Who is this from?

He certainly has the intelligence of a plant

They got me too! $500!! the owner/president/vice president is James Toufic ASSali, his  phone # is 949 307-4567 , he lives  at 29 Shady Lane, Shady Canyon, irvine, Ca. Shady alright!!  He has our info. so why not have his? He threatened me with sending two tweekers to F(*&^ me up!! He said he would spend thousands before he would refund my $500!!  BBB wouldn't do anything, I'll try the Orange County DA. Next.

It is really difficult to get someone to help you with this type of crime...the State who licensed Mereidian will only act as a mediator to try to settle any disputes. After some effort, I was able to get my credit card company to take the $5,000 plus charge off of my card.(it is really on hold, under review) My argument is that it is a Federal violation to take up front fees prior to receipt of all documentation. There is a pressumed 3-4 mail day wait before they can take fees...this also includes e-mails) I forwarded this document (and link, see below) to my credit card company. If you read through it, you will see how the law is written. It seems my credit card company will respect our complaint based on the evidence. Please read, it's good ammo.

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-11567.pdf

I have had the same scam with Meredian and Fortis Title. They told me I was approved for a refinance, I paid them $2,200 which was deposited into Fortis Title. I have been trying to reach people for 6 months and get no return calls. I have asked to speak to management and they are no better. I paid a company thru them $650 for an appraisal, and after all that I have nothing except a loss of 2,850. I have turned this company into the Florida Attorney General for mortgage fraud and I highly suggest you do the same.

Here is my biggest concern...they now are in possession of my tax returns, bank statements and other financial records.  Undoubtedly they will turn around and sell my information.  I don't know what to do about my bank accounts and ....I'm just so so concerned!

I cannot believe that we were also mislead by this so-called company.  They told my husband he was pre-approved and after sending them all our financial documents i.e. bank statements, tax returns, we get a letter from the title company saying we  had stopped the process of the refinance procedure and will not be refunding out $1700.  We did no such thing.  I cannot believe this has happened.  We are in the process of challenging this with our credit card and gathering all the emails, overnight receipts of requested information by them.  Anything else anyone can think we should do let us know.  Thanks..

If they ran your card 3 days prior to your receipt of documents, they violated truth in lending laws (see HERA 2008) Google it!

They have my money too. It's like a Madoff thing. For them it's $$$ for nothing.

Contact Mr,. Lembi @ Orange County D.A.'s office. Speak to someone there.

I'm really surprised Mr/Ms :) Anyone who says these folks are legit is full of --it! Anyone even mildly interested in "research" will get to the facts quickly :( These folks have my money, and I'm getting it back. They ran my credit card  for $5,000+ the day my wife gave the # to them. 5 days later the paperwork for the loan was e-mailed to me...clearly a violation of the truth in lending law (HERA) passed by Congress in 2008. The law prohibits a broker or lender from taking fees for 3 days prior to my receipt of documentation. I will be in touch with the proper authorities, and then my credit card company.

Great advise! We are on it. I visited an Atty a few moths back to get out of the agreement, he said exactly what you did, "they didn't close in 30 days."

Thanks

You're on the money Sharon. After my wife gave them our credit card info (over phone) I did some Gooling, and came up with some bad info on Fortis a/k/a Meridian. I called Kevin Friedman and voiced my concerns re: the negative blogs I was reading about his company. As with all cons jobs, his response was very smooth...they're disgruntled employees, or people who we not qualified for the loan and have an axe to grind. What really struck me, was when he said, "some people just aren't worth what they think they are." That sent chills down my spine...here he has my credit card info, and he's bad mouthing the folks who have been turned down. I knew I would have an uphill battle with them.

Their deal is, they hype you up, take your money, send you loan papers and their done. That's how they make a living.

Wish there was a class action suit out there against them. Also think our Government would take a fewhours out of their crazy busy schedule and protect us. Apparently, they have been upo to these scams for years.

Get the word ou!!!!

You are a plant!!

Call Mr. Lembi at the Orange County District Attorney's Office and report the crime.

