars or so over their regular monthly payment for the next six months to successfully complete a forbearance agreement they are required to pay as much as three to four times their regular monthly payment. In this situation a cash strapped borrower is doomed for failure but nonetheless enters into the agreement under the threat of foreclosure and is lead to believe the fees are permitted under the terms of their note. Fairbanks also adds a hold harmless clause to the forbearance agreement which further robs the borrower of their rights and hinders their post agreement remedies for Fairbanks' wrongdoing.
Jay D. Gurmankin of the Salt Lake City law firm of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP is the outside general counsel for Fairbanks. Mr. Gurmankin's wife, Pamela, is a senior officer of Fairbanks. My website fully documents Fairbanks' purchase of approximately 80,000 loans from CitiFinancial Mortgage in April of 2001. It appears from the documents that Ms. Gurmankin played a central role in this transaction while physically in Tampa Florida. It is further my belief that this transaction could represent about 80,000 RESPA violations. As this issue continues to be litigated, a conflict of interest could arise surrounding Mr. and Ms. Gurmankin's relationship with Fairbanks. It appears that Mr. Gurmankin's priorities favor his personal economic goals rather then resolving issues for his client.
My final concern relates to late and improper posting of payments. I appears to me, based on the information gathered, that Fairbanks has a pattern and practice of posting payments late or not posting them at all. The positive effect of this problem to Fairbanks' bottom line is obvious. The question is how they do it. I believe the answer is quite simple. They know the system is broken and allow it to remain broken. This problem is also compounded by poor customer service.
I have information from thousands of borrowers who claim the average hold time when calling Customer Service can exceed 45 minutes. When a borrower does finally connect with a live person they are most often transferred to a dead end voice mail or disconnected entirely.
All of the above issues will continue so long as Fairbanks treats the cost of borrower litigation as the cost of doing business.
November 18, 2002
Page Five
In conclusion I would like to quote the Judge's opinion in the mater of Maxwell v. Fairbanks Capital (United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts - No. 00-14283-JNF, ADV. 00-1568):
Nevertheless, Fairbanks, in a shocking display of corporate irresponsibility, repeatedly fabricated the amount of the Debtor's obligation to it out of thin air. There is no other explanation for the wildly divergent figures it concocted in correspondence with the Debtor and her agents and in pleadings and documents filed with the bankruptcy court.
I believe it is clear that the behavior of Fairbanks Capital Corporation is contrary to PMI Group's key mission of promoting home ownership.
Off balance sheet assets held by publicly traded companies are now under the microscope. No longer can publicly traded companies take the position of it's making money so we don't care how they make it. My website is visited regularly by one or more people at PMI. As a result you have been technically on notice as to what I believe are the unethical and illegal practices of Fairbanks for more than a year now. I realize that PMI's investment in Fairbanks is relatively small; however the Sarbanes-Oxley Act does not measure its penalties in the dollars involved..
I respectfully request that you investigate these allegations. I further request that you contact me in writing within 10 days of receipt of this letter with a comprehensive outline of the steps you plan to take to address the issues and include a timetable for doing so.
Very truly yours,
Enclosures: Inside Conti-Fairbanks.Com
cc: Senator Paul Sarbanes
Jonathan G. Katz, Secretary, United States Security and Exchange Commission
*****************************************************
This is the clearest, most concise listing of Fairbanks transgressions that I have seen to date. This tells me that Mr. Kenney is fully cognizant of the wrongdoings of this company. Or was in November, 2002. Mr. Kenney mentions at least three times information gathered through the former conti-fairbanks site, from victims of Fairbanks.
Mr. Kenney seems to have had a change of heart on this issue, demonstrated by the press release dated July 15, 2003 (keep in mind that this only a 7-8 month period). The link for this release is:
http://www.borrowerhelp.com/BH-PressRelease071503.pdf
July 15, 2003
To:ALL MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Re: Fairbanks Capital Corporation
For a number of years, we have helped lead the way in bringing the issues facing borrowers to the attention of state and Federal regulators through our former website, conti-fairbanks.com. We garnered a reputation for being highly critical of the techniques of Fairbanks Capital. With that goal having been accomplished, we have now directed our attention to helping in a far more effective way. In early June of this year, we made an agreement with Fairbanks whereby we would work together to resolve the problems, which were the subject of numerous media reports and had caught the attention of The Federal Trade Commission and The Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The overriding goal of any "consumer advocate" is to insure that consumers achieve resolution of their issues; in this instance, those issues involve homeownership. Here, we are not dealing with improper late fees being added to cable-TV bills, being overcharged for useless diet pills, or finding a $9.95 fee wrongfully charged by a credit-card company. Class-action law suits may, sometimes, be effective tools in these sorts of cases because they punish the wrongdoer and can give each class member a few dollars in recompense. Such suits, also, make a great deal of money for the lawyers. In some cases, those lawyers can collect scores-of-millions of dollars in legal fees, leaving ten or twenty-dollars for each "class member".
