Hello, My name is Juan A. T out of Hampton, VA. I am currently going through a situation with the company, Remington Financial Group (RFG) located in Scottsdale, AZ. I am an entreprenuer that was seeking funding to start my new company on the website www.findthatmoney.com . This website links entreprenuers and companies seeking funding to angel investors and lenders. When I was contacted by RFG in March by Adam Neubauer, I was told that they had a lender that was inquired about my investment profile on the site. After being contacted by phone by (RFG Agent) Adam Neubauer, I was told by Mr. Neubauer they had a lender interested in investing $2MM dollars into my company as working capital. It was required that I go through a due diligence phase in which I would have to pay them a $10,000 dollar fee upfront in order for them to move forward. Being that I didn't have that kind of money, I asked family and friends if they could help me out but no one could help. Lastly, I talked to my grandmother, and asked her if she could help me out. She understood how important this was to me, and agreed to use her house as collateral in order to get me the $10,000. My grandmother then wired RFG the $10,000 dollars in April, and that was when I was introduced to Matthew Semryck who is an RFG broker or underwriter. In May I sent RFG all the documents needed for them to perform due diligence on my project to seek approval for the $2MM loan. In June I was sent a restructure letter stipulating that the lender has set new stipulations that needed to be met in order to be considered for the loan. The stipulations that were demanded that I fulfill were no where near relevant to what our intent for the loan was. Plus some of the stipulations that were demanded that I meet were practically impossible to fulfill. My company, Jei-Rock Entertainment would be a multi-faceted entertainment company that would embody businesses in music recording, women's apparel, boxing promotions, and restaurants..however, to jump start the company, we would operate as a record label. Once we made our profit benchmarks we would use our own profit to invest in the boxing promotions, clothing line, and restaurant. So the initial use of the loan would be just to jumpstart the company as a record label. This was clearly stated in the business plan sent to them. Basically, what Mr. Semryck did was present our project to the lender as if we were opening all 4 businesses at the same time with $2MM dollars. Which would be impossible to do with opening a record label, restaurant, clothing line, and boxing promotions company at the same time. This was why I clearly stated how we would use the investment to jump start the record label. The stipulations that were set were irrelevant to what our intent was for the loan at the time. They wanted me to supply 5-major retail chain contracts for a clothing line that wouldn't be operational for another year to two years. They also wanted me to fulfill having partners for the boxing promotions, clothing line, and restaurant with all having 680 or better credit score, 10% liquid assets, and direct ownership experience in that particular market. Now with them knowing that our plan for the loan is to jump start the label only I was astounded. I contacted Tyler Hufford who is Matthew Semryck's manager, and was treated as if I was wrong. I told them that the deal was presented to the lender incorrectly and because of this, I have to fulfill stipulations that are not even relevant to the company's direction. Mr. Hufford stated that the stipulations were set by RFG in order to make the project sound more attractive to the lender. However, then I asked Mr. Hufford that I thought these stipulations were set by the lender and not RFG. So I asked for a refund of the $10,000 because there was nothing stating that they had the right to change our intent for the loan without our approval. I then received a letter from the Attorney stating how the fee was non-refundable, and I then replied to the Attorney that what they did was unethical and I should be entitled to a refund. I have yet to receive a response. If Mr. Semryck would've presented our project to the lender correctly we would have been stuck with stipulation that aren't even possible to complete. I then asked for information in regards to who the lender was, and they stated that they would not reveal the lender until a received an approval letter. I also asked for documentation in regards to how my project was presented to the lender. I asked for information in regards to them telling me they found weaknesses in my business plan when in fact RFG has no experience in closing investment deals in the music, fashion, and or even the boxing promotion industries. So I then asked for any previous and past closing in these industries. I also asked for documentation to justify RFG being able to chance a client's intent for an investment loan without client's approval (for this was what they did to me), Lastly, I asked for a writen document from the lender proving their interest in investing $2MM dollars into our company. I come to believe that there is or never was a lender involved, this was only a tactic to get me to pay them the $10,000 dollars. I would've never paid a fee if there wasn't a lender involved. I have emails from Mr. Hufford stating that they did what they did in hopes of finding a funding source for me, when in fact they were suppose to have already have a lender interested.
