Trevor Hutchison with People’s First Financial sent the I-Team an email responding to our story.  Here’s some of that email. 

All BBB inquiries are being responded to (we always respond to any BBB complaints) and the only reason some have not been responded to yet is because the BBB had been sending recent complaints to the wrong e-mail address. 

In the case of Lena Lopez, who I personally talked to for around 45 minutes, our services were rendered.  I can get into specifics on her case, but I have to pull the file.      

We offer a refund of all fee’s minus $995 processing depending on the exact situation; your blog even refers to this policy. 

Recently, unhappy clients started emailing the I-Team about a Mira Mesa company called People’s First Financal.  We checked the BBB Website and found similar complaints as well, and saw the company was given an “F” rating.  While the company supervisor, Trevor Hutchison, tells us promises are not given to the clients, that’s not what we some clients and one former employee reveals to us. 

If you watched the video, you heard from Lena Lopez and Mark Walker.  Here’s an email from another client in Fairfield, CA who gave us permission to blog. 

Here is my encounter with Peoples First Financial:  In April, 2008, I was in contact Peoples First Financial.  He informed me that the fee for them to go in and mitigate my loan was $2500.00.  I inquired whether this would have to be paid upfront and he informed me that I could make payments and they would get to work on it right away and if they could not do anything that they would refund $1500.00 back because they have to pay the mitigators for their time.  I was also informed by him that I would not lose my home.  So, I entrusted them to do the job that they said that they would do.  I kept in constant contact via email (which I have saved all the emails) and telephone, as much as I could.  I received a forebearance plan from Residential Capital that took my interest rate down temporarily.  I was told to sign and send back.   Eventually, I was told that Litton Loan was requesting $3000.00 down payment to get into a forebearance plan.  I stressed because I could not just come up with that type of money and eventually a friend of mine loaned it to me. 

Right now, I am still waiting for a modification.  I am on edge every month.  As far as Peoples First Financial, I reported them to the BBB, which they have refused to respond to.  I sent an email….that I wanted my money back and she responded that she forwarded the email to Trevor Hutchison who is responsible for refunding the money.  I have not heard from him…

As for the temporary modification with Residential Capital, that is a fraud, I found out that they are still charging me the 19.1%.  They just lowered my payments but, they are tacking almost $1,000 in unpaid payments to the back of my loan a month.  This is not what I paid for. 

Jerald, Fairfield, California

I-Team researchers spoke to a handful of other clients with similar stories including a family from Virginia and Maryland,

People’s First Financial promises a 100% Money Back  but some clients say that’s not happening.  Instead they say they call and never get calls or emails returned. 

Court documents also show that some people have filed civil suits against the company.   One person is asking for $3495.00 back and the reason quoted on court documents is “failure to perform service paid for with money back guarantee.”

The company’s supervisor, Mr. Hutchison, did send the I-Team about 2 dozen ’proof of performance’ results.  We can’t download them and show you because of privacy issues, but we can share some of the results. In one case, a client’s starting interest rate was 11.75%, People’s First Financial says it was able to bring it down to 8% resulting in a $921.00 monthly savings.  Another client had a 9.2% adjustable interest rate and it was knocked down to a 7.8% fixed.  Another client went from 11.99% to 5.25%. 

Wed. @ 11PM: Local Gypsies Exposed Local Man Victimized By Gypsy Gypsy Culture Explained SD’s Most Powerful Gypsy Family Types of Gypsy Scams

I first ran into Michael Marks 18 years ago outside the San Diego Court House.  He was sprinting away from me with his son John in tow.   I had been in court covering the trial of a fortune teller who had ripped off a Southbay woman, a very young and naive young lady.  I ran after Michael and John for awhile but they got away.  I wanted to ask them some questions about their business.

This was my entry into what would be a continuing education. I would learn in reporting on gypsy crimes that Michael Marks is San Diego’s King of the Gypsies.  The male head of a family enterprise which has done very well.  When I first began looking at the family years ago, their combined worth was about thirty million dollars.  I have no idea how much the family is worth now. 

