Are they still doing that story about Russell and how he makes so many mistakes all the time, but he is still working there...he is a con artist just like James Assali.  I worked for them and I couldnt take lying after 4 days I quit.  I do not feel like lying and cheating is they way to get business.  They are all a bunch of crooks.

When is someone going to put them out of business.  I worked there in 2008....such a bunch of jokers, who
love stealing money from people who are in need of help.   Gives all finance personnel a bad name.

hi susanne what do u need

Maurice....James was my next door neighbor.  I need to get in touch with him. Please contact me at me e-mail at carepro@live.com
Thanks

Law enforcement officials are looking for the owner of a Costa Mesa-based mortgage refinance company and escrow business who is charged in a loan modification scheme that preyed on victims in California and other states.

Prosecutors say they?ve also found victims in Maryland, Minnesota, Florida, and Washington.

James Toufic Assali, 36, of Irvine, is charged with 18 felony counts of grand theft, three felony counts of grand theft of an adult over 65, four felony counts of money laundering, and two felony counts of filing a false tax return.

There are sentencing enhancements for money laundering exceeding $50, 000. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 23 years in state prison.

An arrest warrant was issued May 26, 2011, for Assali, who is believed to be either in California or Vermont, according to the Orange County District Attorney?s office.

Prosecutors say that Asssali owns Meredian Financial Corporation (Meredian) and an escrow business, Fortis Title Solutions, both operating out of Costa Mesa.

He?s accused of soliciting Meredian?s home loan ratelock and modification services for a fee ranging from $750 up to $10, 000.

According to the press release, Assali is accused of:

Collecting a fee from victims to lock in a lower interest rate to refinance their home or modify their home loan, and promising to refund the fee at the close of escrow.
Failing to complete a majority of home loan modifications or refinancing services and refusing to issue the promised refunds.
Electronically transferring funds from his business bank account to his personal account totaling more than $100, 000 annually in both 2008 and 2009, filing false tax returns in 2008 and 2009, and underreporting his compensation by more than $200, 000. As a result, he?s accused of owing more than $18, 000 in unpaid taxes for filing false returns in 2008 and 2009.

The District Attorney?s office began investigating the case after getting complaints. The California Franchise Tax Board assisted in the investigation into the filing of false tax returns.

Anyone who has seen him or knows his whereabouts or believes they have been a victim should contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Eric Ackerlind at (714) 347-8691.

Got a call saying they were the underwriting company for our mortgage...Liars....

here is james assali's cell # he is a thief everyone one should call him and get there money back and send him to jail!

cell 949-307-4567

here is his home address

29 Shady Ln
Irvine, CA 92603

james assali is a thief and would try lie through his teeth for anything and everything i was watching CNBC program AMERICAN GREED howcome this guy is still around doing business

Fred, who do I contact in Maryland?

That interesting.  I was contacted by Kevin Friedman back in June of 2010.  They took my money and I didn't hear from them for a few weeks.  I emailed and called Kevin many times with no response.  In July, I called Meredian asking to please speak with anyone because Kevin isn't getting back to me.  I was told that Kevin NO LONGER works there and all my paperwork got lost.  So long story short, I'm now dealing with my 4th person at Meredian, Anas.  It's now November and I still haven't even received the correct paperwork to refi.  No one is returning my emails or calls and no one is contacting me to get this done.  It's clear that Meredian doesn't want to do business because they already got my $1500.  I will be contacting the Attorney General, my attorney, the FBI, and the BBB in the next few days.

Your information is very interesting and helpful. We also like in Maryland and were working with Kevin Friedman. We started the process with Meredian on the 5th of August giving them $5,000. and paying for a home appraisal and we have heard nothing. We call and call, no one responds or when we get a hold of them (our current person is Anas Arnous) we are put on hold for over 45 minutes aned then we hang up. I am assuming we have been scanned. Could I get the name and number of the person you have been working with? I would like to see justice done.

I was called soliciting a new loan in Feb.2010. I did google and found nothing posted about  the company at that time.......thus, submitted the forms and lock in $...........was denied two months later due to DTI ratio.........I have been requesting refund ever since and messages go unanswered....... I just found all this today (10-10-10)  ....I had no idea this might be a scam! Is there nothing I can do?

James Assali runs the operation.  He hires new people daily to work the phones and scam consumers.  I know cuz I worked the phones for him.  He doesn't want the sales guys to stay with the company long because then they will find out that he never closes any loans.  He just gets rate locks from thousands of people and pockets the money.  Of course his name is not on the license because he has been convicted of insurance fraud and he would rather pretend that it is his employees that are unethical.  The employees don't get the money from these scams he does.  Most of his checks to us bounced.  We would get a commission off each rate lock we collected.  It barely amounted to minimum wage and then our checks would bounce.

