Is United First Financial Money Merge Account a Scam? is something I am asked on often, and I have looked over it many times and I am still unsure if it’s really a scam, however what I call tell you is this. It does seem to be a pyramid scheme that relies on the constant recruitment of new members.

I have seen several articles about United First Financial and they seem to have a lot of marketing hype out which is normal, but what do they really do that is so special? I mean the people they recruit to sell you on the idea and the software has really no ability in the field. Now that does not mean everyone involved is an idiot as there are some licensed people who are involved but there is no licensing requirements. I could never do any mortgage work for you in the state of NC until I was licensed, and you can verify my old license (expired now) by going to North Carolina Commissioner of Banks and search for “Jezorek” under Loan Officer Search. However the United First Financial disclaimer states: “United First Financial, its agents and subsidiaries provide Internet web based software and support services. United First Financial does not provide accounting, tax, legal, real-estate, mortgage, or investment advice.” I thought that they where going to help pay down my debt but if they offer no type of advice then its just the software that is going to do the work?

Okay sell me the software! Wait did you say $3500 dollars for the Money Merge Account System? What the hell does it do? Supposedly it finds extra money to put toward paying off your debt so they can get paid off faster, however I am unsure why I need software to tell me that, if I have money left in my account each week (minus my safety blanket) then I have money to pay off debts so I do. Shoot, I just gave away what is apparently $3500 dollars worth of advice but I did not write it in software so anyone want to pay $3500 per instant message? I will IM you what I just said: “If you have extra money in your bank account, pay your debts off”

So what is really the program? The program is well who really knows what I can tell you is the theory of the program. In a nutshell (I guess this means if I was to print this part of the article and fold it up it should fit in a nutshell??) it’s getting a Home Equity Line of Credit in place of your checking account. This way when you have extra money that would be sitting in your checking account it is applied to your Mortgage. Now what this really means is that your paychecks will automatically go to this Home Equity Line and you will get a checkbook that will be used to pay your bills, get your groceries, and everything else, any extra money is applied to your mortgage.

I see problems with this, they are selling you this program on the basis of your to stupid to help yourself and pay your own debts off easier and saying that the number one problem is people do not have the willpower to manage money. So they are going to give you a checkbook for a HELOC and say use it for your living expenses? Wait did you know on that HELOC I can go buy a car? Pay for a renovation?

Let’s backup a little bit, a Home Equity Line of Credit is taking any equity you have in your house and letting you use it, it goes up and down based on what you use and they are commonly used for Home Improvements etc. So what you are getting when you sign-up is we are taking the Equity in your House for you to live on while your paychecks are going to pay off your first mortgage. If it sounds complicated thats because it is and way more than it needs to be.

But here is the kicker, you can not do what they say. There is no way for you to pay off your mortgage in the time they tell you, WHILE maintaining your current standard of living and without increasing your mortgage payment. The math does not allow this to happen. Even if my home was at 0% interest and 100% of my payment was going to principle it would take nearly 168 months (14 years) to pay off my mortgage.

Principle / Payment / Months
$115,500.00 / $690 / 167.39 (13.9 years)

Throw in a little interest, taxes and insurance escrow which is part of most peoples mortgage payments and presto you can not do it without increasing your monthly payments in some manner. Lets look at some other facts. If I have $150,000 dollars at 6.5% and I pull $25,000 dollars off a 6.5% HELOC to pay off my first mortgage I STILL have $150,000 dollars in debt, now you will put your whole paycheck back into the HELOC to pay the $20,000 dollars down.

But here is what is great, you can do this all on your own. Lets look at our example of $150,000 at 6.5% the Money Merge Program is going to pay this off in 8.4 years by applying $2845 a month to your mortgage (either first or HELOC depending), which is triple your payment now if you was to do this yourself what would happen. If you paid that same amount of money yourself to your first mortgage company you could pay off your mortgage in 5.4 years.

But what happens when the stupid human (thats what they think we are since we can not manage our money and we need software to do it) goes out and uses that newfound money in the HELOC for a new Car OR you are already living beyond your means?

If you are living beyond your means this is nothing more than a recipe for disaster, in fact even if you are not I think this will get you to be living beyond your means because all of a sudden your not looking at your bank account going, “Crap, I do not have any money” because you have this HELOC which will let you “Well, I will float it and pay it back next week”. Guess what you will never pay off your first mortgage, you will max out your HELOC and then you will default on your mortgage.