I do suspect they are “connected” to the political establishment but have never been able to prove anything.  You will have to read between the lines on this suspicion.

I was told the family moved her originally from Kansas City after World War II and set up their operations.  In time, they built parlors all across the region.   If you check city business licensing in San Diego City, it shows five Mark family parlors but there are more.   They even are the “approved” fortune tellers for the Del Mar Fair every year.  I would bet they have culled victims out of the Fair on a regular basis.

Not all areas of the United States have one family controlling things.  Cities like Los Angeles have different families controlling different sections of the city.  But the Mark’s hold on San Diego’s psychic parlor business is absolute.  No outsiders in the gypsy psychic business come into the region for any length of time.  That’s not to say freelancers don’t come through, make a score, and then move on quickly.  This happens all the time. But year in and year out, the Mark’s family are the main players and control much of the business.

Part of my schooling came from SDPD and LAPD detectives whose job was doing fraud cases, including gypsy crimes.  These fraud chasers either hated the hassles involved in doing gypsy crimes or were fascinated by the culture.  I fall on the side of the latter.  They told me I better know how the scams work, how the gypsies pull of the theft of thousands of dollars from victims and why they rarely get busted.   I do remember one lesson in particular because every detective told me the same thing: never give a gypsy your business card.  It’s the first thing they ask for when they meet you face to face.  The reason is gypsies have made double talk a higher form of art.  I think I am immune to it but I do, in an odd way, admire their ability to blow a tremendous amount of smoke at anyone who gets onto their game.  That’s part of lesson one.   With your name and your business card, they can really get an investigation side-tracked by calling around the city using your name and title.  You end up wondering why some bartender is mad at you when you never were in his place.   Another part of the lesson is to beware of the misinformation campaigns.   You start working a gypsy fraud and suddenly it seems like every gypsy in the country knows what you are up to and wants to rat out the locals.  It happens every time.  Sometimes the information is good or at least part of it is and sometimes it’s meant to mislead you in the wrong direction.  Sounds a little bit like the CIA at work doesn’t it?  I wonder if Langley ever thought about hiring some gypsies to do intel?

I’ve learned it is a cultural thing for the family.   The women are taught at a young age to be good “money makers” I met a young gypsy lady years ago who tutored me in the ways of their life.  She never finished high school; she resented being forced to learn the trade from adult females.  A bright lady, she wanted to break out of the bonds that women have placed on them in this male dominated culture.  She was a good person and I have lost contact with her over the years.  I hope she sees this blog and we can reconnect.

Today, in our earlier newscasts, you will meet a victim of the freelance gypsy teams that come through our region.  For whatever reason, freelancers seem to work the Southbay alot.  Favorite target?  Young Catholic women. But not always, like in this story.

Then at 11pm, you can see the Mark’s family “2008″ at work.  This story gave me to see  Michael Marks aka Big Mike again.  Our local King of the Gypsies working out of his long time location on Highland Avenue in National City.   He wasn’t happy to see Juliette Vara, our reporter, Christian Cazares the photographer and myself.  In fact he was waving his arms and carrying on for awhile. But eventually it all settled down and we had an interesting conversation.   We went to Big Mike because of a young lady we are trying to help.  Her name is Paige and she is out five thousand dollars, her entire inheritance from her father who she dearly loved.  Like most gypsy scams, they preyed on her misfortune and the pain of losing her dad.   The money maker who worked Paige over is called April.   We think she also goes by the nickname Peebles.  We found through data base we use that there is an April Marks connected to Big Mike’s parlor.  Of course, when we asked Big Mike about April, he denied knowing someone named April.  This is to be expected.  April actually pulled the scam while working out of the family parlor at interstate 805 and El Cajon Blvd.  This is run by Big Mike’s son John but he has no interest in paying Paige back.  We hoped we could appeal to Big Mike to convince John or April to to give back Paige’s money.  We had one thing to leverage him with.  We have up close video of Big Mike and his moneymaker from our surprise visit.

