Announcing No Upfront Fees for Loan Audits

I’ve been thinking for the last week about how to continue providing quality services in light of the new law that will likely be passed in Arizona. I’ve read Arizona SB 1130 (in the format passed by the Senate), talked to a couple of attorneys and other people about how to do it the right way, and am excited about moving forward.

If you haven’t read my prior post called “Do You Really Need A Loan Audit?” please do so, because it explains a lot about what I do and why it costs what it costs.

Effective immediately, I am offering loan audit services for no upfront cost, subject to several conditions, BEFORE the law goes into effect.

Not only is this a great marketing tool (“We stopped taking upfront fees BEFORE the law passed!”), it may just end up saving me a lot of wasted time if it turns out I can’t run a business without upfront fees.

However, offering a service with no upfront fee requires me to make even more changes in the way I do business. Unfortunately, one of the downsides is that some people will not pay for the work at all, which results in everyone else paying a higher cost. Also, to take on the additional risk of not getting paid, I have no choice but to increase my fees.

The new cost for a loan audit with no upfront fee is going up to $997 effective immediately. Should you decide you want a loan audit before the law is passed, you can still get the $750 price by paying in advance. That will be an option until the law dictates otherwise; once the law goes into effect, everyone will be required to pay $997.

Another part of this change requires me to be very clear with respect to the people I can help and who I will work for. Too many homeowners say they want to save their homes but never take any action. As much as I want to help people, I am running a business and it’s just not profitable for me to spend time on these homeowners.

Therefore, also effective immediately, homeowners seeking loan audits with no upfront fee must meet the following criteria:

First:

You must not be more than twelve months behind on your house payments.

Why? There are several reasons.

One: If you’ve been in the house for more than a year without making a house payment, generally speaking, you’ve already realized the monetary gain from living rent free for a year. I don’t know of many people personally who have remained in a home longer than that. Most wind up finally being foreclosed upon. It’s usually too late to do anything about a foreclosure at that point.

Two: If you’ve been in the house for more than a year without making a house payment but haven’t taken any steps to get advice from an attorney, a real estate agent, or had a loan audit performed, well…why? If a homeowner wants a loan audit at that point, I’d be wondering why.

There are exceptions to this rule. The first would be that the homeowner will need to have a very good explanation as to why they want to hire me after that time period. The second would be if they are referred by an attorney who determines a loan audit is needed and will guarantee payment for the cost of the service.

Second:

You must be employed or have a source of household income.

If you are unemployed or don’t have any sources of income for your household, you probably have more important things to spend your money on. You don’t have many options if you’re unemployed with no income and that’s a problem that a loan audit isn’t going to fix.

Third:

You will be required to sign and return my disclaimers and a notarized client services agreement indicating you understand the terms under which services will be provided. The only exception to this rule is if you are an attorney and guaranteeing payment.

By the way: I do not contact the lender or do anything on behalf of the homeowner as part of a loan audit. I offer loan audits and expert opinions only.

Fourth:

You will be asked to pay the cost of return shipping of your mortgage documents in advance. That way, if you don’t pay for the audit, at least I’m not out the cost of shipping your loan documents back to you.

If you don’t want to pay return shipping, you’ll need to scan and e-mail the documents to me along with the agreement and disclaimers.

I sincerely hope the no upfront fee option works from a business perspective and from a homeowner’s perspective. I’m not interested in scamming anyone and this is my attempt at making this work for everyone involved.

If not, well…it’s back to the drawing board.

Got questions? Send me an e-mail at Christine@desertedgelegal.com and PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR PHONE NUMBER!

DISCLAIMER:
****CHRISTINE SPRINGER IS NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY. THIS BLOG IS COMPRISED OF HER OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY BEFORE RELYING ON OR TAKING ANY ACTION BASED ON THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG.****

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