HFC reviews and complaints

Big Trouble Ahead For Many 419 Welfare Benefit Plan and 412i Retirement Plan Participants
Aug 25, 2010
By Lance Wallach

Business owners and professionals who have adopted 419 welfare benefit plan arrangements are in serious trouble. The IRS has attacked these arrangements as "listed transactions." Business owners who engage in a "listed transaction" must report such transactions on IRS Form 8886 every year that they are participating in the transaction, and you are participating even in years when you do not make any contribution. Internal Revenue Code 6707A imposes severe penalties ($200, 000 annually for a business and $100, 000 per year for an individual) for failure to file Form 8886 with respect to a listed transaction. Tax Court, according to both the IRS Appeals Office and its own decisions, does not have jurisdiction to abate or lower any penalties imposed by the IRS. Complaints caused Congress to impose a moratorium on collection of Section 6707A penalties. On June 1, 2010, the moratorium ended, and the IRS immediately began sending out notices warning of possible imposition of 6707A penalties. When you get this notice it should be taken very seriously.
Accountants were required to properly prepare and file Form 8918 (if they signed and/or prepare tax returns and got paid). The penalty for accountants for not properly filing the forms is $100, 000, or $200, 000 if they are incorporated.
Businesses that were in some 419 welfare benefit plans or some 412i retirement as well as some Captive Insurance and Section 79 Plans, were supposed to properly file under IRC Section 6707A each year with the IRS. Either the taxpayer or the accountant was responsible, though the ultimate, primary obligation falls on the taxpayer. The IRS has just begun sending the notices referred to above to participants in many of these plans. This is in addition to any IRS audit you might have had or currently may be having. The large 6707A fine has nothing to do with any other IRS audit. The 6707A fine is for not having properly filed under 6707A with your returns. You are required to file each year with your tax return.
Not only were you required to file with your Federal return, but many states also require protective filings. Some participants in these types of plans have already received notices from the IRS. You must act immediately if you wish to avoid possible huge IRS penalties and interest that could put you out of business for good.
THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IS NOT RUNNING. This means that the IRS can fine you at any time in the future for anything regarding past or present participation in an abusive 419 welfare benefit plan or an abusive 412i retirement plan. There is still time to avoid the IRS penalties and interest. You need to take action immediately and find out right away if the plan you are participating in is abusive by consulting with a professional and experienced 419/412i plan expert.
Most accountants do not know how to properly prepare the appropriate forms. Accountants or other advisors will probably be fined as material advisors. This means that you may be subject to a large fine. Once you get the large fine, the IRS claims it is not subject to an appeal.
You should have filed protectively for every year your entity participated in the plan. Once again, for every year after 2003, the penalty for not properly filing is $200, 000 a year for corporations and $100, 000 a year for individuals. For example, it is possible an employer in the plan since 2004 could be subject to over one million dollars in penalties solely as a result of the failure to file. For all years in the plan, the Statute of Limitations will not begin to run until after the form is properly filed. In addition, certain individual plan participants should also file for every year of plan participation. Once again, none of this has anything to do with any other audit that you may currently be involved in or may previously have experienced.
It is abundantly clear that taxpayers who receive notices from the IRS regarding Section 6707A penalties should take these letters extremely seriously. These notices do not lend themselves to "do-it-yourself eye surgery".

Lance Wallach - About the Author:
Lance Wallach, National Society of Accountants Speaker of the Year and member of the AICPA faculty of teaching professionals, is a frequent speaker on retirement plans, financial and estate planning, and abusive tax shelters. He writes about 412(i), 419, and captive insurance plans. He speaks at more than ten conventions annually, writes for over fifty publications, is quoted regularly in the press and has been featured on television and radio financial talk shows including NBC, National Pubic Radio's All Things Considered, and others. Lance has written numerous books including Protecting Clients from Fraud, Incompetence, and Scams published by John Wiley and Sons, Bisk Education's CPA's Guide to Life Insurance and Federal Estate and Gift Taxation, as well as AICPA best-selling books, including Avoiding Circular 230 Malpractice Traps and Common Abusive Small Business Hot Spots. He does expert witness testimony and has never lost a case. Contact him at 516.938.5007, wallachinc@gmail.com, or visit http://www.taxadvisorexperts.org or http://www.taxaudit419.com.

