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OF LENDING GROUP

OF Lending defrauds another!

Livermore, California

OF Lending Group, Bill Hogarty, Jim Rivera, and Ryan Mitchell, DEFRAUDED us of $7000.00. We saw a segment on View From the Bay around January of 2010. We called OF Lending off that segment. Looked legit., and thought we did my homework. I called Bill Hogarty directly and was put in touch with Ryan Mitchell. While we expressed concern over the $8000.00 they wanted up front for doing a short pay refi with our lender Wells Fargo, they smooth talked us into it. They said that they would be doing a lot of work for us to get this done. They told us that they had worked extensively with Wells Fargo with a very high success rate. Ryan told us that he had personally done more successful deals with Wells Fargo than he could count. Eventually, perhaps because we hemmed and hawed over the 8K, Ryan said he would do it for $7000.00 because he was going on a company cruise and was in such a good mood. We gave Jim Rivera a check for $7000.00 in May. He told us that while not offering a guarantee, he was confident they could get this done.

At first, things seemed ok, and we were getting regular updates, although it seemed impossible to get to the short pay refi department. Several months passed and the communications stopped. Our calls and emails were not being returned. We were getting very concerned. We drove to the office on December 9th, 2010. When we asked to see Bill Hogarty, we were told we would need to make an appointment. We asked to see Jim Rivera. He told us that Bill Hogarty had been ‘forcibly removed’ from the building the day before. He didn’t say by whom or why. So the woman at the front desk says we need to make an appointment and Jim tells us Bill Hogarty was forcibly removed? His Camaro was in the parking lot. Someone needs to get their story straight.

At that meeting with Jim Rivera, he said he would do everything in his power to get us our money back. He said he had been a victim as well and would do everything in his power to make us whole again. He said Bill Hogarty had scammed him too. But he lied straight to our faces. At that same meeting, Ryan Mitchell again told us that he had more successes with Wells Fargo than he could count.

I had actually called Wells Fargo the day before and found out that they have never participated in the short pay refi program at all! Not only that, Wells Fargo told me that they had no record of anyone from OF Lending calling them after August. Ryan said he last spoke with them in October. But I couldn’t even get anyone to give me an explanation of why they didn’t return calls or emails for months.

They have stolen from so many people. I have spoken with Rick Monge of the Alameda County DA’s office, as well as the Department of Real Estate.

OF Lending was issued a Desist and Refrain on October 27, 2010 for illegally taking money for loan modification . It has been illegal to take money up front since October 11, 2009.

“ADVANCE FEES FOR LOAN MODIFICATIONS NOW PROHIBITTED
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 94 (Calderon) which prohibits any person, including real estate licensees and lawyers, from demanding, charging, or collecting an advance fee from a consumer for loan modification or mortgage loan forbearance services. IF YOU ARE APPROACHED BY ANY PERSON REQUIRING UP FRONT FEES FOR THESE SERVICES DO NOT PAY THEM.”

The above information is copied off the DRE website, and the Desist and Refrain is easily found under the Consumer” tab.

Also, Bill Hogarty’s Broker license (#01108686) expired in 1999. There is a license listed for OF Lending and Gold Star Realty. But Bill’s is expired!

This information is also on the DRE website.

This has been a ponzi scheme with Bill Hogarty and his co-horts taking money from people. Bill would repay the people who complained loudly enough from the new money coming in.

When I went by on December 16th, the door was locked with mail piling up outside the door.

The phones are not even being answered anymore.

When we went by on the 9th, there were business cards on the desk in a holder for GOLD STAR REALTY. This is another of Bill Hogarty’s scams.

When discussing our situation, we were also referred to CREDIT RX, yet another scam of Bill Hogarty’s where they will take thousands of dollars from you under the ‘guise’ of repairing your credit. This website as well as OF Lending’s site have been taken down, although I don’t know who is responsible.

My email is SamuelsOhana1@yahoo.com if you have been a victim and would like to contact me.

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  • Submitted: 12/23/2010
I am copying and pasting this post that was written on my behalf. Until now I have not attempted to defend myself. I am now starting to do just that, as the name I have established and reputation in this industry that took years to establish, is now being questioned. I will work diligently and within the scope of this investigation to show and prove that the things that may be said or believed to be true have another side of the story. I have prepared a blog that will be attached shortly and begin the process to clear my name by both explanation in blogs, and through a judicial process as well. The posts are taking a negative affect on me and my family and I ask to please consider and feel free to contact me before placing judgment solely on the negative things that are posted about me. Below is a post that I copied from a blog on this site that is defending me and my integrity.

OF Lending Group and a positive experience with Jim Rivera
I would like to write this blog in defense of Jim Rivera and the negative things that have been reading. I have had the pleasure to work with Jim over the last 2 years. I was referred to him by a Realtor that claimed he was the most up front and stand up guy.

