ACT shills say they get your mortgage info from publicly-available court records, presumably deed registration.

I just received a letter from ACT. Just from glancing at the letter, it made me uneasy. Nothing professional about it, no info on the company...just call the number for further information. What gets me is the info contained in the letter....how do they find mortgage companys and amount? I've tried to see if I could find that info out on myself and I found nothing. I could find info, but not the above two things through public records. If you get this letter - BEWARE.

I came to this thread from http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-778-4727/3 (if you don't see it on page 3, it may have been pushed down to page 4 or 5 by new reply posts) where poster John said on 10 Aug 2011 that 888-378-7345 is the number on his letter.

Your letter is 1 of 3 known letter variations to date:
1. A mortgage audit is offered to look for $overcharges in your mortgage papers, you pay $149 up front with full refund if nothing is found but this is really just a come-on to get you to call them. If you call them, they will try to sell you their $49.95/month ACT Program software (described below). The $149 audit will keep the lights on; the real money lies in the $49.95/month ACT Program and why they *really* want you to call them.
2. A variation of 1 where it's $199 up front and you're eligible for a $99 rebate if nothing's found. Note you'd only be eligible for, not guaranteed, a $99 rebate, not refund. Worse still, what kind of rebate? A rebate/reduction of your $199 audit fee or is it a different, separate rebate on another product? Like could it be a $99 rebate/refund on the ACT Program software if you buy it right *NOW* while they have you on the phone? Eligible-for-$99-rebate can mean many things to these weasels.
3. No audit is offered. A vague offer to reduce scheduled mortgage interest is made though the ACT Program or price is never mentioned. One conjectures the audit offer may be so suspicious that people refuse to call ACT back (and ACT *really* wants you to call so they can sell you the ACT Program).

The company is AED = Accelerated Equity & Development but doing business as ACT = Accelerated Cashflow Technologies.
BBB listing http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/fore ... per-ut-10061629 that states "BBeginning in 2010, the BBB began receiving numerous contacts from the public regarding a mass mail campaign conducted by Accelerated Equity & Development, Inc, also known as ACT. The BBB has contacted the company and requested information and modifications based on the BBB's Code of Advertising Guidelines. The company has been asked to address concerns about the solicitations' ambiguity, layout and results expected from service advertised. Consumers continue to express concerns about the mailing - mainly regarding the fact that the company does not identify themselves completely (when they are asking for personal information consumers expect the company to provide their complete contact information and full name)."

Wikipedia entry for United First Financial links AE&D to UFF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_First_Financial
AED/UFF has abandoned its MLM agents, sold exclusive marketing rights of the Money Merge Account to Market America (think acres of phone banks) and repackaged the $3,500 MMA as the $49.95/month "ACT Program." The MMA was sold as software to retire your mortgage early and to "save" hundreds of $thousands in mortgage interest, i.e., implied it was a financial gain to spend $3,500 to "save" hundreds of $thousands in mortgage interest. The repackaged "ACT Program" now "refunds" hundreds of $thousands of interest "overcharges" at $49.95/month *without* needing to hire an attorney at $hundreds/hour to get those "refunds." You can do the same for FREE by simply paying extra principal every time you pay your regular mortgage payment -- the more extra principal you pay, the earlier you pay it, the shorter the loan term will be and the less interest your mortgage will cost you. The MMA used the same principal-prepayment method but scammy-marketed it instead as proprietary software that achieved the "savings" without disclosing what the actual mechanism was.

The $49.95/month ACT Program is just a new name for the old $3,500 Money Merge Account that's been thoroughly debunked here http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/741118/ with a Quick Summary on page 1. In reality, you are *GUARANTEED TO LOSE* some $thousands if you buy the ACT Program. In fact, mikef07 states at the top of http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/741118/?start=914 that "The results do show that by using the MMA software it would cost me $5070.29 extra" than doing it on his own and that was when the MMA was $3,500. The present value of $49.95/month for ~10 years (assumes you pay a 30-year mortgage in 10 years) at 1% APR compounded monthly (what savings accounts are giving) is ~$5,700 so the $3,500 price for the MMA has been sneakily increased to $5,700 today for the ACT Program. The $5,700 MMA-repackaged-as-ACT-Program means mikef07 will lose 5070.29-3500+5700=$7,270.29 today.