NEW JERSEY ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
Lines from Lance - Newsletter - updated 01/15/10:

If you were or are in a 412(i), 419, Captive Insurance, or section 79 plan you are probably in big trouble. If you signed a tax return for a client in one of these plans, you are probably what the IRS calls a material advisor and subject to a maximum $200, 000 fine. If you are an Insurance Professional that sold or advised on one of these plans, the same holds true for you. Business Owners and Material Advisors needed to properly file under section 6707A, or face large IRS fines. My office has received thousands of phone calls, many after the business owner has received the fine. In many cases, the accountant files the appropriate forms, but the IRS still levied the fine because the Accountant made a mistake on the form. My office has reviewed many forms for Accountants, Tax Attorneys and others. We have not yet seen a form that was filled out properly. The improper preparation of these forms usually results in the client being fined more quickly then if the form were not filed at all. I have been an expert witness in law suites on point. None of my clients have ever lost where I was their Expert Witness.

The IRS will be soon attacking section 79 scams I am told. My early articles by AICPA and others in the 90s predicted attacks on 419s, which came true. My 412(i) article predictions came true. The section 79 scams soon will be attacked. Everyone in them should file protectively. Anyone that has not filed protectively in a 419 or older 412(i) had better get some good advise from someone who knows what is going on, and has extensive experience filing protectively. IRS still has their task forces auditing these plans. Then they will move on to 79 scams etc. including many of the illegal captives pushed by the insurance companies and agents. Not all captives are illegal. I am an expert witness in a lot of cases involving the 412(i) and 419. It does not go well for the agents, accountants, plan promoters, insurance companies etc. The insurance companies settle first leaving the agents hanging out there. Then in many cases they fire the agents. I was just in a case as an expert witness where a large well know New England mutual based insurance company did just that.

If you are an insurance professional do not count on your insurance company to back you up. More likely they will stab you in the back, based on what I have seen. One of the agents was with the company over 25 years and was a leading producer with lots of company awards. Be careful. If you sold, gave tax advice, or signed a tax return and got paid a certain amount of money you may be a material advisor. Under the newest proposed regulations you had to file with the IRS to avoid the $200, 000 $100, 000 fines. You had to fill out the forms properly. You had to advise those that you advised about the plans or sold the plan to. You had to send them a note, or call them, giving them the number that the IRS had assigned to you as a Material Advisor. This is the number that you obtain after you file the appropriate forms for yourself. Even though you obtain a number you still may have filed your forms improperly or completed them wrong. Many accountants have called me after their clients were fined $800, 000 or more by IRS for improperly filing, or not filing under 6707A. A plan administrator called me after a lot of his clients were fined millions. He told their accountants to file 8886, and most of them did. All of the clients were fined shortly thereafter. The forms need to be filled in exactly correct. In our numerous talks with IRS we were told if filed out wrong the fine is still imposed. BE CAREFUL please be advised we have not seen a form that has been filed out properly. Many accountants, tax attorneys, etc., send us their forms to be reviewed, most after they file for one client who then gets fined about one million dollars under the regulations. I DO NOT do the forms. A former IRS agent of 37 years, CPA, tax professor does them, as does another person that I know.
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The moratorium on collection has been extended for two additional months until March 1st.
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If you are a small business owner, accountant or insurance professional you may be in big trouble and not know it. IRS has been fining people like you $200, 000. Most people that have received the fines were not aware that they had done anything wrong. What is even worse is that the fines are not appeal-able. This is not an isolated situation. This has been happening to a lot of people.

Currently, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has the discretion to assess hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties under §6707A of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) in an attempt to curb tax avoidance shelters. This discretion can be applied regardless of the innocence of the taxpayer and was granted by Congress. It works so that if the IRS determines you have engaged in a listed transaction and failed to properly disclose it, you will be subject to a potentially draconian penalty regardless of any other facts and circumstances concerning the transaction. For some, this penalty has been assessed at almost a million dollars and for many it is the beginning of a long nightmare.