Financial success does not come by buying software or having someone manage your money, it comes from straight up common sense and control. If you can not control your spending and your debt then you have problems that software will not fix.

There is more to come as I find out more this is my preliminary report on what I have found and seen.

Recently I have got many phone calls about lowering my credit card rates from robocalls on my cell phone, while I am unsure at this point who sold my information (phone number) these calls are all about scams and getting your money, They start with what sounds like a debt collection call and then end with asking you if they can lower your credit card rates. Here is the fun part, I do not have a credit card nor will I ever have one because I do not believe in debt. If I can not pay for it cash I would rather not have it (minus large purchases: house, car).

These calls are automated and you do not get a person on the line unless you select 1, which of course I do every time. They then ask if you would like your credit card interest rates lower and when you tell them that you do not have a credit card or your interest is 0% they hang up they do not say bye or anything just plain hang up. These calls are also violating the Do Not Call registry.

How are they a scam?

They will want to charge you an up front fee for the negotiating for a lower interest rate, you can do this on your own as the consumer however and these fees range from $700 – $1000 dollars. The BBB has had many complaints against these types of calls and is recommending that if you would like your rates lowered that you call the credit card company yourself and ask for the rates to be lowered. While they do not have to do it if you can bring a good case they will be willing because some money is better than no money.

Get on Do Not Call List

Sign up for the Do Not Call List and book mark the site, it will take 30 days before your record is active but on day 31 you can report all robocalls and telemarketing calls. Also even if you are not on the do not call list you can report any robocall to any number no mater what.

The FBI is warning that if you are “hired” or recruited to work at home processing payments, or transferring funds you are probably part of fraudulent activity. If you are involved in this you are being asked to receive wire transfers into your bank accounts and told to send the money overseas via a wire transfer service like Western Union or Moneygram they want you to tell the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov/

I still need to put some words to this because I am unsure how these scams continue to get people involved, why would you ever give out your account information for someone to wire money to you etc. If it’s too good to be true it is, and If you have to give personal information like a bank account for a job stay away.

In fact if you get an email after posting your resume somewhere and they want you to do something just file a complaint and do not respond. These types of criminals are doing more to hurt the economy even though they “supposedly” are offering you employment. They are causing jobs to be lost, such as if a small business gets wiped out because of a phishing attack they may not be able to make payroll, and the banks are not going to give the money back right away. What do they do now?

I plead with everyone if you get any emails from these types of scams to report them to the IC3 and get rid of the emails. We need to get these types of things stopped.

The sale of real estate by dividing it into “timeshare” units has been around for a long while and it is a very lucrative way for developers to sell properties in vacation areas like Mexico, Disney Land, and other prime locations. Buying a timeshare means that you and other people are buying the same property and sharing the property. These shares are normally divided into weeks so they can sell the same place 52 times before it is considered sold out. You end up paying for a portion of the property value, and a common area cost for upkeep of the building and grounds.

Most timeshare’s are sold at a presentation that you get invited to, normally they will offer you a free 3 or 4 day stay at a timeshare property to get you to come to a sale’s meeting. These are good for saving money if you know you will not buy the property and you are willing to go to the presentation you can normally end it in a few minutes. Just tell them you filed bankruptcy and the presentation is over.

Westgate Resorts a notorious timeshare company was ordered to pay back 1 million dollars by a Utah court and forced to layoff employees and scale back efforts because they were offered travel vouchers worth about $500 dollars, however when they attempted to use the vouchers they discovered they where all but worthless 1/6th of the supposed price. Westgate was not telling the customers that they where getting a voucher but that they where getting a vacation to Anaheim.

Other timeshare scams involve reselling of timeshare’s and normally you will get a cold call saying they can sell your timeshare, however anyone who “cold calls” with an offer to sell your timeshare is a fraudster just hangup. They will attempt to give themselves credibility by claiming to be a registered company and may even offer you to talk to their lawyers and will probably attempt to fax you a contract with a buyer’s name, these are fraudulent. After they have you on the hook they will say you need to pay them money, it may be for advance legal fees, a security bond, registration of the deed or so on, just get off the phone.

Some incentives will give you a 7 night stay at the resort for a very low price and you will get down after paying the fee, the travel arrangements and then when you get to the presentation you will be told that there is no record of your booking and we are full so you must find somewhere else to stay. These types of attacks are brutal and end up costing people a lot of money.