In our view, the issues facing Fairbanks Capital and their customers cannot be solved through litigation. It is even possible that the continued burden of needles litigation could cause Fairbanks to fail as a viable business. We know that the failure of Fairbanks would not be in the best interest of their customers. A failure may bring joy to a few borrowers, however that joy would be short lived. The result of such a failure is absolutely predictable: The subject loans would simply be sold to another servicer, with all the mistakes fully intact. Not a single borrower would receive even a glimmer of hope that their problems would be satisfactorily resolved.
Fairbanks' principal shareholders have. The original founder and CEO of Fairbanks- as well as several layers of top management- have been removed, in the last 60 days.
July 15, 2003
Page Two
The new management team, under the skilled leadership of Brad Schuster and Jim Ozanne, are committed to making Fairbanks work to the benefit of all concerned, and to bringing a new level of quality customer service to the mortgage-servicing industry. We fully support their efforts and believe the task can be accomplished. But, we also recognize that it will take more time to completely refocus the company than anyone involved will find entirely desirable.
On June 4, 2003, a YAHOO message board devoted to Fairbanks began. In that time, there have been about 600 postings. However, all of those postings have been made by fewer than 50 people. Another highly visible complaint website has collected over 800 complaints in more than a year. All of these numbers must be seen in the context of the fact that Fairbanks services more than 525,000 loans. We are certainly not attempting to diminish the importance of the fact that Fairbanks must continue on its responsible path toward equitable change. Nor, are we attempting to put a spin on things because we are now working with Fairbanks for the benefit of their borrowers. Our mission is, was, and will continue to be to protect the rights of borrowers, and to help ensure that they are treated fairly.
As we monitor the progress of the very positive changes that we see now taking place at Fairbanks Capital, we will continue to apprise the public of our views in the matter. Fairbanks knows full well of the potential dispositive results with respect to our monitoring of their customer-service practices. We now believe that the company is acting in absolute good faith, but if we, at anytime henceforth, were to determine otherwise, we would be the first to call attention to that circumstance.
Fairbanks has asked its customers-and those agencies that regulate and rate its performance- to give the company a fair chance to prove that its current efforts will prove worthwhile. We believe that both the company and its customers deserve that opportunity.
Contact Information:
W. Craig Kenney
BorrowerHelp.Com (formally www.conti-fairbanks.com)
Post Office Box 925
Glencoe, Maryland 21152
Fax: 410-472-4774
Website: www.borrowerhelp.com
Email: [email protected]
*******************************************************
These two documents must be read together to demonstrate the full about-face that Mr. Kenney seems to have undergone. No spin my Aunt Fannie; this guy is spinning so fast that he is dizzy and attempting to make us dizzy, too! And the fact that he keeps referring to we and us means, I suppose, That Brian is in agreement with this pile of bull-hockey! How is it that Fairbanks collection practices are suddenly "allegedly over-aggressive"? And all mistakes are now "alleged"?
Craig seems to think that fewer visits to the Borrower(un)Help site indicates that there are fewer complaints. Hmmm, could it be that everyone is sicked-out over Brian's oh-so-sweet propaganda for PMI and it's Habitat for Humanity program? Starfish, give me a break! More likely, everyone has realized that there is no real help there and has moved on. DUH, stupid!
As for Fairbanks cleaning house, read this:
"SALT LAKE CITY, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Fairbanks Capital Holding Corporation (Fairbanks) today named Brad Shuster as Chairman and James Ozanne as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and its operating subsidiaries. Tom Basmajian, former Fairbanks Chairman and CEO, will assist Fairbanks with its constituent relations, working directly with Mr. Ozanne"..."The restructuring of the executive management team marks a new era for Fairbanks. We have an extremely talented group of executives and employees with whom I am proud to be associated. My top priorities are to augment the compliance and control functions within the Company and make certain that our investors are fully informed," said Mr. Ozanne. "I wish to recognize Tom Basmajian for his efforts in growing Fairbanks to its present position and his commitment to assist the Company in its constituent relations."
Basmajian is still in a position of power at Fairbanks, right up there with Ozanne. The cleaning seems to have consisted of swishing the dirt around and then letting it resettle in slightly different locations. It is still the same dirt!!
The real questions are:
(1) Which hapless, homeless former Fairbanks borrower/hostage will get to live in the next House That Brian Builds?
(2)How can 800 postings on a complaint forum (I assume that Craig means Rip-Off Report) in a little over one year be viewed by anyone, in any context, as a positve thing? That is about 66.6 complaints every month! If the ED were to put a link in a search engine inviting folks to post their troubles with Fairbanks as some attorneys have done, I imagine that the complaints might double or even triple! There are bound to be many people who have not yet discovered the Rip-Off Report. It would be an interesting experiment
(3)If Brian is off building houses in Oxford, Alabama and Craig is in Glencoe, Maryland, WHO is advocating? Neither one of these guys are AT FAIRBANKS. How would either one of them even know what is going on in the offices of Fairbanks Capital?
(4)How much "more time" does Fairbanks need to clean up its own mess? While we sit back and wait, how many foreclosures are being prepared/done on a daily basis? Fannie Mae is already requiring Fairbanks Capital Corp. to refund money to borrowers and rectify deficiencies in its servicing practices. Freddie Mac will not be far behind....HUD...FTC...Fairbanks has had years of laughing all the way to the bank, and it took an "uprising" to get it this far. There is no sense in giving Fairbanks one more minute to torment and harrass their hostage borrowers!