The following is an example: Pursuant to a settlement with the IRS, the 412(i) plan was converted into a traditional defined benefit plan. All of the contributions to the 412(i) plan would have been allowable if they had initially adopted a traditional defined benefit plan. Based on negotiations with the IRS agent, the audit of the plan resulted in no income and minimal excise taxes due. This is because as a traditional defined benefit plan, the taxpayers could have contributed and deducted the same amount as a 412(i) plan.
Towards the end of the audit the business owner received a notice from the IRS. The IRS assessed the client penalties under the §6707A of the Code in the amount of $900, 000.00. This penalty was assessed because the client allegedly participated in a listed transaction and allegedly failed to file the form 8886 in a timely manner.

The IRS may call you a material advisor and fine you $200, 000.00. The IRS may fine your clients over a million dollars for being in a retirement plan, 419 plan, etc. As you read this article, hundreds of unfortunate people are having their lives ruined by these fines. You may need to take action immediately. The Internal Revenue Service said it would extend until the end of March 1, 2010 a grace period granted to small business owners for collection of certain tax-shelter penalties.

"Clearly, a number of taxpayers have been caught in a penalty regime that the legislation did not intend, " wrote Shulman. "I understand that Congress is still considering this issue, and that a bipartisan, bicameral, bill may be in the works." The issue relates to penalties for so-called listed transactions, the kinds of tax shelters the IRS has designated most egregious. A number of small business owners that bought employee retirement plans so called 419 and 412(i) plans and others, that were listed by the IRS, and who are now facing hundreds and thousands in penalties, contend that the penalty amounts are unfair.
Leaders of tax-writing committees in the House and Senate have said they intend to pass legislation revising the penalty structure.

The IRS has suspended collection efforts in cases where the tax benefit derived from the listed transaction was less than $100, 000 for individuals, or less than $200, 000 for firms. They are still however sending out notices that they intend to fine.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) has sponsored legislation (S.765) to curtail the IRS and its nearly unlimited authority and power under Code Section 6707A. The bill seeks to scale back the scope of the Section 6707A reportable/listed transaction nondisclosure penalty to a more reasonable level. The current law provides for penalties that are Draconian by nature and offer no flexibility to the IRS to reduce or abate the imposition of the 6707A penalty. This has served as a weapon of mass destruction for the IRS and has hit many small businesses and their owners with unconscionable results.

Internal Revenue Code 6707A was enacted as part of the American Jobs Creation Act on October 22, 2004. It imposes a strict liability penalty for any person that failed to disclose either a listed transaction or reportable transaction per each occurrence. Reportable transactions usually fall within certain general types of transactions (e.g. confidential transactions, transactions with tax protection, certain loss generating transaction and transactions of interest arbitrarily so designated as by the IRS) that have the potential for tax avoidance. Listed transactions are specified transactions, which have been publicly designated by the IRS, including anything that is substantially similar to such a transaction (a phrase which is given very liberal construction by the IRS). There are currently 34 listed transactions, including certain retirement plans under Code section 412(i) and certain employee welfare benefit plans funded in part with life insurance under Code sections 419A(f)(5), 419(f)(6) and 419(e). Many of these plans were implemented by small business seeking to provide retirement income or health benefits to their employees.

Strict liability requires the IRS to impose the 6707A penalty regardless of innocence of a person (i.e. whether the person knew that the transaction needed to be reported or not or whether the person made a good faith effort to report) or the level of the person’s reliance on professional advisors. A Section 6707A penalty is imposed when the transaction becomes a reportable/listed transaction. Therefore, a person has the burden to keep up to date on all transactions requiring disclosure by the IRS into perpetuity for transactions entered into the past.

Additionally, the 6707A penalty strictly penalizes nondisclosure irrespective of taxes owed. Accordingly, the penalty will be assessed even in legitimate tax planning situations when no additional tax is due but an IRS required filing was not properly and timely filed. It is worth noting that a failure to disclose in the view of the IRS encompasses both a failure to file the proper form as well as a failure to include sufficient information as to the nature and facts concerning the transaction. Hence, people may find themselves subject to the 6707A penalty if the IRS determines that a filing did not contain enough information on the transaction. A penalty is also imposed when a person does not file the required duplicate copy with a separate IRS office in addition to filing the required copy with the tax return. Lance Wallach Commentary. In our numerous talks with IRS, we were also told that improperly filling out the forms could almost be as bad as not filing the forms. We have reviewed hundreds of forms for accountants, business owners and others. We have not yet seen a form that was properly filled in. We have been retained to correct many of these forms.