Those of you that are writing that you have had a wonderful experience with Meridian Financial and Fortis Title Solution are either employees, shells for the company or in a minority of customers that they actually served legally.  Make no mistake these companies are connected and this is a scam in the highest degree.  
To the poster that said why weren't we more diligent you are quite right we dropped the ball.  Most of us are in such financial pain we asked the correct questions but did not see through the correct answers because we wanted to believe this was a honest deal.  It is not honest!!!!!.  In fact check for them on the web, they have changed or modified the sites and Fortis Solutions which had a Costa Mesa address in July no longer exists.  I have filed a complaint with the Attorney General, The Department of Real Estate and the Department of Consumer Affairs.  Of course I have had to change my Visa Card number so no further money could be stolen at least from that account.

They do have all the bells and whistles to make you believe they are actually conducting business in a legal manner and a fairly full-proff system on nor refunding your deposits when oh gosh we can't believe this but it looks like for some reason your home doesn't qualify.  We were told out loan was approved and all was good to go, even told to hold off on a trip we were taking so we could sign the escrow papers but alas that was the last we heard from them.  I was able to reach Mr. Arnous on Sept.8 and then advised that the (get this) were in a economic downturn and unfortunatley we needed $15,000 more to close out deal.  UNBELIEVABLE LIARS AND SCAMMERS......In 2007 the owner of Meridian was arrected by the government for insurance fraud and at that time investigations discovered that the Fortis Solutions enities we actually operated by his wife.

Please don't fall for the few folks tall tales about how wonderful their experinces were.  These folks are thiefs.  I would be shocked to actually see any of my money returned but I have been in touch with the Attorney General and they have an investigaton going on this company.  
Remember make a lot of noise and don't let some paid employee make you feel stupid.  If you gave this company money and didn't get results you are a victum.  Let's work to make sure no other folks get hurt by this bunch of crooks.  All in all as far as I have been able to find out there are about 8 of them in on this.  Hang in there maybe we can make a difference for someone else.

Oh by the way disputing the charge is part of the process but unfortunately your card company's hands are pretty well tied too.  I have spoken with them at length.

An finally this number should stay on this blog and I hope everyone begins to know it by heart. You will find this number on all do not call lists as well.  

Sharon Broff
sabroff2@att.net

To get your money back from Meredian for rate locks. Call and dispute the charge with your credit card company. Dispute the fact that the lock was for 30 days and they did not close the loan in the 30 days as promised. Even per their "in house" councel they know they are on the hook for this. They are trying to change the lock agreement to 45 or 60 days locks for this reason. If they cannot deliever in the 30 days (and we all know they cant) the lock is no longer good and the lock agreement is null in void.

I too have been scammed by Meredian and Fortis Title, after a telemarketing call, I was admittedly dumb, but the caller led me to believe I qualified for this loan and this would be done before Jul 09, after faxxing all info needed and charge to my card I had to continue to make calls to find out what was being done, answer was processor are handling it, should be within next week, weeks turned into 2 months, still nothing, now I can't get my money back after nothing being done.  I am going to contact the better business bureau, anyone who cannot necessarily get my money back, but stop this scam.

Thats not true.  They can only charge you if you gave them the secret code off the back of your card.  You probably tried to scam them, lost your rate lock due to the lie and are upset.  I closed a loan with this company and Meredian and everything went exceptionally well.  I didn't have one complaint which was unusal because I am very detail oriented.  These guys did an amazing job, I was able to reach my underwriter day and night, and were honest about the terms of loan.  My rate lock deposit garuanteed my terms and thats what I got when my loan closed in 18 days!!

I know this too! Awesome customer service! you guys have not done your research!

Did you dispute it with your bank? Frist step in really finding out who did what wrong.

You can't blam other people for your short commings....Do not provide your credit card or personal information before you know who you are dealing with....be advised!

There is a dispute process where each american has. Call you creditor or issuing bank of that card and dispute the transaction.

You guys need to take this number off this horriable blog becuase the number is not a scam.....

I know this number; it's not a scam and after you guys do your research you'll be educated. The company FORTIS TITLE SOLUTIONS in another story of its own.

Please do your research; you'll be surprised....:)

call Mr. Lembi at the Orange County, CA District Attorney's Office

I have been scamed for $1700. by Meredian Financial and Fortis Title Solutions. This happen on March 3, 2010 and after many phone calls and emails I have not had any results.
My email is:  papajoekw@aol.com

Interesting... James Assali owns both Meredian Financial in Costa Mesa and Fortis Title Solutions in Florida.  He is expanding his scam.

Fortis Title Solutions charged our credit card without authorization