We were willing to keep his parlor and his mug out of our story in exchange for his help in getting all of Paige’s money back from either John or April.  It was a fair deal.   Some might say we were doing a  form of video blackmail but it was more about the reality of dealing with the Marks family.  They hate publicity and I don’t like the vulnerable being ripped off.  Especially a young lady whose only crime was loving her father.  

I can’t tell you how it all evolved because of promises made to different people but the bottom-line is Big Mike is going to be on 10News tonight at 11pm.   And we may be back again because since the promos for the story have begun running, other people who have recent dealings with the Mark family are calling the I Team.

We shall see.

I team watchers, watch for tonight’s effort at 11pm.  Producer Heidi Ortiz, Reporter Juliette Vara and yours truly have been working on this story ever since I got “THE HUNCH”    Yes, broadcast journalists get hunches and sometimes we even have the chance to explore them.  That’s why I love my current job, I do get to stand back every once in awhile and think about the connections of a story and where they can lead.  It wasn’t a Mr. Mustard did it in the dining room with a candlestick but it was still a good hunch.

Here are the things that I knew: 

*A federal law is passed to create data base that would include all of the information from insurance companies and wrecking yards about cars that have been in bad accidents or totaled.  But the law never happens–even though Congress passed it.

*Carfax is a service used by car sellers as a tool to help sell their vehicles.  It makes sense, a car buyer is better served knowing the history of their prospective purchase– you are going to spend thousands of dollars on the car and entrust your loved ones safety to this car.   Information is power.

*Rental car companies and leasing companies use wholesale lots to move cars out of their own inventories.  Thousands of them every year.  And many of those cars and trucks have been in nasty wrecks.

*Body shops can take a beaten up Beemer and turn it into a beautiful beast and most of us would never know the difference.  

*I have produced numerous stories over the years about refurbished cars that are rolling death traps–their history hidden from the consumer.

So those were the basic elements I was turning over in my head.  I knew consumers could use that federal data base. It probably would save lives and money. I knew the database was supposed to be available now but somehow got held up in D.C. redtape.

So the question becomes who would lose if the database became a reality?  Shady car dealers for one.  Carfax might be hurt, they were in the database business too.  One more question, if consumers did have the data base available, that means the market for wrecked cars would collapse.  No consumer in their right mind would buy a refurbished wreck.  This would certainly  hurt the shady car sellers and cost those leasing and rental car operations alot of money. 

Here is where Producer Heidi comes in.  I ask her to run down anyone in Congress who made noise about the data base.  Bingo,  she finds a request from then Senator John Ashcroft to have the GAO to see if the database makes sense. THIS IS AFTER THE BILL WAS PASSED INTO LAW.

I know that CarFax is  based in Missouri.  That is where Ashcroft is from. 

I ask Heidi to run Ashcroft’s contributions when he ran for the Senate.  She finds his number one contributor over a five year period is a company that leases cars.  This company is based in Missouri too.

Too many coincedences for me, never believed in them.   But is there anything else?

How about a report from the Attorney General Ashcroft’s own Department of Justice (after George W chose him as his first attorney general)???????

The GAO turned the Ashcroft’s request to check out the databases to…SUPRISE–the Ashcroft Department of Justice.  And now the clincher,  Mr. Ashcroft’s own department comes back with a glowing report about the proposed data base.  I mean glowing, this database would save lives and billions of dollars.  That’s right billion with a “B”.    (Read the entire DOJ report here_

So what happens?  Let’s rerack the tape—as a Senator, he wanted an investigation into the database, when he is the Attorney General, his own agency gives the data base a thumbs up.

What happens?  Dear reader, please watch the I team story tonight and find out for yourself what happens to the database….and the rest of the story;

It’s at 11pm

Gas prices have come down in recent weeks, but it’s still a lot more expensive than it has been in the past year or two. We’re all looking for ways to save money at the pump, so naturally the 10News I-Team was interested to test some of the most popular gas gadgets on the market.