Upon meeting with Jim I appreciated his up front disclosures, about him not wanting to give me false hopes, and although, that was not what I wanted to hear, I was relieved by his honesty. Through my process which started with me asking him about the short pay refinance that I viewed on TV by William Hogarty, I ended up continuing forward with a different program that Jim suggested as he didn’t believe the Short Pay would fit my situation. Although I somewhat still believed it to be the answer for me as I trusted Jim to make sure he took control of the situation I was in and prayed, it would be better then my current situation. Jim was great at responding and always made me feel at ease whenever I became nervous. In the end I was able to complete a refinance since my home was not to far from being upside down. I thought it was impossible to refinance a home that had no equity and with Jim’s Knowledge and fortunately not allowing me to do the short refinance that I called him on, I was greatly appreciated for his effort and more importantly his honesty. I have no rebounded from the sleepless nights and concern over loosing my home. This is solely because of Jim Rivera. For this I will stand behind him and represent him as a person that does not feel he would ever mislead someone intentionally to do something wrong. If that were the case then I was a possible victim as I was willing to do anything to save my home when I contacted him.


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  • Submitted: 12/23/2010
I am writing in response to this blog along with others that have been posted in attempt to try to paint a picture of me personally as a person that scammed them. I have included a few web sites that you can go to that show that not only were short pay refinances very legit, but FHA is actually doing loans for them. I am also now starting to talk about what has happened while I was employed with OF Lending Group and how I became involved in these transactions.

It has taken 13 years for me to build my reputation and have acted ever since with honor and integrity. I do not claim that I wasn’t involved in selling short pay refinances. I was involved in the time period of starting around September 2009 until May or early June 2010. I stopped selling the Short Pay Refinance completely at that point, for no other reason then the banks were not doing as many as we previously though or were lead to believe.

In our industry during that time their was unrest among home owners due to the fact the housing market dropped along with the values and equity that everyone had in their home. I was also someone that was involved with loosing over 500k in the home I bought and then later Short sold because the bank I was working with would not do a Short pay Refinance due to me being behind on payments. I was behind because I was following the instruction of the person that represented B of A and said that “They would not do anything or even Talk to me until I got behind” So as a home owner with just about everything I had into my home I did as they suggested. Once that happened I was told that they wanted to see document after document after document. I provided them with what they asked for each time and found that they always said I did not send it or they did not receive it. It was a pattern that I found to be incredibly discouraging and I was just about out of hope. Around this time the Short Pay Refinance was brought to life and it was definitely not created by me yet brought to my attention from the broker I was employed with William Hogarty and OF Lending Group. There was a large amount of information and evidence the showed that these transactions would help people. I was bitter because even after I put my home on the market to be sold and received an offer of 475k less then I owed, I still called B of A and said I will give you 100K more then the offer and asked to please let me keep my home. I was then asked to provide the offer along with another batch of paperwork of about 70-100 pages and was told they would get back to me. I waited and hoped for the 2 week period to go buy in which I was told they would give me an answer. Time went by and on the 14 day I called and was told that because I was not current on payments, which they suggested, then I would be turned down for my request of paying even 100k more for the home that was my dream home.

I share this because, as the time of the Short Pay came around and was widely publicized, I was in the brink of loosing my home and all because the bank told me to get behind. When it was said and done, my home was gone and I was led to believe that if I were current then I might have had a chance. The government along with other companies and major banks were publically advertising that they did short pays and provided literature to everyone that this was a true and legitimate way to help people keep there homes. I although hesitant to sell these at the beginning decided that my belief of it sounded to good to be true was actually posted everywhere and they were happening.

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  • Submitted: 12/23/2010
cont'd from previous post:

This was in addition to the broker being an actual mortgage lender telling us the reason why banks would do these transactions as it was the cheapest way out for them. These conversations were accompanied with Testimonials provided by the broker. With seeing much of what the concept of short pay finance was about in just about every marketing ad from different lenders. That’s when I whole hardily believed within my self and belief system that this was what was needed to hopefully prevent people from going through what I did. I began selling them under the platform that my broker created. There was an entire team of people that worked on these files and were in communication with the lender and the client. I was not involved in this process and was only involved with the initial point of contact and explaining the way the process worked. I always told people that it would take between 5-8 months to complete so please be patient. That is the time frame that most everyone represented to be the period expected to complete this transaction. The government was involved with restoring the market through the T.A.R.P. program and although its intent was to help, it ultimately did not work as the banks, government and you and I had expected. Things changed regularly at during the mortgage crises it was a moving target, yet I saw few of the short pays our office took in starting to get completed. Again I started with this process about 2-3 months after the broker suggested we sell them.

I still had not had any complaints or issues with the results at the beginning of the year, due to the idea I had and presented to the client that we were still in the stages that our dept. that dealt with the negotiations were explaining to us, not only verbally but in writing with communication with the bank. Again I believed these transactions were working. The contract was never written by me nor did it have my name on it anywhere. It was written by the broker and a Dept. Of Real estate attorney. I was given explanation in writing that the contract we had was allowed after the advance fees agreement was introduced because of the way that our company had worked on these files and had specific information regarding what people were agreeing to. Again, I was 100% under the impression both with explanation and in writing that the advanced fee being stopped were due to the crooks out there taking money and not intended for the legitimate companies that were really helping and creating positive results. Again, with the staff that was working on these transactions and proof that they were getting these done along with the information we were told and later confirmed that we were ok to operate as we did, well at least on the sales level where I along with every employee in the company were told and led to believe. I was also not the person that any check or money was paid directly to me and instead to the company name of OF Lending Group. Therefore I was not exposed or involved with the earlier complaints due to the fact that I started selling them a couple months later then some and because I was not the person that people had the agreement with. Around May of this year I started receiving complaints about the time it was taking to complete the period that was believed it would take to complete the transaction. I was lea to believe this was normal, yet started to have concern as guidelines changed. It was at this point I started telling people I will not accept any B of A clients as they have now publically expressed they would not except short pay refinances.