I agree. The O.C. DA's office said the violator usually folds (bankruptcy), or it's too expensive for the consumer to go after them. The down side for Meredian is, due to the internet, I can communicate with the 'Regulatory World', in search of someone who will be an advocate for me. It is a small amount of money taken from me, but, it's the principle. I don't take financial abuse well. They got my goat, and in my spare time...I'll get theirs'

I guess we all are learning the hard way, Federal law prohibits the taking of up front fees prior to receiving loan application, etc. Mereidian was very irresponsible with our loan, they took $5,165 from us on day one. 3.5 months later our loan was denied, we received a letter stating we did not qualify for a refund of our 5 grand. I have spoken to Orange County D.D office, and they are very aware of Meredian and may be acting on them soon. CA prohibits improper taking of the lock in fee (upfront) too. Meredian is licensed in my state, Maryland. I spoke with a supervisor yesterday of our state Dept. of Finance(Friday 10.15.10) she was fired up when I told her my story. When she gets in Monday, she is reviewing my documents. She did inform me that Kevin Friedman (the guy who hooked me) is no longer with the firm. That's good, but what's up with my 5 Grand. Someone @ Mereidians going to have to cough it up.

Dishonest loan originators are making a killing bilking consumers of millions, it's easy money. Based on my research, most of the regulatory agencies paid to over see the law, don't seem to want to get involved...too much work. although it's criminal activity, it's a white collar, shame on you crime. I read that many of the telemarketers calling you for bogus loans are former felons. Makes sense to me.

If Mereidian is legit, there is no mistake that they condon shady activity by their employees.

They also go by the name Fortis Solutions. Although James Assasi is often refered to as the owner, many of the licensing documents are in the name of Paul Ferris.

Ken,

Thank you for your courage.  Usually, James Assali and his associates intimidate their employees, their customers and their vendors so that no one fights back against their criminal activities.  They steal money from employees, customers and vendors on a daily basis.  Of course, Meredian processes a few "overpriced" loans with hidden fees but they collect thousands of dollars from unsuspecting people whose loans they know will never close.  They collect upfront fees so that James Assali can fund his lavish lifestyle.  They mostly operate outside the state because they know it will be too expensive to fight back against them.  They higher low level employees and have a turnover rate of about every 30 days.  Their employees don't properly get paid either.  On another post they brag about making as much as a physician.  They may steal as much as a physician earns each month by not paying employees or vendors and stealing from customers but they do not earn it~  Because the Better Business Bureau does not have that much power I like your idea about going directly to the Orange County District Attorney Office.  They have built a case against Assali in the past for insurance fraud.

I'm tired of unknown callers calling and hanging up when I answer
I am on the National DO NOT CALL list   Why are they calling ???

Got a call fm these people saying that our mtg company referred our names to them to handle a loan mod, since being laid-off from work in November. I asked again, "our mtg company gave your our name and information"? They said yes.
So being assured  this was through our mtg company we signed on with them; after some convincing conversation, after 6 weeks of them saying they have been in contact with both our 1st and 2nd mtg companies, i decided to investigate it further and sat on hold for hours trying to get to someone who could tell me if they have ever heard from this company and our their staff; guess what; only 1 phone call to the 2nd mtg company and never any contact to our 1st! All the while they were telling us that they've made contact, got a rep assigned to our account and are negotiating for a lower rate, blah, blah, blah, you know the drill.....NOTHING was done at all.  Both Mtg companies said that there is nothing that they can do to help you that you cannot do on your own.
Here are the names and numbers that we know of....no one can help you, only you yourself can apply for midifications and hired 3rd parties will get nothing more except a large $1498 FEE from you, plus another $2100!  Don't get scammed!

MEReDIAN LOAN SERVICES - NOTE**** Not at all affiliated with MerIdian
3080 Bristol Ave. SUITE 430
COSTA MESA, CA  92626
1-800-532-0755, Fax-1-800-540-1533
Initial contact - William Simmons X1410
assigned person - Paula Juan - X1312(Jamie now)her cell# 949-573-4004 (which i'm sure will be changed)
James T Assali - X1722 The Mgr I suppose; that was all too eager to get our money OVERNIGHT
Of course all these names could be fakes, but be aware of the name Meredian - with an 'E" not and 'I'.

Recieved a phone call stating they are with my current mortgage company, found out later they are not. I paid the rate lock of $500.00 on my re-fi. Just before funding after beign offered a rate of 5.8375% fixed for 30 years, they said they would need 2 months of payments up front to keep that rate. This was clearly a scam and we backed out of the re-fi. I'm now pursuing a fraud claim with the board of realtors mortgage divison and filing with the attorney general.

Joe and Wayne- if you ever check this particular site again...would you mind updating us on the progress on your situations with Meredian?

Please be warned that James Assali at Meredian Financial is a scam....All the loans that are closed and funded, customers DO NOT get their money from cash back that is owed to them. James Assali and Russell Howerton, his partner, are being investigated by the FBI for Co-mingling funds and embezzlement. Please BEWARE!!!!