For more information see www.vebaplan.com, www.lawyer4audits.com, or e-mail us at lawallach@aol.com

The imposition of a 6707A penalty is not subject to judicial review regardless of whether the penalty is imposed for a listed or reportable transaction. Accordingly, the IRS’s determination is conclusive, binding and final. The next step from the IRS is sending your file to collection, where your assets may be forcibly taken, publicly recorded liens may be placed against your property, and/or garnishment of your wages or business profits may occur, amongst other measures.

The 6707A penalty amount for each listed transaction is generally $200, 000 per year per each person that is not an individual and $100, 000 per year per individual who failed to properly disclose each listed transaction. The 6707A penalty amount for each reportable transaction is generally $50, 000 per year for each person that is not an individual and $10, 000 per year per each individual who failed to properly disclose each reportable transaction. The IRS is obligated to impose the listed transaction penalty by law and cannot remove the penalty by law. The IRS is obligated to impose the reportable transaction penalty by law, as well, but may remove the penalty when the IRS determines that removal of the penalty would promote compliance and support effective tax administration.

The 6707A penalty is particularly harmful in the small business context, where many business owners operate through an S corporation or limited liability company in order to provide liability protection to the owner/operators. Numerous cases are coming to light where the IRS is imposing a $200, 000 penalty at the entity level and them imposing a $100, 000 penalty per individual shareholder or member per year.

The individuals are generally left with one of two options:
· Declare Bankruptcy
· Face a $300, 000 penalty per year.

Keep in mind, taxes do not need to be due nor does the transaction have to be proven illegal or illegitimate for this penalty to apply. The only proof required by the IRS is that the person did not properly and timely disclose a transaction that the IRS believes the person should have disclosed. It is important to note in this context that for non-disclosed listed transactions, the Statue of Limitations does not begin until a proper disclosure is filed with the IRS.

Many practitioners believe the scope and authority given to the IRS under 6707A, which allows the IRS to act as judge, jury and executioner, is unconstitutional. Numerous real life stories abound illustrating the punitive nature of the 6707A penalty and its application to small businesses and their owners. In one case, the IRS demanded that the business and its owner pay a 6707A total of $600, 000 for his and his business’ participation in a Code section 412(i) plan. The actual taxes and interest on the transaction, assuming the IRS was correct in its determination that the tax benefits were not allowable, was $60, 000. Regardless of the IRS’s ultimate determination as to the legality of the underlying 412(i) transaction, the $600, 000 was due as the IRS’s determination was final and absolute with respect to the 6707A penalty. Another case involved a taxpayer who was a dentist and his wife whom the IRS determined had engaged in a listed transaction with respect to a limited liability company. The IRS determined that the couple owed taxes on the transaction of $6, 812, since the tax benefits of the transactions were not allowable. In addition, the IRS determined that the taxpayers owed a $1, 200, 000 section 6707A penalty for both their individual nondisclosure of the transaction along with the nondisclosure by the limited liability company.

Even the IRS personnel continue to question both the legality and the fairness of the IRS’s imposition of 6707A penalties. An IRS appeals officer in an email to a senior attorney within the IRS wrote that “…I am both an attorney and CPA and in my 29 years with the IRS I have never {before} worked a case or issue that left me questioning whether in good conscience I could uphold the Government’s position even though it is supported by the language of the law.” The Taxpayers Advocate, an office within the IRS, even went so far as to publicly assert that the 6707A should be modified as it “raises significant Constitutional concerns, including possible violations of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against excessive government fines, and due process protection.”

Senate bill 765, the bill sponsored by Senator Nelson, seeks to alleviate some of above cited concerns. Specifically, the bill makes three major changes to the current version of Code section 6707A. The bill would allow an IRS imposed 6707A penalty for nondisclosure of a listed transaction to be rescinded if a taxpayer’s failure to file was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. The bill would make a 6707A penalty proportional to an understatement of any tax due.