(5)When are we going to hear of even one verifiable case of a borrower who has gotten affairs with Fairbanks straightened out? One year, two years...never??? Those books are so messed up that an army of auditors would have nervous breakdowns trying to sort it out!
(6)And the question I most want to see answered: How much money does it take to create amnesia? How much to quell a conscience? How much to stifle ideals? And how much to buy a soul?
We will probably never know the answer to all these questions. But, perhaps Brian and Craig will see this post and think about what they are doing and saying. There is ample evidence that information gathered on the former conti-fairbanks site was used to promote the agenda of these two turncoats. And they are still trying to use websites to present "factual" numbers. What are they hiding?
Fairbanks has had its chance, Craig and Brian. Now its time for their borrowers to have a chance!
Brian and Craig are "users" and there are far too many of those in the world already! What they have done and are doing to Fairbanks victims cannot be justified by any number of "Press Releases"; it makes me sick!
CLICK here to see why we deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Robin
Waldron, Arkansas
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Fairbanks Capital Corp
What a difference a few months can make to some people's ideals. Craig and Brian, formerly known as consumer advocates for victims of Fairbanks Capital, now seem to be the strongest of Fairbanks supporters!
There is much fanfare surrounding the "fact" that Craig and Brian are "unpaid by Fairbanks". How are these two living if they are unpaid?
Brian is farting around building houses for Habitat for Humanity (AKA PMI) and rubbing shoulders with Haughton. And writing "positive PR for PMI". Craig seems to be hiding out in Maryland, spewing out pro-Fairbanks press releases!
If these two folks have figured out how to live in today's society with NO MONEY, I wish they would share their secret. That would render the whole Fairbanks issue immaterial. Meanwhile, I have to assume that they are receiving funds enough from somewhere to at least pay their electric bills.
The letter below was written in November, 2002 by Craig Kenney to Roger Haughton (link is provided for verification purposes to ensure that no changes have been made to this document by me):
http://www.conti-fairbanks.com/PMI-Haughton-FOR-RELEASE.doc
W. CRAIG KENNEY
November 19, 2002
VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS
Mr. W. Roger Haughton, CEO
PMI GROUP, INC.
3003 Oak Road.
Walnut Creek, California 94597-2098
RE:Fairbanks Capital Corporation
Dear Mr. Haughton:
As a concerned shareholder of record of PMI Group, Inc., and in the sprit of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, I would like to bring to your attention my concerns surrounding your majority ownership of Fairbanks Capital Corporation as well as the 120 million dollar outstanding loan. As I am sure you are aware the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that you fully investigate allegations of corporate wrongdoing. Failure to do so could involve civil and criminal penalties.
I have been investigating the business practices of Fairbanks for the past two years via my website www.conti-fairbanks.com. The behavior and conduct of this company is outrageous and I feel it is time you address the issues and justify your at risk financial involvement. The current mountain of State and Federal borrower litigation is very alarming. It is not out of the question that The California Attorney General, as well as the AG's of other states, may join the recent California Class Action of Anders, et al v. Fairbanks Capital Corporation. The San Francisco law firm of Jenkins and Mulligan is representing the Plaintiffs. Mr. Mulligan was the lead Plaintiff's counsel in the successful action against First Alliance which resulted in the liquidation of the company and was involved in the recent CitiFinancial Mortgage and Household settlements.
Just consider the economic impact of the three aforementioned high profile settlements on the sub-prime lending industry and the resulting loss of shareholder equity: First Alliance over $70 million, CitiFinancial Mortgage over $210 million, and Household over $550 million. These three settlements alone represent more then three quarters of a billion dollars in lost equity. There are fighting similarities between the allegations brought against these three companies and that of Fairbanks. Most likely Fairbanks would not survive a comparable settlement. As a result, I believe PMI's investment in Fairbanks is at great risk and your continued support of Fairbanks is inappropriate. Additionally, your involvement in Fairbanks could expose PMI to shareholder litigation.
November 18, 2002
Page Two
Learning what I have about Fairbanks in the past two years, including their operation of shadow companies owned by Fairbanks and/or their corporate officers, are the topics of a massive amount of State and Federal litigation. Although these ancillary activities are profoundly profitable, the courts may find these shadow companies to be highly illegal. I would also question how the revenue derived by companies, including RRReview, Mountain West Real Estate, ALTA, and NSF of Atlanta, is being accounted for, exactly where the revenue is shown and who may be personally profiting.