Other banks were still providing approvals, well the ones that were getting done and emails that were shared of a success story and completion went throughout the office. In the time period of late May, I decided that the clients I had worked with and explained the program to were now getting upset and started asking for refunds because the transaction they hoped for did not get approved. Although, I always shared that it was not a guaranty, however I believed with the fact, that the clients met the criteria in which HUD had said would be allowed and along with the qualifications set by the broker and after these were confirmed to be true, that in fact they were qualified. This is how and why I sold these and believed they would have a chance of getting done.
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  • Submitted: 12/23/2010
cont'd from previous post:

Once the complaints came in and I started to have to defend the reasoning behind the fact I was selling these, then I completely stopped these transactions and came up with an agreement with the broker that I would forfeit and pay back 100% of the money I earned for the commission to go back to the client just so I could clear my name. I have this agreement and have provided to the people investigating this case. At that time I was having my paycheck deducted regularly to pay back the clients that complained. This information was given to me by the broker also in which I have documentation to prove that I was doing what I thought was right, yet the amount I earned was a miniscule amount to what the agreement was, yet to save face it was worth it.

Unfortunately the agreement was with the broker and my forfeiting the commission earned on my part was far from the amount that people wanted returned. This was far out of my ability to negotiate with the broker and although I did what I could do to clear things up, the broker did not. Because I am involved with the initial start of the process and the fact that the broker has not agreed to pay people back does not mean I scammed you or anyone. I am confident that the information I have provided to the DRE and the investigator in this case will be sufficient to prove the things I write in this blog. My intent with writing this is to show people that their are some extremely upset people and rightfully so, yet even though I was the initial point of contact and provided them something that was new and widely publicized and to this date still being sold, the fact that they feel they have not gotten there money back from the broker and the reason they feel they were scammed is entirely in the reason that the broker has not given them there money back and has taken with most a position of aggression. I have done everything I can including paying back the money to these clients, and not because of an admission of guilt on my part, but simply because I felt that I didn’t want to be a part of whatever reason the broker had to not pay these people on the contract he had with them. This was not my decision nor did I just turn my back on clients. I have stood up and defended and argued with the broker to make things right for the simple fact that people were upset and I was involved. I was told that it was not me paying the staff and I wasn’t out all the money for the salaries paid and I had no right to spend the company’s money.

I share this story because I will no longer sit back and let people form opinions based on what they are reading. If you or anyone would like I will meet and share what I have to prove every single thing in this blog is correct and true. I took 13 years to build my reputation and ill be damned if 8 months of selling the short pay refinance will bring me and my family down. In the end it wasn’t the fact that I was selling anything illegal or false it was the fact that the broker did not give full refunds back to people that signed up. I did and was willing to continue through he time I was working there, and all the way to the point of me leaving the company and being told that I still had a balance owed for refunds.

If anyone would like to email me or discuss any of this information then I welcome the contact at Jimr1414@gmail.com

In addition to this information I have posted a few web sites below that prove that short sale refinances were widely publicized and sold at the time of these transactions taking place within our company. I stand to clear my name and will challenge anyone saying otherwise, yet I am also understanding of the upset created by this transaction and the broker’s inability to pay them back. I don’t claim to want to sweep this under the rug, yet want to do what is required to make sure that the name I built will be restored, and explain that I regret any of this happened.

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  • Submitted: 12/23/2010
Cont’d from previous post:

I am attaching a few sites that are not intended to convince anyone of the legitimacy of the short pay refinance, I am simply attaching these so that everyone can see that these were real. The issue is not entirely because I sold something that at the time I believed in, but instead because the broker was not willing to work our refunds with the clients involved. This is an attempt to paint a picture of what happened along with my side of how I was involved.


http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-173

http://www.mortgagefit.com/refinance/lender.html

http://ondemandinvestments.com/LendersthatAcceptShortRefi.aspx

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/522008_FHA_Short_Pay_Loans.asp

http://forum.brokeroutpost.com/loans/forum/2/212354.htm

http://www.linkedin.com/in/acinclenders

http://www.m3strategy.net/blog/short-refi-defined.html

http://shortrefiusa.com/short-pay-refinance.php

http://shortpayrefinanceoption.com/

http://equityreturned.com/


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  • Submitted: 12/24/2010
I would like to share that i have reached out to Mr. Samuels and have asked to meet with him in person following his blog. I believe that their are some true statemetns here, yet misleading with others. However I do not say that Mr. Samuels is saying anything misleading, in fact a lot of what was said is correct, yet the belief he has of me taking his money and that I havetold nothing but lies is something that I stand to dispute and protect my integrity with everything in me. Yet I understand the anger Mr. Samuels has and I am willing to defend these negative things said with an in person meeting in hopes that he may see a different side, yet do not deny that he has the right to be upset. If anyone is interested in sending me an email please to so at jimr1414@gmail.com