Accordingly, non-tax paying entities such as S corporations and limited liability companies would not be subject to a 6707A penalty (individuals, C corporations and certain trusts and estates would remain subject to the 6707A penalty).

There are a number of interesting points to note about this action:
1. In the letter, the IRS acknowledges that, in certain cases, the penalty imposed by section 6707A for failure to report participation in a “listed transaction” is disproportionate to the tax benefits obtained by the transaction.
2. In the letter, the IRS says that it is taking this action because Congress has indicated its intention to amend the Code to modify the penalty provision, so that the penalty for failure to disclose will be more in line with the tax benefits resulting from a listed transaction.
3. The IRS will not suspend audits or collection efforts in appropriate cases. It cannot suspend imposition of the penalty, because, at least with respect to listed transactions, it does not have the discretion to not impose the penalty. It is simply suspending collection efforts in cases where the tax benefits are below the penalty threshold in order to give Congress time to amend the penalty provision, as Congress has indicated to the IRS it intends to do.
4. The legislation does not change the penalty provisions for material advisors.

This is taken directly from the IRS website:
“Congress has enacted a series of income tax laws designed to halt the growth of abusive tax avoidance transactions. These provisions include the disclosure of reportable transactions. Each taxpayer that has participated in a reportable transaction and that is required to file a tax return must disclose information for each reportable transaction in which the taxpayer participates. Use Form 8886 to disclose information for each reportable transaction in which participation has occurred. Generally, Form 8886 must be attached to the tax return for each tax year in which participation in a reportable transaction has occurred. If a transaction is identified as a listed transaction or transaction of interest after the filing of a tax return (including amended returns), the transaction must be disclosed either within 90 days of the transaction being identified as a listed transaction or a transaction of interest or with the next filed return, depending on which version of the regulations is applicable.”

January 15, 2010: Brand New Update: The new proposed regulations specify a requirement that reporting forms filed under 6707A filed late must have additional attachments. Where in is described many additional details not covered in the original regulations. In addition, various parties must sign a statement on the attachments under penalty of perjury. The proposed regulations also specify that the late filing must be done in a specific manner. If this filing is not done according to these rules, the one-year period for statute of limitations will not commence, etc. In addition, the form should include a statement at the top in the manner the IRS suggests. If a tax payer fails to include, on any return or statement, for any taxable year, any information with respect to a listed transaction as defined in CODE SECTION 6707A, which is required to be included with such return or statement the time for assessment of any tax imposed by this title with respect to such transaction shall not expire before the date, which is one year after the earlier of; the date on which the secretary is furnished the information so required, or the date that a material advisor meets the requirements relating to such transaction with respect to such tax payer. As you know, Congress has armed the IRS with many weapons for enforcement. Usually there is three-year statute of limitations granted to all taxpayers. In the situation above there will be no statute of limitations, unless the forms are filed in correctly with no errors at all. In addition, the forms must be sent to the proper IRS authorities at their various locations. Lance Wallach’s commentary: It seems to me and to the only two people that I know who have been filing these forms correctly that that the IRS has purposely made it almost impossible for accountants and tax attorneys to properly fill out these forms and to comply with regulations under SECTION 6707A. The result is that a business owner in one of these plans asks his accountant or attorney to file the disclosures. The Business Owner then gets fined, on average, ABOUT A MILLION DOLLARS. Or the Business Owner does not file the forms and gets the same fine. The same goes for the Material Advisor. The two people that have been filing these forms properly to my knowledge have repeatedly had discussions with the authors of these regulations and various other IRS personnel, including the Office of Tax Shelter Analysis. Based on those many conversations with IRS personnel, repeatedly re-reading the various regulations and experience in filing many of the form under these code sections, these two people have developed their expertise. I only have their word that no one has been fined that they have helped. One of these individuals has been preparing the forms after the fact, late, for the last few years. I am not endorsing using anyone in particular for these forms. I am just writing about my experience in this area.

Lance Wallach, CLU, ChFC, speaks and writes about benefit plans, tax reductions strategies, and financial plans. He has authored numerous books for the AICPA books, Bisk Total tapes, Wiley and others.