NSF of Atlanta, ALTA and Keystone are three additionally named entities together with several un-named entities which we believe Fairbanks may have a concealed ownership in for the purpose of providing services such as title work, title insurance, and property rehabilitation. I believe Fairbanks' senior officers regularly accept high value incentives including airline tickets purchased with cash, hotel accommodations, fishing trips to Alaska and other entertainment items from title insurance providers and others. Additionally, I believe Fairbanks is provided zero cost employees by vendors. These things of value could be a clear RESPA violation, and depending on the total annual value could present an IRS reporting issue. Fairbanks' horrific mark-up of forced place insurance premiums is also the topic of litigation. A public statement made by Bill Garland, President of Fairbanks, indicates they retroactively apply forced placed insurance premiums to borrower's accounts. I am sure you recognize the potential issues raised by making insurance premiums retroactive
RRReview is nothing more than an Internet website, which is owned by Fairbanks, and is operating from a fictitious physical address in Hatboro Pennsylvania. It appears it was designed to create the appearance that the property valuations and appraisals are being preformed by a neutral and independent third party vendor. Whereas the real estate agents who are sub-contractors to RRReview, and who are performing the valuations for RRReview, may be unbiased, the fact is the requests made for property valuations are originated by Fairbanks' employees and then go directly to the RRReview website. The completed valuations are then returned to Fairbanks' employees though the same website. This process allows unconscionable and concealed markups on BPO's and appraisals which borrowers are forced to pay. Investors also pay these marked up fees on a routine basis. I believe many times the borrower and investor are both charged for the same BPO that in turn double the excessive markup. Many asset purchase agreements relieve Fairbanks of the requirement of having to pay servicing advances to their investors when BPO's come back near or below the unpaid principal balance of the loan. I have documented proof of a property with a market value of $1,200,000.00 and where the BPO's consistently came back at or near the loans unpaid principal balance of $350,000.00. It is a short leap to conclude that the RRReview system allows for internal manipulation of property valuations, a process that is very detrimental to investors who need to accurately manage the collateral protecting viability of their loan portfolios.
November 18, 2002
Page Three
I believe that Fairbanks may be using the understated valuations created by RRReview to allow them to buy back foreclosed properties at auction, take their unearned fees off the top, and give the investor what's left over. It appears Fairbanks then resells the properties at a great profit. This process not only harms the investor but at the same time robs the borrower of excess equity. I have many examples where borrowers have been robbed of their equity. One recent example involved a Michigan homeowner who had an unpaid principal balance of $89,000.00. The property sold at auction for $88,000.00. I suspect Fairbanks deducted about $7,000.00 in fees (plus real estate commissions) leaving about $77,000.00 for the investor. It appears that two weeks later BankOne sold the house for $131,000.00. I feel the borrower's negligence in this example caused a justifiable foreclosure, however I am not sure that the borrower's actions justified his loss of equity.
Mountain West Real Estate is another shadow company that causes me great concern. Mountain West requires the selling agents and/or brokers of foreclosed properties to kick back 1% of their sales commission. I have evidence that this fee splitting is not reported on the HUD disclosure statements at settlement which is a clear RESPA violation.
I have documented proof that Fairbanks applies between $1,000.00 and $5,000.00 in legal fees to a borrowers account when the borrower is between 30 and 60 days delinquent. Borrowers are forced to pay these fees as part of bringing their loans current. The issue here is that no legal fees have been incurred by Fairbanks at the time the borrowers are required to pay them as a condition of bringing their loan current. These legal fees far exceed the statutory maximums allowed by most all states. Additionally, most judicial foreclosure states and many non-judicial foreclosure states require that a court approve all legal fees in conjunction with foreclosure actions. The fact that many of these legal fees are applied to a borrowers account long before a foreclosure action is even referred to outside counsel and obviously long before as formal foreclosure action is filed with the court, makes this practices even more egregious.
I have what I believe to be documented proof involving a Missouri borrower where it appears that a loan document was altered and the original due date for the first payment was changed by six months. The loan document in question was produced by Fairbanks who sent it to their foreclosure law firm, who in turn sent it to the borrower's attorney. These sorts of actions cause me grave concern regarding the ethical behavior of Fairbanks as well as that of their foreclosure attorneys.
I fully realize that companies such as Fairbanks are necessary evils in what has become a very complex playing field. Unfortunately many borrowers leave lenders with no option short of then foreclosure and the system must have an efficient method of liquidating hopeless loans. However no matter what the task, it needs to be preformed both legally and ethically.
November 18, 2002
Page Four
The question is simple: When a borrower falls 30 to 90 days in the arrears he or she is naturally obligated to pay 100% of the of P&I due, as well as all late fees, in order to bring the loan current. It would not be unreasonable to ask the borrower to pay a reasonable fee that would allow the borrower to enter into a workout or forbearance agreement. Typically a borrower owing two $600.00 payments, plus late fees, is offered a forbearance agreement, but not before Fairbanks adds thousands of profit motivated and unearned fees. Therefore rather then having to pay a hundred dollars or so over their regular monthly payment for the next six months to successfully complete a forbearance agreement they are required to pay as much as three to four times their regular monthly payment. In this situation a cash strapped borrower is doomed for failure but nonetheless enters into the agreement under the threat of foreclosure and is lead to believe the fees are permitted under the terms of their note. Fairbanks also adds a hold harmless clause to the forbearance agreement which further robs the borrower of their rights and hinders their post agreement remedies for Fairbanks' wrongdoing.