Sometimes after you pay your “registration fee” the company will go out of business and you will be out of your money. I have heard of people timeshare investing where they are told they can buy a second for a very low fee and sell it to someone else for a profit, they are normally stuck with two timeshare’s.

What you can do to avoid the scam

Never ever buy or sell on the spot, always sleep on any financial transaction and think about the deal and make sure it is right for you, these sales rep want you to make up your mind now and will tell you that the offer is only good for today. If you remember in the 10 Signs of a Scam article we discussed that any offer that is good is not a limited time offer.

Always read the fine print on any offer this includes the incentive offers as they normally include what is really going on, most people get excited and do not read the needed information and end up getting scammed. Also read the contract closely and if you can get an attorney to review it. If you were promised something and it is not in the contract do not sign it because all they have to do is follow the contract. You will not get it.

If the presentation is high pressure just leave, you have the right to leave at any time, stand up and say “Thank you for your time, we are leaving now” and make sure you leave they will attempt to keep you in your seat and argue with them but you have the right to leave and demand that right.

As with any type of transaction with another company ask for references and call them, see if the other owners are happy. However do not weigh your whole conclusion on these people as you may be calling the cell phone of someone in the back corner of the office.

Never buy an investment timeshare as it is very hard to sell a timeshare, there are more timeshare owners trying to sell than timeshare owners trying to buy timeshare’s. Your resale price will probably be 20% to 60% of the original purchase price plus you have commissions you now have to pay. You will not succeed as a timeshare investor there is just not a strong enough market.

Mortgage lending scams are so prevalent in today’s market that it is scary, and while this is not a normal Scam Times article I must get it out because to many seniors and bad credit borrowers are getting scammed left and right. I also feel some of these scams led to the housing bubble and we do not want to relive that horror. We all know that in every single business there are unscrupulous business operators who feel they have the right to take advantage of anyone and everyone they come in contact with. So we want to help people and we need your help, If you are aware of any company that is in the mortgage fraud or scam business post a comment with who they are and what they are doing so we can investigate, you should also report to the proper authorities.

Mortgage scams target the easiest victims like all scams, they are going after those who are older, have bad credit, or even people who are desperate for money. These are the targets one way to avoid being a target is get off that list, I know that is a very tall order, but it is a step to take. These scams milk billions of dollars every year and put people in worse shape than they already are. So once again we see something here that happens they take advantage of the weak and leave them weaker. Mortgage scams and fraud has tripled since 2001 and I can only imagine it will continue to get worse. I am not sure if it is more prevalent than the internet scams we normally headline but hey they are out there.

Protection

Make sure you educate yourself before you start looking for a loan, spend a little time learning how mortgages work and the various flavors of mortgage loans. You do not need to be an expert but you do need to know what to expect so that when you see something out of the ordinary you might have a chance to react. Always check out your lender on the BBB sites and on the Internet to see if any scam alerts or fraud topics are around them and read them. You must take them with a grain of salt as some are not always true but it’s best to know what is going on with the company you are working with.

Signs and Schemes

If a lender pursues your business too persistently or tries to rush you into close you should stay away, this is your house and your money you take the time you need. Most predatory lenders will solicit hard and contact you many time telling you they can cure your financial troubles in record time. This like every other scam is to get you going, if you notice all scams are the same. Make you feel like you need it now, promise something for nothing and once they feel they have you on the hook they want to land you quickly. These offers also are for a limited time and you will probably hear something like this “I talked to my boss and he talked to the lender they agreed to lower the interest rate if you will sign the documents today”. They do not want you to read the fine print and I strongly urge you to read every single line of every document before signing.

The bait and switch still exists as well, they will present you with favourable terms and then at closing the terms are different from described. You will find that the rates are higher, there are hidden fees, or other problems with your loan. Now when you see this get up and walk out remember this is your money and your house. Screw them you do not need that lender there are plenty more legit lenders that are looking for your business.

Some scams involve home improvement scams, you are solicited by a “contractor” who is working in the neighbourhood. They normally happen after you have inquired about home improvement loans or services, however some are random and just include door to door fishing. They will normally tell you they can finance the repairs with the company they work for. Once you agree you are on the hook the improvements are horrible and they will hit all types of fees and interest rates.