My name is Fred Wilson, I was out of town on a business trip when these allegations were made against Jim Rivera. As I returned home to livermore I heard that Jim Rivera and some others from his company had been slandered on the internet. I am here to say that I have done business with Jim on several occasions and have found him to be a very professional man. I will not allow a group of dissappointed individuals ruin his many years of good business. I know the type of business he normally does and the wealth of knowledge he possesses. Not to mention that the company he worked for the last years was at one point rated one of the best in the nation. I am personally goingt through mortgage crisis like many in California and the rest of the United States. that does not give me the right to verbally attack a group of people who ultimately are NOT responsible for my house no longer having equity or that my finances are not enough to support a lavish lifestyle. The entire nation is in turmoil. Why does no one rant and rave at the Lenders who are really responsible. Why is not a one of you blogging about the many billions of dollars wasted in the so called "Bail Out". I can see that it is easy to attack a group of well intentioned people who believed they could make a living and weather the storm by assisting those who need assistance. I myself went into Jim's office. He turned me awas as I had fallen behind on my payments already and had no chances of refinancing under any means. It's a shame that like any business there is the cost of business. Many will be helped, others will not. If Jim Rivera did such a thing as you accuse him of doing, why have you not moved ahead with a real action against him? I read the 7 page agreement that was used. I understood the legalities of it and what it meant. I would gladly have paid the company their fee to at least try something. the fee that I would have had to pay Jim's company AFTER they did some preliminary things to see where I really stood is nothing compared to the thousands of dollars I have paid in the last 2 years in interest to my lender BofA. who is currently in 3 Class Action Law Suits for having incompetent employees and not following through with the HAMP program. I am just as angry at the bank as all of you. And the real estate agent that took 20 thousand dollars from my loan and ran to never be seen again. why don't you guys blog about them????
I noticed there are several negative postings. I will make sure that I am heard on as many as I find. and I will inform several of my employees who have worked with Jim as well so that hopefully we can balance out this one sided story. I understand that these websites are to prevent innocent consumers from getting ripped off and so on. That is a great service, but it should not be allowed to be manipulated into a weapon that can damage a persons reputation and for those people in a dying industry it can ruind their entire livelihood. how would you like it if someone at your job discredited your ENTIRE career by you making an unclear deal. or simply not making a client of yours happy to their expectations and not the realistic ones???

I happen to agree with statements Jim Rivera is making as he defends himself in this unfortunate battle. I have worked with Jim over the past 2 years. I was introduced to Jim through a colleague of mine that had mentioned Jim was successful at obtaining a mortgage loan for her when others failed.
I contacted Jim to see if he could help with a client of mine that had a similar story. I must admit I was hesitant once I found out who Jim had worked for. I had a negative experience in the past with William Hogerty but figured, since he was referred and proven from a friend that I would give him a shot. Jim not only helped my client, but went on to prove he was a great resource for me. In one of my conversations with Jim, he brought up the short pay loan that he was recently involved in. He explained the process and believed this loan could help people who were upside down in equity. I agreed that this was a great idea and I had a few clients including myself, that would benefit. I decided to move forward with the short pay program and was given a dollar amount in which I felt was a hell of a deal if in fact a principal reduction was offered. After about 3 months into the process, I had called Jim and stated that the updates I was getting from Michaelanne were a bit redundant. Jim said he would look into it and call me back. He called that afternoon and said that it appeared that contact had been made with my lender and that they were looking for additional paperwork. If I had not sent the documents to Jim directly and then Jim carbon copy me as he forwarded them to Michaelanne then I may have questioned if they were ever sent. The process took me about 6 months before I received an offer from my lender. Although it was not a principal reduction and instead a rate reduction, I was a little hesitant to agree. I called Jim and his response surprised me. He said "well that's not what you agreed to" and felt that he did not want to have me settle for something that would in the long run be something that I was unhappy with. That surprised me because I had not expected him to agree. He had never did anything to make me question whether or not he was being honest. In fact he always proved to be the one person that I could count on doing what he said. I ended up agreeing to the loan modification and my loan payment was cut in half for the next 5 years. Jim even went the distance for me and sent William an email asking to refund me half of the money I paid for the service. William's response was what I expected from my past experiences. Jim even took a beating from Bill for asking. I forwarded me Williams response and said, to me I tried. I will share the response he received was extremely rude and told him do not worry about it, because I was happy. I give it to Jim for asking for half of my money back. I did not ask him to do this. He said that he did not believe in Loan modifications as it prolonged the inevitable and felt that the company did not do what they had intended. I told Jim that I tried for a loan modification numerous times before with no positive results. However it was done, I give them kudos! Jim could not have handled this with anymore professionalism. I was truly impressed and do not see much truth of what people are stating in these blogs. I still talk to Jim and have sent him numerous clients in which he has been able to help and others he has not. I cant say that I have sent a lot of short refinance candidates to him, but I can say that Jim has never misled me or any client of mine. I have received nothing but positive feedback from anyone that I have referred to Jim Rivera. If the allegations are true then I would have seen a sign somewhere along the way, or would have been informed from any one of my clients he has interacted with. I have never found anything Jim has said to be untrue. When I asked specific questions that most may have been untruthful about, Jim responded with saying " I would rather under commit then over commit and have you mad at me if I failed. I have had nothing but a positive experience with Jim and it would be sad to see anything happen to Jim because of his affiliation with William Hogerty. I will speak on behalf of Jim any day of the week. It is unfortunate to see him involved this way and believe William to be the focus of peoples anger. The history of Bill creating negativity, stems far beyond Jim and back when he was Olympic Funding. Jim is not someone that people are portraying him as, and I speak from my personal experience with him. If you would like to speak to me directly then please do so by email at maribeloshea@yahoo.com
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  • Submitted: 12/29/2010
I am cut and pasting a blog written on another site on my behalf.