Jay D. Gurmankin of the Salt Lake City law firm of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP is the outside general counsel for Fairbanks. Mr. Gurmankin's wife, Pamela, is a senior officer of Fairbanks. My website fully documents Fairbanks' purchase of approximately 80,000 loans from CitiFinancial Mortgage in April of 2001. It appears from the documents that Ms. Gurmankin played a central role in this transaction while physically in Tampa Florida. It is further my belief that this transaction could represent about 80,000 RESPA violations. As this issue continues to be litigated, a conflict of interest could arise surrounding Mr. and Ms. Gurmankin's relationship with Fairbanks. It appears that Mr. Gurmankin's priorities favor his personal economic goals rather then resolving issues for his client.
My final concern relates to late and improper posting of payments. I appears to me, based on the information gathered, that Fairbanks has a pattern and practice of posting payments late or not posting them at all. The positive effect of this problem to Fairbanks' bottom line is obvious. The question is how they do it. I believe the answer is quite simple. They know the system is broken and allow it to remain broken. This problem is also compounded by poor customer service.
I have information from thousands of borrowers who claim the average hold time when calling Customer Service can exceed 45 minutes. When a borrower does finally connect with a live person they are most often transferred to a dead end voice mail or disconnected entirely.
All of the above issues will continue so long as Fairbanks treats the cost of borrower litigation as the cost of doing business.
November 18, 2002
Page Five
In conclusion I would like to quote the Judge's opinion in the mater of Maxwell v. Fairbanks Capital (United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts - No. 00-14283-JNF, ADV. 00-1568):
Nevertheless, Fairbanks, in a shocking display of corporate irresponsibility, repeatedly fabricated the amount of the Debtor's obligation to it out of thin air. There is no other explanation for the wildly divergent figures it concocted in correspondence with the Debtor and her agents and in pleadings and documents filed with the bankruptcy court.
I believe it is clear that the behavior of Fairbanks Capital Corporation is contrary to PMI Group's key mission of promoting home ownership.
Off balance sheet assets held by publicly traded companies are now under the microscope. No longer can publicly traded companies take the position of it's making money so we don't care how they make it. My website is visited regularly by one or more people at PMI. As a result you have been technically on notice as to what I believe are the unethical and illegal practices of Fairbanks for more than a year now. I realize that PMI's investment in Fairbanks is relatively small; however the Sarbanes-Oxley Act does not measure its penalties in the dollars involved..
I respectfully request that you investigate these allegations. I further request that you contact me in writing within 10 days of receipt of this letter with a comprehensive outline of the steps you plan to take to address the issues and include a timetable for doing so.
Very truly yours,
Enclosures: Inside Conti-Fairbanks.Com
cc: Senator Paul Sarbanes
Jonathan G. Katz, Secretary, United States Security and Exchange Commission
*****************************************************
This is the clearest, most concise listing of Fairbanks transgressions that I have seen to date. This tells me that Mr. Kenney is fully cognizant of the wrongdoings of this company. Or was in November, 2002. Mr. Kenney mentions at least three times information gathered through the former conti-fairbanks site, from victims of Fairbanks.
Mr. Kenney seems to have had a change of heart on this issue, demonstrated by the press release dated July 15, 2003 (keep in mind that this only a 7-8 month period). The link for this release is:
http://www.borrowerhelp.com/BH-PressRelease071503.pdf
July 15, 2003
To:ALL MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Re: Fairbanks Capital Corporation
For a number of years, we have helped lead the way in bringing the issues facing borrowers to the attention of state and Federal regulators through our former website, conti-fairbanks.com. We garnered a reputation for being highly critical of the
The overriding goal of any "consumer advocate" is to insure that consumers achieve resolution of their issues; in this instance, those issues involve homeownership. Here, we are not dealing with improper late fees being added to cable-TV bills, being overcharged for useless diet pills, or finding a $9.95 fee wrongfully charged by a credit-card company. Class-action law suits may, sometimes, be effective tools in these sorts of cases because they punish the wrongdoer and can give each class member a few dollars in recompense. Such suits, also, make a great deal of money for the lawyers. In some cases, those lawyers can collect scores-of-millions of dollars in legal fees, leaving ten or twenty-dollars for each "class member".
In our view, the issues facing Fairbanks Capital and their customers cannot be solved through litigation. It is even possible that the continued burden of needles litigation could cause Fairbanks to fail as a viable business. We know that the failure of Fairbanks would not be in the best interest of their customers. A failure may bring joy to a few borrowers, however that joy would be short lived. The result of such a failure is absolutely predictable: The subject loans would simply be sold to another servicer, with all the
Fairbanks' principal shareholders have
July 15, 2003
Page Two
The new management team, under the skilled leadership of Brad Schuster and Jim Ozanne, are committed to making Fairbanks work to the benefit of all concerned, and to bringing a new level of quality customer service to the mortgage-servicing industry. We fully support their efforts and believe the task can be accomplished. But, we also recognize that it will take more time to completely refocus the company than anyone involved will find entirely desirable.
On June 4, 2003, a YAHOO message board devoted to Fairbanks began. In that time, there have been about 600 postings. However, all of those postings have been made by fewer than 50 people. Another highly visible complaint website has collected over 800 complaints in more than a year. All of these numbers must be seen in the context of the fact that Fairbanks services more than 525,000 loans. We are certainly not attempting to diminish the importance of the fact that Fairbanks must continue on its responsible path toward equitable change. Nor, are we attempting to put a spin on things because we are now working with Fairbanks for the benefit of their borrowers. Our mission is, was, and will continue to be to protect the rights of borrowers, and to help ensure that they are treated fairly.