Since requesting these documents, I've yet to receive any of these. I've yet to receive any response from their lawyer, and I've yet received any response from RFG President Andrew Bogdanoff. I come to a realization that I have been scammed, and RFG has been known for doing this to numerous clients. They have already had lawsuits filed against them, and have a very bad repuation in regards to accepting upfront fees without acutally funding. This needs to be stopped. No company should be allowed to do this, and this will not be stopped without someone's help. I have filed complaints through President Obama, US and Arizona Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, and the FBI for RFG's unethical practices. This is simply not right especially with the stage of where our economy is, no one is in a position to be scammed. All I wanted to do was start my own company, provide jobs, and give future opportunities to people looking to further their careers. I didn't ask for this, what I am trying to accomplish has be tarnished by what RFG did to me. Now my grandmother's house is on the line, because she used her house as collateral to get me the loan. Please help. Juan A. T mailto:@gmail.com(((REDACTED))) 757-xxx-xxxx
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We are dealing with the exact same scenario as you,Juan. Also dealing with Tyler Hufford as well as the Scottsdale branch. In fact, we went to the branch and no one was there at 3:00 in the afternoon. We came unannounced in hopes of meeting with someone. I too live in Virginia and flew to AZ to talk to someone face-to-face. Doors locked, lights off! Left voice mails with no return phone calls. Now our rep from that office doesn't even respond to e-mails, says it's out of his hands...financial analyst, Kim Vigil and Tyler Hufford, manager, are now our source of contact. Wonder how much he got paid on our $10K?
The original Letter of Interest (LOI) drastically changed once the $10K was wired. RFG stated that the property was the issue. We supplied an inspection report, financials, pro-forma, biz plan, marketing plan, our resumes, credit reports, personal financials, management co resumes, pics of the property, master plan for the city, etc. prior to receiving the LOI. Funny thing is, we just recently got approved for a HUD loan. So we had to pay $6K for an appraisal. HUD appraisal came in at $200K more than the sales price and appraiser says "gem of a property in a hot market, 100% occupied"....and the property is the problem???
We have the exact same issue you are having too with the processor or "financial analyst" not properly presenting the project. We have presented several different variations that will work for us however, RFG isn't budging. They claim to have all of these investors and different programs available, however, they can't make good on the original LOI. Something definitely not right. We are still going back and forth with them, many months have gone by, and still no itemized list of due diligence performed, as we have requested many times over. I guess they get due diligence money up front, bank it, draw interest and that's how they survive. When I mentioned to Tyler that we may have to go down the road of getting an attorney he said, in a sarcastic manner, "tell me now so I can refer you to the RFG arttorney and you won't waste anymore of my time". The nerve!!! Shall we form a class action law suit?
fraudbasher
Kent, Connecticut, United States of America
Bucket Shop Brokers
#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, December 02, 2009
That's disgusting. The lending industry has dropped to a new low. Unfortunately mortgage broker scam artists are rampant. These people that call themselves mortgage brokers are making a living at collecting "processing fees" without any intention of financing your deal. Again it is a new lower level on the food chain. It's the same as the early 90's when boiler rooms and bucket shops thrived on Wall Street due to soft regulation. We are now in the era of bucket shop mortgage companies that are in most cases associated with other phony mortgage companies willing to complicate a legal case in order to complicate a lawsuit to the point that suing becomes a waste of time and money. The point of the story is that you cannot wire any money to a mortgage broker again. Better yet, you should not have to USE a mortgage broker again. Let me explain. I was fortunate enough to have been referred to a website: (((Redacted))). It is a company that copies all the documents needed by a mortgage broker or lender and scans and puts the info into a nice neat electronic file within 48 hours. I found the loan I needed by sending the file out to 10 lenders without the mortgage broker bs and phony salesman complicating my life. Check out the site and see for yourself.