This was written by Chris on 12/27/10 on my behalf: Thank you very much for taking the time to do this!


Just a quick note from someone who also worked with OF Lending, and most importantly Jim Rivera.
Back In Jan 2010 I met with Jim Rivera at the offices of OF Lending. I met with Jim and we discussed the options I had available to help with the then and still ongoing issue I have with a home that I had purchased in 2006.
From my first meeting with Jim, I felt that he had good intentions and he had my best outcome in his sights. After working now with Jim exclusively for almost a year on this deal I have no doubt that he has always had my best interests at heart. He has always made time for me and made me feel comfortable with all the different angles that we have gone on this.
Jim has also gone over and beyond what I think would be in his job description for me, when in times of panic he always seemed to pull together what he had too, many times on his own time, and got things handled for me.

I also having a loan with Wells went with the option of the short pay refinance, but was made fully aware at the time of agreement that this was only part of the process, that I may have to look into other options, as the Short Pay may not work out and a Short Sale may also be on the table. Committed to the process, and as we were educated in the changing times, this was an avenue that we went down.

Jim has been there thru my whole process and handled himself with great professionalism and integrity. This man has a great heart and I hate to see him dragged thru this mess, as I feel he doesn’t deserve all this bashing.

On another note, Ryan Mitchell is also being put thru the ringer on this also, although my experience with Ryan has been minimal, he has always been on top of his game and handled me and all of my transactions with great speed and care, always keeping me on my toes and always treated me with respect and honesty.

In closing I would just like to say that I stand by Jim, as he has always stood by me and done right by me.

Jim Rivera, You say that you stopped doing these transactions, when you knew it wasn’t right. If you have the agreement that you say you do, stating you would give up your commissions to pay your victims back, I request that you send me a copy. I do not believe it. You have lied to our faces and have done nothing to help us get our money back. We do not want to hear any more stories from you. You swore to us that you would do everything you could to get us our money back. I believe you are ‘trying’ to help the DA because of the multiple lawsuits that are pending against you. It’s called CYA. Be accountable, you were the VP; not merely a salesperson. Seriously, what are you doing to help the victims get their money back?

Where is Bill Hogarty? For all of his protestations of returning all calls and emails, he sure hasn't done that. Bill must be hiding, he knows the law is headed his way.

I invite anyone who gave money to Jim Rivera in May 2010 or later to contact me. I would like to talk to you.

The points that “Scammed Too” has posted are accurate and well said. Claims of libel and slander will not work against the truth. And the evidence is mounting.

@ Wilson: You do not know what you are talking about. This is not sour grapes. This is about fraud. And I am certainly not getting into a tit for tat on this with you. I have no idea, why you would possibly think I haven’t taken ‘real action’. I believe there will be people going to jail.

@ Chris Ward. I feel sorry for you. You think because Jim and Ryan are nice to you that you are actually getting somewhere with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo does not do short pay refis. They don’t. You need to call them yourself, and that is what they will tell you. Your post makes it sound like one year later you are still waiting for results. Your money is gone. Most of the staff at OF Lending have walked. Call Wells Fargo and see what you can do to save your house. Ask Wells Fargo when the last time OF Lending talked to them. Ask them what the correspondence has been. Ask them if your file is even active. Try calling OF Lending at 925-583-1000 and see if you can get anyone to answer the phone. It’s only a recording now.
Jim Rivera has publicly said he has reached out to us. Well, I sent him an email with a couple of different ways that he could assist us in helping to get our money back. There has been no response. Could it be that the message he left here is just a ruse? Something to write so people reading this blog will believe he is sincere in helping to get our money back???

Jim:

Instead of coming on here posting good things about yourself, why not address some important questions that your customers have?

In the later months, the base price for a short pay refi went from $4,000 to $2,000. Bill Hogarty offered up higher commission splits for everything over $4,000 that a customer paid. Just because Bill offered higher splits when you charged more doesn't mean you had to take advantage of this. Your doing so makes you no better than he is in my book.

Let me refresh your memory:

On 5/17/10 you signed a customer up and charged them $4,000. This was $2,000 more than they needed to pay since there was only one program.

On 5/25/10, one week after charging a customer a $4,000 inflated price, you charged a customer $7,000, a full $5,000 more than they needed to pay. I'm pretty sure the commission on this one file was $2,500, right?

On 6/11/10 you charged another customer $6,000, a full $4,000 over what they needed to pay. I think the commission paid on this one was $2,000, right?

On 6/14/2010, just three days later, your price was then $8,000 for yet another customer. This is a full $6,000 more than you needed to charge. It's not as if there was different programs that were different prices.

If I remember right, it was you that constantly bragged when you screwed a customer by charging more than what the base price was and scored a larger cut and commission check by doing so. Having a base price that you negotiate a discount on is one thing, but taking a base price and marking it up depending on who the customer was is totally different.