As we monitor the progress of the very positive changes that we see now taking place at Fairbanks Capital, we will continue to apprise the public of our views in the matter. Fairbanks knows full well of the potential dispositive results with respect to our monitoring of their customer-service practices. We now believe that the company is acting in absolute good faith, but if we, at anytime henceforth, were to determine otherwise, we would be the first to call attention to that circumstance.
Fairbanks has asked its customers-and those agencies that regulate and rate its performance- to give the company a fair chance to prove that its current efforts will prove worthwhile. We believe that both the company and its customers deserve that opportunity.
Contact Information:
W. Craig Kenney
BorrowerHelp.Com (formally www.conti-fairbanks.com)
Post Office Box 925
Glencoe, Maryland 21152
Fax: 410-472-4774
Website: www.borrowerhelp.com
Email: [email protected]
*******************************************************
These two documents must be read together to demonstrate the full about-face that Mr. Kenney seems to have undergone. No spin my Aunt Fannie; this guy is spinning so fast that he is dizzy and attempting to make us dizzy, too! And the fact that he keeps referring to we and us means, I suppose, That Brian is in agreement with this pile of bull-hockey! How is it that Fairbanks collection practices are suddenly "allegedly over-aggressive"? And all mistakes are now "alleged"?
Craig seems to think that fewer visits to the Borrower(un)Help site indicates that there are fewer complaints. Hmmm, could it be that everyone is sicked-out over Brian's oh-so-sweet propaganda for PMI and it's Habitat for Humanity program? Starfish, give me a break! More likely, everyone has realized that there is no real help there and has moved on. DUH, stupid!
As for Fairbanks cleaning house, read this:
"SALT LAKE CITY, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Fairbanks Capital Holding Corporation (Fairbanks) today named Brad Shuster as Chairman and James Ozanne as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and its operating subsidiaries. Tom Basmajian, former Fairbanks Chairman and CEO, will assist Fairbanks with its constituent relations, working directly with Mr. Ozanne"..."The restructuring of the executive management team marks a new era for Fairbanks. We have an extremely talented group of executives and employees with whom I am proud to be associated. My top priorities are to augment the compliance and control functions within the Company and make certain that our investors are fully informed," said Mr. Ozanne. "I wish to recognize Tom Basmajian for his efforts in growing Fairbanks to its present position and his commitment to assist the Company in its constituent relations."
Basmajian is still in a position of power at Fairbanks, right up there with Ozanne. The cleaning seems to have consisted of swishing the dirt around and then letting it resettle in slightly different locations. It is still the same dirt!!
The real questions are:
(1) Which hapless, homeless former Fairbanks borrower/hostage will get to live in the next House That Brian Builds?
(2)How can 800 postings on a complaint forum (I assume that Craig means Rip-Off Report) in a little over one year be viewed by anyone, in any context, as a positve thing? That is about 66.6 complaints every month! If the ED were to put a link in a search engine inviting folks to post their troubles with Fairbanks as some attorneys have done, I imagine that the complaints might double or even triple! There are bound to be many people who have not yet discovered the Rip-Off Report. It would be an interesting experiment
(3)If Brian is off building houses in Oxford, Alabama and Craig is in Glencoe, Maryland, WHO is advocating? Neither one of these guys are AT FAIRBANKS. How would either one of them even know what is going on in the offices of Fairbanks Capital?
(4)How much "more time" does Fairbanks need to clean up its own mess? While we sit back and wait, how many foreclosures are being prepared/done on a daily basis? Fannie Mae is already requiring Fairbanks Capital Corp. to refund money to borrowers and rectify deficiencies in its servicing practices. Freddie Mac will not be far behind....HUD...FTC...Fairbanks has had years of laughing all the way to the bank, and it took an "uprising" to get it this far. There is no sense in giving Fairbanks one more minute to torment and harrass their hostage borrowers!
(5)When are we going to hear of even one verifiable case of a borrower who has gotten affairs with Fairbanks straightened out? One year, two years...never??? Those books are so messed up that an army of auditors would have nervous breakdowns trying to sort it out!
(6)And the question I most want to see answered: How much money does it take to create amnesia? How much to quell a conscience? How much to stifle ideals? And how much to buy a soul?
We will probably never know the answer to all these questions. But, perhaps Brian and Craig will see this post and think about what they are doing and saying. There is ample evidence that information gathered on the former conti-fairbanks site was used to promote the agenda of these two turncoats. And they are still trying to use websites to present "factual" numbers. What are they hiding?
Fairbanks has had its chance, Craig and Brian. Now its time for their borrowers to have a chance!
Brian and Craig are "users" and there are far too many of those in the world already! What they have done and are doing to Fairbanks victims cannot be justified by any number of "Press Releases"; it makes me sick!
CLICK here to see why we deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Robin
Waldron, Arkansas
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Fairbanks Capital Corp
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Robin
Waldron,Arkansas,
U.S.A.
Mike, you are correct. More questions from me, more "oral diarrhea" from Mr. Kenney.