We ordered the gadgets online. Most were specific to a make and model of a car or truck. We chose gadgets to fit Chevy trucks and vans being used by National Air and Energy, a heating and air conditioning company. National Air and Energy’s owner Ron Wells arranged for us to test the gizmos on five of the vehicles in his fleet. We asked expert mechanic Forrest Folck of Motor Vehicle Forensic Services in San Diego to install the five gadgets — the Turbonator; the Extramile; the Tornado; the Ionizer and the Magnitizer for us. The installation took place at Greg’s Automotive in El Cajon.

We waited two weeks for the results and in the end, the only gizmo that seemed to work was the Tornado which increased mileage on the Chevy Van from 11 miles per gallon to 12.25 miles per gallon. The other gadgets either did nothing or resulted in worse mileage.

Making matters worse is the money these gadgets cost. We spent almost $600 buying the gadgets, something that isn’t realistic for the average consumer. Take the Magnitizer, a gadget that cost us $265. It comes with three magnets that are supposed to magnitize the fuel, air and cooling systems. In our test, the vehicle using the Magnitizer lost mileage — going from 11 miles per gallon to 10.28 MPG.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been testing gas gadgets since the 1970’s and they say none of the gas gadgets are proven to work. The Federal Trade Commission is skeptical too, issuing a consumer warning about gas gadgets.

Judy Dugan of Consumer Watchdog tell us the cheaper and easier way to save on gas to to drive more conscientiously and keep up with regular car maintenance.

We emailed all the companies.  Here’s a copy of the email sent to us by the makers of the Ionizer.

A mother writes to the I-Team,

“I never want to see my kids’ faces the way they were when they had to leave thinking they weren’t going to see us again.” 

“I can’t tell you how hard it was seeing them crying and saying they didn’t want to go.”

This mom is referring to the day Child Protective Services came to her home and took her children. The removal was temporary, but mom claims CPS continued to harass her family for months and threatened to place her children in Foster Care.  According to mom, the CPS investigation was based on false allegations stemming from an argument she had with her husband several months prior.   She says they cooperated with the CPS workers, but the government agency wouldn’t back down.  Mom turned to the I-Team for help.

“We are not rich and cannot afford the $7,000 - $10,000 retainer required by attorneys and have no one else to turn to.”

“Please, please help us to keep our family together,” she wrote.

It’s a plea for help that stirs emotions and one that the I-Team receives numerous times throughout the year.  It’s the most difficult request for assistance we get and almost impossible to resolve.   CPS records are sealed and the names of those that report child abuse are kept confidential.  Without being able to talk with all parties involved, complaints against CPS are difficult for us to investigate. We’re not qualified to decide whether or not a child should or should not be removed from their home.  That decision is left for the agency in charge of protecting children…Child Protective Services.  There’s no doubt they have a difficult job to do.  They keep an eye out for signs of neglect and abuse in a place where children should always be safe….their home, but who’s keeping an eye on CPS.

The San Diego County Grand Jury has issued 15 reports on child welfare issues over the past 20 years.   While they cannot resolve individual complaints, they do work to improve the policies and procedures of local government agencies.   In their recent report,” Notification and Training in Child Protective Services” ; they ask CPS to improve the method they use to remove children from their homes.  Their report recommends written notification informing parents why their children are being taken as well as contact information for case workers.  The report also recommends more training for CPS workers handling the removals.

The 2007-2008 Grand Jury Foreman, Michael Letendre, talked to the I-Team about his investigation into CPS practices.

“Their heart is in the right place, but some of the mechanics and procedures were not,” he told the I-Team.

The Grand Jury started the investigation after receiving six separate complaints from parents who had been accused of child abuse or neglect.  As a result, their children were temporarily removed from their custody by CPS. 

“I can think of nothing more tragic or frightening than having your child removed from you,” says Professor Thom Reilly, Director of the School of Social Work at San Diego State University.  Formerly he was the Child Welfare Director for the state of Nevada.  He says the decision to remove children from their homes is a difficult one.

“It’s a balance between how do we preserve families and keep children together because that’s where they need to be and at the same time…..when do children need to be removed,” he told the I-Team.

Reilly makes these suggestions for families that receive a knock on their door from CPS.