You have said that you only did short pays for 8 months. This is false, and yes, I can prove it. You were doing short pays in the spring of 2009 and probably before and you were still doing them in July 2010 and probably after. How is this 8 months?

You have said that people that didn't qualify for a new loan signed a different contract. Really? Do you want to rethink this statement? I can prove that in at least two cases you absolutely had the customer sign the regular contract. Not only did you sign one of these people up for a program she didn't qualify for, you had her sign the regular contract, you told her she qualified and you even charged her $6,000 for this program, a program she wasn't a candidate for. Why?

Please stop with your posts about yourself. You are the only one that cares enough about what you think of yourself to spend the time to read a 3 or 4 post statement written by you about you and how you are a victim when the people reading these posts have lost their homes and have had their families (including their children) hurt by what you did to them. You might sit on here and try to justify how it was a program meant to help people, even when you knew the success rate was not the 70% you were quoting, but I don't think you'll ever be able to explain in an acceptable way why you charged the inflated fees that you did that varied by customer. It's rather selfish in my book to have to read about your kids when I feel your pricing structure screwed people out of the money they needed to support and feed their own children.

P.S. Go right ahead and threated to sue me again. I'm still not afraid of your baseless "attorney" threats
PLEASE NOTE:

I AM NO LONGER USING THE NAME "SCAMMED TOO" ON MY POSTS AS SOMEONE ELSE IS POSTING UNDER THE SAME NAME. ALL MY POSTS ARE NOW UNDER MY ACTUAL NAME "LISA PARIN". PLEASE BE CAREFUL NOT TO MISTAKE THE OTHER "SCAMMED TOO" POSTINGS AS MINE.

THANKS!
For those of you that are following this that feel they are a victim of OF Lending, please know that my heart goes out to you and that what I am posting today will in no way deter my efforts to speak out and state the truth. It actually motivates me even more.

In court today, Jim Rivera tried to claim over and over again that he had no personal responsibility to those that lost money that he signed up for a short pay refinance, even when he gave the client false information. He admitted under oath today that he is not aware of a single Wells Fargo deal that was complete despite the fact that he took hundreds of thousands of dollars from people with Wells Fargo loans. And instead of just trying to get away with saying he wasn't personally responsible, he is now attempting to profit from this to the tune of $7,500. That's right, Jim is now claiming personal damages and wants to be compensated because all of this came out.

After a hearing today where I testified against Jim Rivera, I was served a lawsuit for $7,500 as he now says I cost him employment and income. LOL. The good news is that by him dong this, I can now finally give all of you evidence that Jim Rivera was paid an average of $7,500 per month in SALARY and commission over the last twelve months. This is in HIS own words in HIS sworn statement. So when he tells you he wasn't paid a salary and was just a "commissioned" salesperson, I can now give you documentation to prove otherwise. I'm not sure many of the people I've talked to would agree that making almost $100K per year clasifies anyone as a victim. And remember, a big chunk of this almost $100K came DIRECTLY from the checks YOU gave him for the short pay refinance program. When you gave him a check, he got a check with a cut. The bigger the check you gave him, the bigger his cut. I do have commission reports that I can send to you if you want proof of this in any potential claim against him. If it were me, I would consider this if I were making a decision about whether I wanted to pursue a claim against Jim Rivera personally.

If you want to join me in court, please feel free. The hearing is 3/9/11 at 2:00 in Dept 702 in the Pleasanton courthouse. Email me so I know to expect you. I'm absolutely certain that this hearing will further reveal his involvement and knowledge of the scam just as was the case today. If you feel you've been hurt by Jim Rivera or feel he lied to you, I invite you to attend and have your say in open court. Even if you don't want to speak, you might want to come and observe as he's pretty good at the open mouth, insert.....". He's bound to say things that you can use if you are thinking about filing a claim against him or OF Lending. You can also just email me a statement if you'd prefer not to be there. I don't think anyone other than Jim thinks he should profit from this very tragic situation. So you don't deserve your money back, but he should get $7,500. In my view, this is about as low as it gets.

Email me at lisa@lisaparin.com if you want a copy of the filing to prove that he made almost $100K per year last year and that he was in fact paid a salary. I'll also keep all the "evidence" he submits next month when he tries to prove he's some sort of "victim" and will make it available to any and all of you. Finally, I will happily appear in court with you as a witness should you choose to file a lawsuit against Bill Hogarty, Christy Hogarty, JIM RIVERA, or anyone else at OF Lending. I do feel my input today when I testified for another victim was well received by the judge. And again, Jim suing me won't deter me from continuing to help. It's also worth noting that Jim Rivera was an officer of OF Lending until about 45 days ago so in my view there's a possiblity that he can be held personally responsible for ALL the losses. I can also prove that he collected "evidence" over the last year which obviously confirms he knew something wasn't right. In my humble opinion, a person doesn't collect "evidence" (Jim's words) unless they think a crime is being committed. I'll let you decide what sort of admission this might or might not be on Jim's part.

In closing, much was made today by Jim Rivera about my speaking out as if I should be ashamed of this. I wear my "whistle blower" badge with honor (and sadness for the victims) and my only motivation is to help those that have been hurt and there is absolutely nothing in this for me personally. Let me know if you feel I can help you too.
Here we go.....