The ACT Program falls into a category of scams where the product/service being sold actually works but is unnecessary, or you can achieve the same result with competing software at much lower $cost or for FREE doing it yourself. If you knew all the ways and costs of achieving the same results, you would *NEVER* buy the ACT Program because you'd be paying big $$$ for something easy that you can do yourself for FREE. The scam is in the marketing using twisted language to obfuscate and confuse like "refunding" or "saving" future mortgage interest that has yet to be paid. "Saving" interest is a stupid concept often used in advertising to confuse consumers. The concept of "saving" interest is stupid because "saved" interest does not leave your pocket. What does leave your pocket is the actual interest you pay, i.e., the interest you get to deduct on your tax forms. "Saved" interest is just a number on paper and totally useless. If a $2 can of beans went on sale for $0.75 and advertised as "saving" you $1.25, you should only consider whether the can of beans is worth $0.75 and should ignore the $1.25 in "savings." Would you be happier if the can was priced at $5? If so, you'll be "saving" $4.25 though you'll be paying the same $0.75 for the same can of beans. Are you any richer by "saving" $4.25 instead of $1.25? Obviously not. The only money that left your pocket was the $0.75 for the can of beans, not $1.25 or $4.25, and the only important measure is whether the beans was worth the $0.75 that left your pocket, everything else is irrelevant.

FOLKS, DO NOT BUY ANY PROGRAM TO RETIRE YOUR MORTGAGE EARLY AND "REDUCE" OR "SAVE" OR BE "REFUNDED" MORTGAGE INTEREST --- YOU CAN DO THE SAME YOURSELF FOR FREE! FREE! FREE! I paid off a 15-year mortgage in 66 months and was "refunded" tens of $thousands in mortgage interest (ahhh, the language of scammers!), all by myself and without the $3,500 MMA (forerunner of the $5,700 ACT Program), a spreadsheet or a financial calculator. If I can, you can too, just pay extra principal along with your regular mortgage payment (to the extent possible given the size of your paycheck and other expenses) though it may not be wise to lock up your cash in an illiquid asset (your home) in this housing crisis with ~1 million foreclosed homes on the market and more on the way. Whatever you do -- *DON'T* buy the $5,700 ACT Program! What sense does it make to give $49.95 away every month for ~10 years to AED when that money could go to paying down the principal on your loan instead?

STAY FAR, FAR AWAY FROM AED, ACT, AND THE $5,700 ACT PROGRAM AND BEWARE OF SHILLS ON THIS THREAD.

What is this company?

I came to this thread from http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-778-4727/3 (if you don't see it on page 3, it may have been pushed down to page 4 or 5 by new reply posts) where John posted that 888-378-7345 is the number on his letter. I believe until now, people received this scam offer in a letter and yours is the first reported telemarketing call. They used to offer a mortgage audit for $199 ($99 refund if they find nothing wrong with your paperwork, they keep $100 to keep the lights on) as a come-on to up-sell victims their real money-making scam called the ACT Program (software to "reduce your scheduled mortgage interest").

The company is AED = Accelerated Equity & Development but doing business as ACT = Accelerated Cashflow Technologies.
BBB listing http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/fore ... per-ut-10061629 that states "Beginning in 2010, the BBB began receiving numerous contacts from the public regarding a mass mail campaign conducted by Accelerated Equity & Development, Inc, also known as ACT. The BBB has contacted the company and requested information and modifications based on the BBB's Code of Advertising Guidelines. The company has been asked to address concerns about the solicitations' ambiguity, layout and results expected from service advertised. Consumers continue to express concerns about the mailing - mainly regarding the fact that the company does not identify themselves completely (when they are asking for personal information consumers expect the company to provide their complete contact information and full name)."

AED's Utah business license https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action/details?entity=1429559-0142
No Utah business license exists for ACT (as far as I know). Anyone is welcome to search here https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action
Utah requires all businesses including DBAs to be registered http://corporations.utah.gov/pdf/buslicguide.pdf
"Who Must Register Their Business?
All businesses in Utah are required by law to register with the Utah Department of Commerce either as a "DBA" (Doing Business As), corporation, limited liability company or limited partnership. Businesses are also required to obtain a business license from the city or county in which they are located."
Does the state of Utah even *know* that AED is Doing Business As ACT???