Lance Wallach, the National Society of Accountants Speaker of the Year also writes about retirement plans, 412(1) and 419 and Captive plans. He speaks at more than ten conventions annually, writes for over fifty publications, is quotes regularly in the press and has written numerous best-selling AICPA books including Common Abusive Business Hot Spots. He does Expert Witness work and has never lost a case. Contact him at 516.938.5007, lawallach@aol.com or visit www.vebaplan.com or www.taxlibrary.us.

The information provided herein is not intended as legal, accounting, financial or any other type of advice for any specific individual or other entity. You should contact an appropriate professional for any such advice.

They are the worst. I have had an account for 5 years and had never missed a payment. I recently hit some hard times and worked out a payment date and amount and was told, no problem, if you keep this arrangement, all will be fine. I did, but they still reported a 30 late to the credit rating trio. Now I'm screwed! I was refinancing my house, but when the late notice posted, my rating dropped and my loan fell apart. I kept my end of the arrangement, but they do what they want. All the people at HFC blame their computer system, saying, oh we don't controll it, it automatically sends the negative at 30 days. That's info that would have been useful BEFORE I set up the payment at 31 days! I have been trying to get this corrected for 10 days and still I wait. They will not cut people an ounce of slack. Avoid them if at all possible!

JULY 2010 have just got off the phone with hfc creeps talhed to a person not even in the us and explained that i lost my job on june 18 of 2010 and lost my brother in a motorcycle accident 2 weeks later and finances were gone except unemployment. he proceded to only repeat his companys position that this was all he could do is take 3 payments out my checking account at 175.00 per month for a forbarance . after repeatly trying to explain to a man who bearly i could understand for lack of his accent . my wife and i tried to explain that 2 other companies had worked with us with a fixed payment with no interest being levied on the account to pay off the principal only until payed in full. what i dont understand if major credit card companies can do this why cant a creep of a company like HFC do the same instead of constant phone calls and no customer service. they seem to pride themselves on harrasement and improper tactics to acheive there goal of just getting money any way the can from the customer. i wish there was a law where the comsumer had a way of getting back at companies that only care about money only not people.

from joe in penna when will government gail out the common people instead of business and stockmarkets and remember that if people have jobs jobs pay taxes not big companies

My ex-husband and I had a home financed through Countrywide, and later got a home equity loan from Beneficial, subsequently changed to HFC. After separating, my husband stayed in the home and was foreclosed on. HFC is still requiring me...after 10 years and MINIMAL balance change, to pay this loan. I have been afraid to not pay it because I am finally recovering my credit score - no help from my ex - and I am afraid they can do something towards the new home I was able to purchase...finally. Can anyone give me information on who to contact to do something about this company or this loan. How can you be required to pay an equity line on a home that you don't own that has been sold to someone else? ANY thoughts or ideas? Thanks!

I also agree. We recently sold our house in a short sale to avoid foreclosure. HFC is holding us responsible for the shortage of the mortgage which is $100, 000. The company encouraged us to do the short sale and never advised us of the end results.
We have no clue what to do now.

HFC has put us in a no win situation by levying our checking account, the last of our monies to live on for three months. All the pleading and begging did no good. The end of this month, we will have no power, phone, or FOOD. I hope the SOB (David Gregg) has a wonderful, fullfilled life...and dreams about folks like us, as he stated, unfortunate, irresponsible and oh well, toobad for you..

I agree with everyone on this comment board and I am so sorry to hear about all the trouble that you are all having. This is the reason I started my company. I have helped several people that have mortgages with ASC, Countrywide, and other mortgage companies that don't seem to care if they harass people or suck them dry. The comments I have heard are along the lines of trying to get blood from a stone or turnip, or something like that.

I have a service that actually will take you out of the loop of contact with ASC, or Countrywide or whomever you have servicing your loan. All you have to do is tell me how we can help you. By that I mean, tell us what you are looking for us to do for you and we will pursue the help that you want, no matter what. We have all aspects of the mortgage business covered from being a mortgage mediation company, a title company, a real estate company, all the way to having access to attorneys for litigation or help to avoid foreclosure. No aspect of help is turned away.