1)       Stay Calm

2)       Cooperate

3)       Ask what the specific allegation is. You have a right to know what the allegation is although not     who made it,

4)       Ask if you can reschedule the interview so you can have an advocate with you. They will let you  know if that is possible.

5)       Ask for information in writing or  ask how you would access information on what your rights are.

6)       Ask who you can talk to if you have concerns about the visit such as a supervisor or manager.

7)       If it appears that your child will be removed, provide contact information for your family members. The agency is required to attempt to place the child in relative placement if at all possible.

8)       Obtain an attorney.

You’ve probably seen the ads on TV promising cash for gold. The 10News I-Team saw the ads and decided to put these companies to the test.

The first thing we needed to do was buy four identical pieces of jewelry to send off to these gold buyback companies. With the same pieces of gold, we knew they’d be the same karat and the same weight – a fair starting point for our test.

We had a budget of $100 an item, which at first glance seemed to be a good budget. But after visiting three stores – a major jewelry outlet, a large department store and a mid-sized department store, we didn’t have luck for a number of reasons.

For starters, most jewelry stores didn’t have four identical pieces of gold jewelry — some had two of the same bracelets or three (size 7) gold rings size, but they didn’t have the inventory for us to purchase. Also we found that $100 didn’t go very far for a nice piece of gold. Some of the gold items we saw for under $100 looked flimsy, like they’d break if you tried them on. Other ones weren’t solid gold. Instead they were silver with 14k gold plating. Since our story is about the high price of gold, we definitely needed solid gold jewelry.

We bought the gold at a local big box store. Turns out, we had to shop three of the store’s locations to get four of the same 10K gold rings; men’s size 10. We paid $58 for each ring which at 10K is about 41 percent gold. Then we met with estate buyer Dano McCarthy at Leo Hamel Fine Jewelers in Rancho Bernardo. McCarthy evaluated each ring, weighing them and reading the karat count and manufacturer name.

He told us the rings varied in weight – the lightest weighed 2.16 grams, while the heaviest weighed 2.21 grams – but said even identical rings won’t always have the same weight since they’re mass produced and then hand polished. Factoring in the weight of the rings and the spot price (the market driven price used for immediate payment) for gold, McCarthy estimated our rings had an approximate value of $17 a piece. This estimate was made on a day when the spot price of gold was $839 an ounce.

We decided to send our gold to three companies we’ve seen on TV or online: www.Cash4Gold.com; www.GoldKit.com; and www.GetGoldCash.com. We mailed the gold out to these companies on Wednesday September 24, 2008 when the spot price of gold was $883.60. GoldKit and GetGoldCash will send us payment in about two weeks from the mail-in date. GoldKit paid us $2.80 for our gold; GetGoldCash sent us a check for $7.63.

We chose the “Fast Cash” payment from Cash4Gold which means we could expect payment within three to five business days. If we sent a voided check, we could have received payment the next day. The catch with the “Fast Cash” option? Consumers give up their rights to the 10 day return policy. At first, it took multiple unanswered phone calls (their voicemail was full) and two emails to receive a response that our gold was received. Cash4Gold’s email said a check would be in the mail. They were right – we received a check for $2.92. They later sent us a second check for $4.99, explaining they mistakenly charged us for the “Fast Cash” option which we did not receive.   The company says “Fast Cash” isn’t used for business transactions less than $20.  Once it was made aware of the situtation, the company corrected it. So, when you do the math, the total for our ring was $7.91.

We also shopped our other gold ring at a San Diego pawn shop. It’s called Music Rental and Pawn Shop on El Cajon Boulevard.  They offered the best payment, giving us $18.50 for our 10k gold ring.

You can track the price of gold: http://www.kitco.com.

CONSIDER THESE TIPS WHEN SELLING OLD GOLD:

• Gold is personal property. You won’t get 100 percent return on your investment. Think of it as a re-selling your new car. Once you drive it off the lot, the price goes lower.
• To make sure you’re getting a good buyback deal, get price quotes from a few jewelers.
• Remember: A gold dealer will buy back your gold based only on weight and karat count…Not on style or artistry, which are factors you pay for when you buy retail.