I actually had a contractor talking to me yesterday who asked me to file it under my home-owners and they will give a receipt claiming I had already met my deductible and continue. This is also fraud I told the contractor to leave my house and that I would find someone more reputable to work with.

The nastiest of all mortgage lending scams is aimed at the people who are distressed homeowners they are normally in foreclosure or close to it. They sell this scam as a rescue loan to bail you out, they will convince you to transfer the deed of the property to them while waiting for the loan to be approved. Once they take the deed they are gone. They will then record the homeowners payments as rent while they go out and attempt to refinance your loan and steal your equity. Sometimes they will even sell the house out from under you and evict you from the house, since they have the deed there is nothing you can really do about this.

If a lender is willing to bend the rules or fudge numbers stay the hell away. These tactics will normally lead to you being approved for a loan you can not afford and will lead down the path of no return. This to me is a large problem with the Alt-A and subprime loans. They lead to bubbles which leads to where we are today.

More resources

• Mortgage Fraud Resource Center
• FBI: 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report

Now I am not normally posting news like this however I have always thought that the overdraft fees banks can charge are destroying people. They are finally being relaxed. No longer will you be charged 40 dollars for a cup of coffee if you get hit with an overdraft. Also these two banks are changing how they process transactions. They used to process transactions from largest to smallest and now they are changing it so they process in the order they come in.

Banks did largest to smallest for one reason in my opinion and that is so they could get as much money out of your account so they can attempt to charge more overdraft fees. Read the rest at ABC News.

Anthony Morrison tells you

“Forget everything you have ever been told and any of your preconceived ideas about making money online. Whether you have money, are completely broke and in debt, or you’re someone in between, this is the book that will show you how you can make money online using the simple techniques Anthony has been using for years. If you want a blueprint to financial success in today’s economy, you have the perfect book in your hand.”

Adrian Twitter

One of the first testimonials is from “Adrian M” talking about how much he has made from “Advertising Profits from Home” and that its changed his life. What is not told is that Adrian M is actually Adrian Morrison his brother. Who also gets his money from the conferences and speaking engagements.  You can find Adrian Morrison on twitter at http://twitter.com/AdrianMX24 you can see a screenshot of this twitter from a time ago.

This infomercial says he will also build you a website within 48 hours that will let you start making money. This website will cost you 40 dollars a month and you have to drive the traffic yourself. If you really want to get into affiliate marketing than why not just go find affiliates yourself do it. You do not need someone to sell you a concept and how to do it when its not that hard.  Anthony is making money off you without breaking a sweat. Think about it he is going to get 40 dollars residual income from you.

Anthony Morrison also has the “Hidden Millionaires”  which seems to be about buying ads for keywords and placing ads from your affiliate network in order to become profitable.  Here is some more information from someone who went to the conference. These are the conferences that “Adrian M” is making money on.

“I just attended the Hidden Millionaires seminar today. I believe that it is a scam. I spent 90 minutes listening to the front guy trying to sell a concept that seemed to make sense until he said that for the bargain price of 3995.00, Anthony would teach me how to buy ad words on search engines to drive people to a credit card site that would pay me big bucks for applications and approvals. I do not believe that this business is legitimate. If it were, Anthony would not need to charge 3995.00 “today”. Anthony also makes money off of you on an ongoing basis based on your success. If this system is so good at generating income for it’s signees, then Anthony would not need to charge 3995.00 to begin with. There is no record of this business being recorded. The only business associated with Anthony is an auto repair/parts business.” (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080225100324AA9Yb2f)

If you really want to read more about it you can always do so here which “MrMorrison” replys to a few comments which really what millionaire would stop to post this type of garbage. I have yet to see Bill or Steve (Microsoft/Apple) post information correcting supposed misinformation. (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20611890-Scam-Anthony-MorrisonHidden-Millionaires-Infomercial)

This is the begining of a long line of posts. I will be digging more and more information up as I can. Including the supposed relationship between Donald Barrett and Mr Morrison. I will be looking for more information and keeping you up to date.

Please feel free to post your comments and concerns about this and other posts on Scam Times

UPDATE: We now have a product worth promoting, check out Niche Blitzkrieg as it will show you everything you need to know about setting up niche websites to make a constant income stream, To good to be true? I have been using it now for a while check out the review of Niche Blitzkrieg