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, August 10, 2003
Mike, You are correct. Mr. Kenney has indeed been protecting his own interests all along to some degree. The thing about this that galls me so much is the fact that the man ( I use the term loosely) USED hundreds of people from his former website. It seems that this person may have indeed begun as a true advocate. Since no one seems to be able to make a dent in the heavy-duty armor of this company alone, the thought was probably that sheer numbers could expose the corruption in Fairbanks. It was working, obviously. Then came the lawsuit that changed the name of the site from Conti-Fairbanks to Servicing News. Before too long we all know that turned into the fabulously useless, propaganda-laden Borrowers Help. As near as I am able to tell from information gathered from people who posted on the website, there was a push by Mr. Kenney for posters to divulge ever more personal information during the last month or two of the legitimate site operation as Servicing News. The question now is: where is that information? And why the sudden rush to obtain it? Was the deal done before it was made public? Hmmm Fairbanks is still taking homes daily. Are the homes of the people who were trusting enough to give this man information being targeted especially, or is Fairbanks doing this randomly? I have no way of knowing unless people post willingly and tell us. I do not believe in selling out your fellow man. If it should become clear that the information solicited by and divulged to Mr. Kenney is being used to target the givers of that info, there are legal and moral implications that would make Fairbanks look like a small bump in the road to Mr. Kenney. I am not saying that he has done anything at all with the information given to him. I hope he has destroyed it permanently. What I am saying is that this person has in his hands the potential to do a great deal of damage to many people. There is no way to know unless the victims tell us that they are suddenly being harassed even more than they were since Mr. Kenney went to work for the System (if it is even possible to be hassled more than they were). I have no use for advocates who are traitors. I can respect an advocate who gets weary and says he must lay down the burden and move on. Some things are just too much for a person and they must call an end to it for their own mental and physical health. There is no shame in that. But a treacherous advocate who suddenly clams up and never tells anyone where their information is and what is being done with it is highly suspect. There appears to be no moral foundation in Mr. Kenneys makeup as evidenced by what he has done so far. Why should anyone trust him? And, for your reading pleasure, the latest spew of oral diarrhea from out favorite, always entertaining traitor can be read here: (this article is copyrighted, so better just point you in the right direction) http://www.sltribune.com/2003/Aug/08082003/business/82091.asp Read it and weep. Or laugh. Or do both at the same time! Fairbanks victims will be delighted to know that Mr. Kenney is now a kinder, gentler advocate! Mike is right; cant have all those lawsuits rocking the stocks at PMI, can we? That kind, gentle approach really ought to penetrate Fairbanks rhino-hide! (I liken it to throwing rolls of toilet paper at a tank!) As for Brian, is he still building houses for PMI? Or did he go home? Who knows? Brian seems to be our "magical, mystical disappearing" advocate...
Mike
Radford,Virginia,
U.S.A.
It appears to me that Craig's been consistent all along.
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, August 01, 2003
I haven't been following the Fairbanks situation too closely so I could be way off base here. But I was hoping someone else would notice this too, if you read Craig's first letter to the executives at PMI/Fairbanks, he reveals that he's an "investor" in PMI (thus also Fairbanks), and the tone of the letter is clearly trying to preserve his interests as such. And the second letter to borrowers is also aimed to the same ends. It seems that if Fairbanks is driven out of business, Craig will lose a lot of money, and he's trying to prevent that. Let's go through the first letter again. Craig is concerned about the rising tide of lawsuits and criminal investigations against Fairbanks. He doesn't say whether borrowers *should* sue Fairbanks, only that they *are* sueing and winning. He notes that well-heeled law firms are orgainzing class actions, also likely to be lost by Fairbanks, and that could be very expensive. Additionally, various Fairbanks practices appear to be against federal law, and they could suffer substantial criminal penalties for that. He's concerned that if "business as usual" continues, the resulting civil and criminal penalties could run Fairbanks out of business. He doesn't say whether that would be good or bad for the borrowers, but clearly it would be bad for Fairbanks' investors and executives. He also describes other well-known Fairbanks practices, such as exhorbitantly priced "force-placed" insurance, unjustified "legal fees," and improper foreclosures. Besides the illegality of these practices, he's concerned that investors like him are being ripped off. The profits from "insurance" and fees seem to be disappearing to carefully arranged "independent" compaines rather than increasing the investors' wealth. Improper foreclosures claiming less than the house is really worth are also resulting in investors taking a loss. Fairbanks then allegedly sells the house for full value shortly afterward but the profit again disappears; it is not passed back to investors. So Fairbanks is indeed treating Craig badly, but not in the same way it is the borrowers. He has an interest in reforming Fairbanks, but not necessarily in the way that would most benefit the borrowers. He appears to have not disclosed this conflict of interest outright. Instead he used weasel language like "I'm not paid by Fairbanks" to try and create an appearance that there is no conflict of interest. Borrowers who did not realize the subtelties of the situation were deceived by him.
Robin
Waldron,Arkansas,
U.S.A.
Craig Kenney: full of himself or just full of it? More BS commentary.