Let me tell you, most of the customers that I deal with have told me about the fear and the frustration of working with mortgage companies that don't seem to care or give them the runaround. To be totally fair, mortgage companies have their ways of dealing with people. Some are good, some are horrible. But one thing all mortgage companies love is being vague. When they are vague, they don't have to give you information until you ASK for it. How does that help you? How can you try to save your home if you don't know how to ask the right questions?

That’s another reason why I created this company. I take your number out of their "system". When they mail you something, it goes to me. I take the burden away from you so you can live your life without the phone calls and the letters. And the rudeness! Oh, man, if I told you some of the stories I have heard...let's just say, it’s not pretty.

I know that some people are going to look at this comment and go, this guy is trying to drum up business. Well, you're right. But here's the kicker. I used to work in mortgage collections. I used to make the phone calls and send the letters. I used to work around the people that make your lives hell. And I kept asking myself, why? Why are these people not being told about the help that’s readily available? Why are these people not being helped to make payment arrangements that are realistic? Why does this company care more about the money than about customer service when that is supposed to be their primary objective?

That's why I got out. I can not stand collections. Just because they are hiding behind a company name they think that they can say anything or act anyway they like with the customers, being friendly with one and the next 40-50 they can treat like crap. Where is the customer service?

I take all that frustration away from you and create solutions that work. I know that it may be hard to swallow, but I do. I have done it for several people. And I can do it for you too. If you want more specifics or just want to talk to me, call my office at [protected] and check out the website, which is being updated with a few new options available. And this isn't just for people facing foreclosure, people that are current and want to pay off their home early, call me. I can and will help as many people as I am able to. What have you got to lose? Website address is http://www.onlybusiness.com/members/RealtyMediationService...and if not for you, best of luck. In all your endeavors.

HFC It is so strange that the people working in this company can not tell you who the CEO is they say they don't know. I was told a Chris Oneil was and the next rep told me he no longer worked there since a couple of days ago. And he has no idea who is in charge now. This company is so big and has so many names and affiliates no wonder they get away with so much no body knows how to get to the core of this scamming business Please comment if your in Massachusetts. This company needs to be STOPPED

Massachusetts WAKE UP CALL If you financed or refinanced with HFC in any one of their offices from 2006 thru their closing and you have problems with predatory lending practices CALL HUD NOW somebody and everybody has to come forward CALL the attorney Generals office. This company needs a class action lawsuit against them from MASSACHUSETTS. They closed all their offices I WONDER WHY CALL Your HUD AGENCY and start processing your complaints with the Attorney Generals office WE CAN WIN

HFC should be put to death! I had an existing loan with them, balance app. 3, 000.00. I was recieving settlement cks weekly and wasn't concerned. Unfortunately the economy went dead and so did my income. Ihave been a house mate with a wonderful man and he works as a building framer. His work stopped, as did his income. Between the two of us, we sold all we could to make ends meet. What was left in our account was to sustain us for app. three months. Out of nowhere, HFC levys his only account because I was co-signer. We are now losing everything. I called &called to no avail. The "wonderful, biligerent, degrading" man (David Gregg) to whom I finally contacted, stated it was our problem and that HFC needed to pay their utilities and people like me & my partner were basicly losers. I hope all can read this, as I have read so many and know we are not alone. With the Grace of God, a whole lot of luck, and a great attorney, we may, as "the little no good, losers" find our way out and heads above the water

I have a complaint against the HFC that I will be passing on to the Attorney General. HFC - put us in a balloon paying plan - that we could not possibly pay.

They over appraised our house twice over for what it was worth. When we try to get the matter clear, we were informed that we had signed the contract and there was nothing we could do. Some people were assisted, but a date line had been put into the process and, of course of, are complaint was not included in the date line of possible - monies returned.

We need this comtract reviewd and monies returned to us. We are Senior now, health failing and have little money to try to survive. We need justice and to be made back hold.

There should be no contract that was been written, even though signed, that people should be held to it, especially when calculations have been put into place, and promises have been made that are totally against the consumer.

We were not protected, and we are suffering for these problems, We need this HFC program reviewd just for the sake of justice and peace of mind.

I have ALL the paperwork from the beginning until the end. We need help and to be made back hold. We need a bailout