I was contacted by Meredian same story we were looking for refi they had all my info already. They mentioned they are list on better business burea, which they are. We gave them the lock in fee over line to be refunded if the loan did not close or go towards closing. We faxes all supporting docs then the next day they said they could not refi and the case was turned over to the senior underwriter. Got a call from the underwriter at night could understand what he was saying over the phone. But he mentioned we qualified for a loan modification. It wasn't suppose to cost anymore money. Since I wasn't sure what a remodification was I told him to email me the info and I would review it and if I liked it I would sign and return it. When I got the email it had disclosure about the modification and requested to sign the form and send it back with a check for $2500 to process the modification. Reaading through the disclosure there this was just a fee for them to contact the mortgage holder to try to modify the loan terms. There was no provions for a refund of the $2500 alonely at their discretion. I replied back and inquired again about the $2500 and he avoid a direct answer and refered to the disclosure. I decided not to go through with it under suspicion. Especially because I new I could not qualify for a modification. The following day Friday when I got home I checked my checking account online and they withdrew the $2500 without my authorization and without signing the modification agreement. The next morning I went to my bank BA and disputed both amounts and had to close my account. I learned that several of these companys are doing this to take advantage of people wanting to refi at a lower rate. So people get taen for a ride for months before they figure out they are being taken. I beleive it just a bait and switch. They use the money to keep in operation since the market has dived. I got my money back from disputing it through Bank America. But now I'm dealing with a company called Global Check Servicing who supposedly paid Meredian the money transfer electronically. They were trying to collect on the debt. I told them what they did and hopefully after they research that will settle it. By my conversation with the agent it sounds like they have alot of Meredian collections.

Thaks for your postings.  I got the same call but when they asked me to fax my financials to them I got suspicious.  A simple trip to Google was all it took, thanks to you.  J.

Please do not be scammed by this company. They will take your money (what they call lock-in rate deposit fee) and pocket it.

Meredian contacted me acting as if they were representing my current mortgage co. They told they would be able to refinance my morgage at a lower interest rate. They required me to put down $2745 to lock in my interest rate and provide my financial information which I did. They then told me my loan was approved. After a couple of days they informed me they were not able to do the loan and they told me they would get me a refund right away. Then they told me it would be a couple of weeks. After weeks of getting the run around they told me that they were not going to give me my money back. They responded to a complaint I filed with the better business bureau saying  I canceled the loan and therefore forfitted my deposit. I never did cancel, but this is their game to steal your deposit. If you've been ripped of by these scammers contact Anthony Lembi at the Orange County D.A.'s office, he would like to hear your story. You can also notify California division of Corporations, California Dept. of Real Estate. Meredian knows that the amounts they steal are small enough that most people won't get an attorney involved so be very careful if you are thinking of dealing with this company. ken2036@aol.com

Same song, second verse. They called, offered a rate reduction with my current lender. I EFT'ed $1236 to them and some documentation. They dragged it out for 30 days, then when I cancelled the whole deal and asked for a refund, they won't return my calls. I opened a BBB complaint, James Assali agreed to refund my money, 60 days later, no money. Complete scam, wish I'd checked it out more first.

This company is still doing business the same way as everyone has described.  Before I knew it was a scam, I listened to the whole sales pitch.  Something just didn't feel right.  I checked with my mortgage company, and they said they didn't have any agreement with Meredian for providing information on my loan/servicing/refinancing.  I called James Assali back and he explained that the "retail branch" of my mortgage company wouldn't know anything about his "wholesale" agreement with MetLife.  After he asked me to fax him a lot of personal info (financial/tax records), I went online and found dozens of complaints.  BEWARE!

this company is a scram do not give them no rate lock fee they say they are and underwriting company but it's a (lie) go to the BBB.COM LOOK AT THE COMPLAINTS ON THIS COMPANY PLEASE CALL YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY I HAVE DID A LOT OF INVESTIGATING ON THIS COMPANY AND IT ALL LIARS SOME GUY NAME GREG SAID HE WAS UNDERWRITING MY FILE FILE BUT I ASK HIM THIS HERE IS MY LOAN NUMBER AND ADDRESS WHAT IS THE BALANCE OF MY LOAN WITH BANK OF AMERICA HE DID NOT KNOW THE HE SAID BECAUSE WE UNDERWRITE FOR SO MANY I CAN'T FIND YOU BU***HIT THIS IS A SCRAM

James Assali has a warrant for his arrest for defrauding consumers.  Please contact the Orange County District Attorney's Office, California if you know of his whereabouts or are a victim.

[removed:lang] everyones comments, James Assalii is a good person who does good things everyday for people all across the country, He is a big hearted guy, its mortgage people its the nature of the beast to pay for things up front, wait a long time, and [removed:lang] happens when u get the bad apple employee, so instead of messing with his reputation and source of income that he feeds his family with and the familys of 20 people get a [removed:lang] life, get off the internet, go get help from another company!

March 14: Minnesota is suing Meredian.

Here's the  news article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/business/117933079.html