Below are the responses from the Gold Buyback Companies we tested:

Get Gold Cash, Inc.

Thank you again for utilizing Get Gold Cash gold recycling services.

I appreciate that you tested four different precious metals buying operations. I am sure all four operations have different overhead and fixed costs, hence the four different prices you likely received.

There are important business distinctions between get Get Gold Cash and the ‘local jeweler’. The most significant distinction is that your local jeweler may offer a higher price for a piece of jewelry because the jeweler can resell or retail that ring for a much higher price, usually 3 - 4 times the price paid, sometimes even higher. As an example, if the ring you sold the jeweler brought you $17, the jeweler has the option of adding that ring to inventory, marking the retail price up to say $100 or $150, and make a nice tidy profit of 300-500% (or more) when the ring is sold. By comparison, we recycle (melt down) nearly 98% of all the gold we buy from our customers. Our profit margins are less as a result.

Additionally, we operate on a volume based pricing scale — the more we buy in a single transaction, the higher we pay. As in many other businesses, the more volume, the lower the profit margins.

I can assure you that as a fourth generation jeweler/dealer in Baltimore, with business roots dating to 1923 in Baltimore, we have satisfactorily serviced tens of thousands of customers over the duration of our businesses. It might be hard to believe this, but sometimes price is not the only reason a customer transacts business with us. Reputation, honesty and integrity count as much, if not more and we pride ourselves on our ability to provide trustworthy service to our customers year in and year out.

Craig R. Nusinov

Get Gold Cash, Inc.

Cash4Gold.com

As per our conversation this morning your “Fast Cash” option was rejected by our processor due do to the size of the deposit. The cost for the “Fast Cash” option is $4.99 that amount should not have been deducted from your transaction; we have sent you a check for that amount so your total settlement is $7.91 sorry for the confusion. We look forward to doing more business with you and hope you are satisfied with your return.

Jeff Aronson

GoldKit.Com did not respond to any of our emails.

Two recalls announced in October by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission involved infant deaths.

One is for convertible cribs by Playkids U.S.A. that has suffocation and entrapment hazards for young children. The model number is PLK-909.

CPSC is aware of the death of a 5-month-old child on August 31, 2008 in Brooklyn, N.Y. The child became entrapped between the mattress and the stationary side rail of the convertible crib and suffocated.

The convertible cribs were sold in juvenile product stores in New York from March 2007 through September 2008.

The second recall involves about 985,000 Delta Enterprise drop-side cribs. When the crib legs are missing their safety pegs, a dangerous gap can be created.

CPSC staff is aware of a death of an 8-month-old child who became entrapped and suffocated when the drop side of the crib detached in a reassembled crib where the safety pegs were not installed. CPSC is also aware of two entrapments and nine disengagement incidents in cribs where the safety pegs were missing.

The recalled cribs were sold in major retailers such as Walmart, Kmart and Target.com between January 1995 and 2007. The model numbers and recall information can be found here.

Since fall 2007, CPSC has issued five crib recalls that involved hardware problems. So they are urging parents and caregivers to routinely inspect cribs. Drop-side cribs are most likely to have hardware problems.

Safety Tips for all cribs:

Parents should not use any crib with missing, broken or loose parts.

Hardware should be inspected from time to time and tightened to keep the crib sturdy.

When using a drop side crib parents should check to make sure the drop side or any other moving part operates smoothly on its track.

Always check all sides and corners of the crib for disengagement. Any disengagement can create a gap and entrap a child.

Do not try to repair any side of the crib without manufacturer approved hardware or with tape, wire or rope.

Putting a broken side up against the wall does not solve the problem and can often make it worse.

If you are using a secondhand crib, be especially careful. Find the assembly instructions to ensure there are no missing parts, and that it is assembled correctly. You can also search the brand and model number to see if there were any recalls.

To see more CPSC recalls — including wooden toys, guitars for Wii games, notebook computer batteries, etc.– from October, click here.