AED is linked to United First Financial who sold the Money Merge Account http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_First_Financial
AED/UFF has abandoned its MLM agents, sold exclusive marketing rights of the Money Merge Account to Market America (think acres of phone banks) and repackaged the $3,500 MMA as the $49.95/month "ACT Program." The MMA was sold as software to retire your mortgage early and to "save" hundreds of $thousands in mortgage interest, i.e., implied it was a financial gain to spend $3,500 to "save" hundreds of $thousands in mortgage interest. The repackaged "ACT Program" now reduces tens to hundreds of $thousands of scheduled mortgage interest at $49.95/month. You can achieve the same results for FREE by simply paying extra principal every time you pay your regular mortgage payment -- the more extra principal you pay, the earlier you pay it, the shorter the loan term will be and the less interest your mortgage will cost you. The MMA used the same principal-prepayment method but scammy-marketed it instead as proprietary software that achieved the "savings" without disclosing what the actual mechanism was.

The $49.95/month ACT Program is just a new name for the old $3,500 Money Merge Account that's been thoroughly debunked here http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/741118/ with a Quick Summary on page 1. In reality, you will *LOSE* some $thousands if you buy the ACT Program. In fact, mikef07 states at the top of http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/741118/?start=914 that "The results do show that by using the MMA software it would cost me $5070.29 extra" than doing it on his own and that was when the MMA was $3,500. The present value of $49.95/month for ~10 years (assumes you pay a 30-year mortgage in 10 years) at 1% APR compounded monthly (what savings accounts are giving) is ~$5,700 so the $3,500 price for the MMA has been sneakily increased to $5,700 today for the ACT Program. The $5,700 MMA-repackaged-as-ACT-Program means mikef07 will lose 5070.29-3500+5700=$7,270.29 today.  

The ACT Program falls into a category of scams where the product/service being sold actually works but is unnecessary, or you can achieve the same result with competing software at much lower $cost, or for FREE doing it yourself. If you knew all the ways and costs of achieving the same results, you would *NEVER* buy the ACT Program because you'd be paying big $$$ for something easy that you can do yourself for FREE. The scam is in the marketing using twisted language to obfuscate and confuse like "reducing" or "saving" scheduled mortgage interest that has yet to be paid. "Saving" interest is a stupid concept often used in advertising to confuse consumers. The concept of "saving" interest is stupid because "saved" interest does not leave your pocket. What does leave your pocket is the actual interest you pay, i.e., the interest you get to deduct on your tax forms. "Saved" interest is just a number on paper and totally useless. If a $2 can of beans went on sale for $0.75 and advertised as "saving" you $1.25, you should only consider whether the can of beans is worth $0.75 and should ignore the $1.25 in "savings." Would you be happier if the can was priced at $5? If so, you'll be "saving" $4.25 though you'll be paying the same $0.75 for the same can of beans. Are you any richer by "saving" $4.25 instead of $1.25? Obviously not. The only money that left your pocket was the $0.75 for the can of beans, not $1.25 or $4.25, and the only important measure is whether the beans was worth the $0.75 that left your pocket, everything else is irrelevant.

FOLKS, DO NOT BUY ANY PROGRAM TO RETIRE YOUR MORTGAGE EARLY AND "REDUCE" OR "SAVE" SCHEDULED MORTGAGE INTEREST --- YOU CAN DO THE SAME YOURSELF FOR FREE! FREE! FREE! I paid off a 15-year mortgage in 66 months and had scheduled mortgage interest reduced by some tens of $thousands, all by myself and without the $3,500 MMA (forerunner of the $5,700 ACT Program), a spreadsheet or a financial calculator. If I can, you can too, just pay extra principal along with your regular mortgage payment (to the extent possible given the size of your paycheck and other expenses) though it may not be wise to lock up your cash in an illiquid asset (your home) in this housing crisis with ~1 million foreclosed homes on the market and more on the way. Whatever you do -- *DON'T* buy the $5,700 ACT Program! What sense does it make to give $49.95 away every month for ~10 years to AED when that money could go to paying down the principal on your loan instead?

STAY FAR, FAR AWAY FROM AED, ACT, AND THE $5,700 ACT PROGRAM AND BEWARE OF SHILLS ON THIS THREAD.