If you are following this and the situation with William Hogarty or OF Lending, tune in to Channel 7 news (ABC/KGO) tonight for their 6:00 broadcast.
A quick reminder to those of you that are following this because you feel you were hurt by the short pay refinance program.....

James Rivera, a.k.a. "Jim Rivera", a.k.a. "J.R.", has filed a lawsuit against me claiming I cost him opportunity by my going public with the FACTS that I have. If you'd like to attend, the hearing is this Wednesday, March 9th at 2:00 PM at the Pleasanton Courthouse on Stoneride Drive in Pleasanton. We will be in Department 702. During the hearing, I will of course have the opporunity to pose certain questions to Mr. Rivera that will hopefully again lead to his admitting his knowledge of the legal issues at O.F. Lending and his knowledge of the short pay scam. He was "smart" enough to appear last month at a hearing where he was forced UNDER OATH to admit not a single Wells Fargo deal was every done, despite the fact that he took money from people after assuring them Wells Fargo short pays had been done, so I expect even more will come out during this hearing. I plan to make sure this is the case. I'm actually looking forward to it because I hope to draw more admissions out of him, admissions that will help those of you that were lied to. You don't have to testify to observe. It's a public hearing so you can simply be present. If you'd like to have your say, but don't want to testify, please email me your story and I will present it to the judge. My email address is lisa@lisaparin.com.

I should note that James Rivera's current broker (basically his current boss) has been extended an invitation to this hearing and some people that feel they were victimized by Jim Rivera have agreed to appear and to testify in person. If you have something you'd like to share or something you'd like to say to Jim Rivera directly, please attend and I will do everything in my power to call each of you as witnesses so you can have your say.

Again, the hearing is this Wed. at 2:00 PM at the Pleasanton courthouse in Dept 702. Here's the address in case you need it:

5672 Stoneridge Drive
Pleasanton, CA 94588
(925) 227-6700



By the way, if Jim Rivera signed you up for a short pay refinance and it didn't work, you need to sue him in small claims court. Email me at lisa@lisaparin.com and I can tell you where on-line to find the forms. And while I'm not an attorney, they are very user friendly and I'm happy to give you my lay person's advice on completing them. Just know it takes all of about five minutes and this courthouse does have small claims dates and times in the evenings. And yes, I will be there to testify for you just as I have with others.

My email is lisa@lisaparin.com in case you need/want to reach me. Let's hope all sorts of stuff comes out when he's under oath on Wed. We can ultimately get a transcript of the entire hearing if it's as productive as I think it will be.
What's so crazy about all of this is that this great program that would save the world that Christy (thenextsecretmillioniare) and Jim Rivera are defending apparently didn't even work for them. Jim Rivera told me himself he lost his house to either a short sale or a foreclosure (I can't remember which) in the last twelve months and William and Christy Hogarty claim to be 14 months behind on their own mortgage and that it is in the process of a short sale. And this on top of the fact that he defaulted on his office building mortgage and the property was foreclosed on.

So I ask you...... If you would have known that when Jim Rivera was looking you in the eye telling you how great this program was and that he himself was facing short sale/foreclosure, would you have believed in the program? And if William and Christy Hogarty would have told you they stopped making payments on their building, the building many of you met this people at, and that is was in foreclosure AND that his own house was in foreclosure and that he stopped making payments, would you have signed up for his rescue plan?

How great and successful was it when the CEO and the VP of the company couldn't use this program to save their own houses?

And for those that are saying people that signed up did something wrong by trying to find a solution, just know that unlike Jim Rivera and William Hogarty, you have lived up to your mortgage obligation and what you did was far better than what either of them did with their own mortgages. Not only had William Hogarty defaulted on two mortgages himself in the last 18 months, but he is also trying to get ALL his debt, including what he owes to people as a result of ths scam, discharged in bankruptcy.
Well, unfortunately I just learned that the court case that was to be heard today, the one where Jim Rivera is suing me (LOL), has been postponed until May 4th. So for those of you that graciously agreed to attend today as a witness to Jim's actions, please know there will be no hearing today. Please don't worry though as they date was just pushed back and from what I can tell, the case has NOT been dropped. I believe this means we will still have our day in court and we will still be able to get him to admit even more than what he did at the last hearing where he was sued and lost. He can't win his lawsuit unless I have a chance to defend myself and question him which of course means I'll have to (get to) ask him about every case I'm aware of where those involved feel there was deception. You know, like those of you that Jim Rivera signed up and accepted payment from with Wells Fargo loans even though he knew Wells Fargo didn't participate in the program (they never have). I also have several documents he'll have to answer to including some that he admitted to stealing from William Hogarty.

Do know that at the next hearing, I am going to subpeona several people as I learned from being at the courthouse today how I go about doing this. So just know, several people will be there, including his current boss, that will have the opportunity to hear all the evidence I have that supports everything that I have said or written about him. These same people can speak to his true income, since that's what he's suing me for, and his previous income. The net of it is that he can't win his case unless he can prove I lied about something and so he will leave me no choice but to prove everything I wrote about him, is 100% true. I'm not sure why he wants all of this to come out in open court, but I'll certainly go along for the ride if he insists that I lay out the whole ugly truth.