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, July 31, 2003
I ran across this by accident as I was researching another subject. Just thought I'd share: Local man leads effort to call out mortgagor Questionable practices alleged against company 06/25/03 BY BOB ALLEN A federal investigation of a mortgage-servicing company based in Salt Lake City is bringing a sense of relief to many Maryland homeowners. Especially Craig Kenney, a Glencoe resident who has a mortgage with the company, Fairbanks Capital, and who has spent the past couple of years waging a one-man, multimedia crusade against the company. At the urging of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, among others, the Department of Housing and Urban Development recently began an inquiry into Fairbanks Capital. Hundreds of mortgagees in Maryland and elsewhere have long alleged that Fairbanks engages in questionable practices, routinely imposes unwarranted fees and penalties and wrongfully initiates foreclosure proceedings against mortgage holders. "Of the 600,000 or so mortgages that Fairbanks has in its portfolio, about 200,000 are in some kind of default," Kenney said. "I would guess that many of them don't belong in default." The HUD inquiry may not be the only federal investigation into Fairbanks' business practices. Earlier this month, Mikulski wrote to Attorney General John Ashcroft, urging the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation of Fairbanks. Meanwhile, dozens of state agencies, including Maryland's Division of Financial Regulation, have launched their own probes. The Federal National Mortgage Association, which packages Federal Housing Administration mortgages, also has investigated Fairbanks and recently determined that it was "not meeting industry standards." What's more, dozens of individual and class-action lawsuits have been filed in various states. In the suits, most of which remain unresolved, homeowners accuse Fairbanks of unjustly forcing them into default or delinquency for the purpose of assessing additional penalties, late fees and exorbitant costs, such as "forced-placed" hazard insurance, to stave off foreclosure. For its part, Fairbanks said it is now reviewing all of its services. "Some of the complaints that have been brought to our attention are legitimate, and we are trying to respond to them," spokeswoman Heidi Schwartz said. PMI Mortgage Insurance Corp., the California-based company that is the majority owner of Fairbanks, has launched its own investigation. "PMI is committed to being part of the solution to rebuild Fairbanks Capital. That's a lofty goal by any standard but one well worth shooting for," Brad Shuster, president of PMI and chairman of Fairbanks Capital Corp., said in a recent statement. "Under my direction, the board of directors has ordered a top-down review of all servicing fees. "If we find problems, we are going to fix them as quickly as possible. If we find there has been wrongdoing (by) Fairbanks employees, we will most assuredly hold those individuals accountable." All of that serves as a vindication of sorts for Kenney, who started a Web site devoted to airing complaints against Fairbanks in May 2001 and has been locked in a series of suits and countersuits with the company. For a long time, Kenney was a voice in the wilderness, fighting Fairbanks without support from government agencies. "This is no longer a story about my loan and my problems with Fairbanks," Kenney said. "This company has been screwing people royally. It's the only mortgage company I'm aware of whose only purpose is to foreclose on people." Kenney says his Web site - originally called www.conti-Fairbanks.com but recently replaced by www.borrowerhelp.com and www.servicingnews.com after Fairbanks sued over the use of its company name in the site address - garnered more than 65,000 hits in its first year and has tracked dozens of individual lawsuits brought by mortgagees. Kenney also takes considerable credit for the groundswell of complaints and multiple investigations that Fairbanks has recently faced, which the industry publication Realty Times recently called "the biggest homeowner uprising in the history of the American home mortgage industry." The pressure from mortgagees and investigative agencies has been felt in Fairbanks's highest echelons. Fairbanks Capital's chief executive officer, Thomas Basmajian, and other top officers have been ousted by the holding company, PMI. "Never in history have two guys with a Web site done something like this," says Kenney, referring to another mortgagee, in California, who helped him publicize the complaints. Kenney's dispute with Fairbanks began in late 2000, when the company claimed he was more than $33,000 in arrears on his $353,000 mortgage. He says he was up to date on all his payments and had been for some time. Soon afterward, Fairbanks started foreclosure proceedings against him. Kenney eventually got a judge to issue an injunction against the foreclosure, which has since been set aside. Ultimately his efforts to keep his home in the face of the attempted foreclosure proceedings cost him about $30,000 in legal fees, Kenney said. In addition to maintaining his Web site, Kenney appeared in newspaper and television news reports in Baltimore, Dallas, Salt Lake City and elsewhere. He testified before a Securities and Exchange Commission panel and met with various state financial regulators and officials. A series of reports that aired locally on WBAL-TV caught the attention of the Community Law Center in Baltimore, which, according to its director of research and policy, Diane Cipollone, is "always involved in any type of predatory or abusive practices involving homeowners." It was Cipollone and her colleagues at the center who brought Fairbanks to the attention of Mikulski. The center also set up its Web site as a resource center and clearinghouse for homeowner complaints against Fairbanks. "We've been contacted by close to 200 families just in Maryland" alleging grievances against the mortgage servicing company," Cipollone said. "I've lost count of how many we've heard from throughout the country." I feel awful for Fairbanks victims who were taken on a ride by this "man"...according to this MD newspaper article, Craig was nearly a one-man show! What a sad-sack; a sad-sack with a "God" complex! We will probably never know how MUCH it takes to buy a soul. But they appear to have been for sale between June 25 and July 15 of 2003.