As to why he postponed, I can only guess that someone finally told him how stupid this whole case is and that he stands to lose more than he could ever gain. Or perhaps someone just clued him into the whole First Ammendment thing. I hope it isn't dropped for good because I think his former clients that feel they have been victimized stand to gain all sorts of good information, evidence and admissions from his having to testify in order to try to win his case.

Now, if you feel you were scammed by Jim Rivera and the others, please file a small claims suit against him PERSONALLY. Attached is a link to the on-line forms. It's very user friendly and you can call me if you need help. I'm obviously not an attorney, but I have seen these forms a few times now and feel I can help as just a lay person. Once you file, send me the court date so I can appear as your witness.

Here's the link:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/sc100.pdf


I will update this again soon about the next court date so you all can plan to attend again. Thanks for the continued support and just know I am here to help you.
Open message to OF Lending victims: If you were contacted by ANYONE 'working' on behalf of OF Lending after the date Bill Hogarty says OF Lending went out of business, (on the bankruptcy paperwork either December 31, or January 31), please contact me. I have some good news for you. SamuelsOhana1@yahoo.com
Jim Rivera, formerly a Vice President at OF Lending is suing us for slander, to the tune of $5000.00. We have not slandered him in any way. Everything we have said is the truth.

If you had dealings with Jim Rivera at OF Lending and have information you believe will assist in our defense against this baseless and unfounded lawsuit, we invite you to testify about your experience, and have your say in open court.

The court date is this Wednesday, June 15th at 2 pm, Department 702.
The address is 5672 Stoneridge Drive, Pleasanton.

Thanks in advance. Your help is appreciated.
SamuelsOhana1@yahoo.com

Update on the slander lawsuit against us by Jim Rivera.

Rivera did not bother to show up in Court! That shows what type of person he is. Filing false lawsuits, is generally frowned upon by the justice system. He had no evidence, because we never slandered him. ??The lawsuit was merely to inconvenience us, and had no basis in fact. The judge was going to Dismiss WITHOUT prejudice, which is standard if the Plaintiff doesn't show up. That would mean that Rivera could bring the case again at a later date. We asked the judge to Dismiss WITH Prejudice, and explained what a BS case this was, without merit, retaliation for filing suit against him to get our $7,000.00 back from the fraudulent OFLG scam, and designed to hassle us. Dismissing WITH Prejudice would mean Rivera could not bring the suit against us again. However, the Judge did us one better. He actually ruled against Rivera, and the judgment is in our favor! Whatever has been said about Rivera by us, has been factual.
If you were scammed/defrauded by OF Lending Group and have NOT filed a lawsuit or gone to court yet, and would like your money back, please contact me.
I have a way that I believe will make you whole again, or at least most of it. Please contact me ASAP. I will then give you all the details. Let’s get your money back for you.
Samuelsohana1@yahoo.com
It's been quite some time since I've posted on here. Unfortunately in the last two weeks, two new victims of this scam have come forward after working with Jim Rivera. Both paid well over the normal $4,000 for the program and both had loans with the same lender that to this day will not participate in a short pay refinance,something we all knew, Jim Rivera included, was the case long before money was taken from these people.

Jim has moved on to a company called Provident Bank Mortgage. The address on his DRE license is false. He lives in Livermore. Email me if you need his home address. If you have feedback you'd like the executive management team of his current company to hear (good or bad), email me at lisa@lisaparin.com and I'll give you all the contact information.

J-R Samuels has done an amazing job staying on this and I encourage you to email them at the address they've posted if you need help. Talking to them will probably also restore your faith in mankind after having been screwed by Jim Rivera and William and Christy Hogarty. You'll come to realize as a victim you are in very good company and that there truly are people out there that want to help with no expectation of anything in return.

As for Bill and Christy Hogarty, I can only say they aren't off the hook yet and that the legal process is slow, but not blind. Keep the faith that these two will ultimately see consequences for their actions. I promise you they aren't flying under the radar of those that can impose consequences.
For those of you following this OF Lending/William Hogarty saga, I wanted to give a quick update. Please know that I have not independently had the opportunity to verify this myself, but I believe it to be 100% true.

Gregory Lomba, who has posted on here and who worked for Bill Hogarty as his VP for the Loan Modification Team, was arrested 3 weeks ago on charges of larceny related to his loan modification scam. Bail was set at $100K and he apparently was just released, I'd have to assume on bail. There's hearing tomorrow which I believe is the preliminary hearing and several of his victims have been asked to testify. The hearing is at 8:30 tomorrow, 2/14/2012, at the courthouse in Contra Costa at 725 Court Street in Martinez. The wheels of justice take time, but looks like time ran out for Greg Lomba.

I realize there hasn't been many updates on Bill and Cristy Hogarty and James Rivera, but please don't believe that it's because this has been forgotten or that they won't be held responsible at some point. Alameda seems to take a little more time in reviewing cases for potential criminal charges as do the feds, but please know it's not becase this has been dropped. I promise this is not the case and at some point I think these three will likely learn the lesson that Greg Lomba is, but in a much bigger way.

Email me if you have any questions or still need help. The statute of limitations will run out before too long for some of his first victims so if you haven't taken action, please think about doing something sooner rather than later before it's too late. My email address is lisa@lisaparin.com.

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