Comments on: Linden Home Loans Charged with Bait and Switch Advertising

By: Deceptive Advertising Update: Linden Home Loans, Paramount Equity and Assurity Financial | Seattle Real Estate ~ Rain City Guide

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:28:49 +0000

[...] Loans, Paramount Equity and Assurity Financial August 10, 2008 Linden Home Loans received a “Statement of Charges“ back in Dec of 2007 for a deceptive television and radio ad. The Department of [...]

By: Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:47:58 +0000

In an attempt to avoid all the negative postings on this site and others, Linden Home Loans is now operating as Linden Mortgage. If asked LO are to say that “we are not Linden Home Loans and that we have no relation to that company, from what I understand that company is no longer in business”

Their business has really suffered since the Bait and Switch action and this is just another attempt to overcome.

By: Roger Ingalls

Roger Ingalls — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:28:50 +0000

Nothing on DFI’s site to substantiate the rumor.

http://www.dfi.wa.gov/cs/adminactions_2008.htm

Any truth to the rumor that their current ad is also deceptive?

Should it be legal to advertise, putting important details in fine print that is either unreadable, or unintelligible?

Where did the rumor start?

By: jason

jason — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:10:39 +0000

Any truth to the rumor that DFI has settled the Linden case for 1,ooo?

By: Chris Hyde

Chris Hyde — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:09:59 +0000

What a great example of deceptive advertising! I loved going back and replaying their ads…especially the audio ad. The APR of 7.88 is shared in the beginning of the ad at such speed, I doubt anyone would pay attention to it!

I really appreciated what you said in the comments regarding how society wants to believe that such an offer could come with no strings attached. Everyone is looking for a great deal and many people are ready to jump on the bandwagon of any great deal they can find. Without knowledge of how the industry works, those looking for the “great deal” fall prey to predatory lending.

Years ago, my wife and I refinanced our mortgage with an L.O. that was recommended to us. He had gotten a “great deal” for our friends and we wanted to get a “great deal” as well. He quoted us a great rate and in our naivete, we signed on the dotted line. Why not? Our payments would be lower and we would have more cash in hand each month. It wasn’t until over a year later that we learned that we had signed up for a mortgage with negative amortization. The net effect of the terms was never explained to us and we were horrified to learn what we had gotten into. It was a good lesson to learn but it is just another sad example of predatory lending.

I wish that reading posts like this was required of all brokers and L.O.’s. Everyone needs to understand what it looks like and how serious of an issue it really is.

By: Jessica Kristine

Jessica Kristine — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:03:47 +0000

I find the whole linden tree concept kind of funny–the idea that an unethical company would be named after something reprenting wonderful qualities. You know how they say that apartment complexes are named after the things destroyed to build them (Deer Run, Emerald Grove, and the like)? Maybe it’s like that.

By: Dale Uesonoda

Dale Uesonoda — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:03 +0000

One goes down, and another will pop I’m sure. it’s amazing to see why some of these ads are up as long as they are. I understand there are consumers out there that will fall for these ads but still, its just amazing why again, they last as long as they do. Unfortunately, marketing is just getting more clever and deceptive in all industries. It will be interesting to see how mtg lending ads will change over the next few yrs to adapt to lending guidelines. Or maybe they just keep advertising the way they always and buisness as usual?

By: Senator Dorgan’s Office Now Collecting Deceptive Mortgage Advertising | Rain City Guide | A Seattle Real Estate Blog...

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:58:30 +0000

[...] Here is a link to the story on Linden Home Loans. Inside this article there’s a link to the deceptive radio ad and television ad. [...]

By: Rhonda Porter

Rhonda Porter — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:35:26 +0000

I didn’t tape the ad…we are the one household without Tivo or something of the sort. My jaw dropped at the rate and I swear it said for a 30 year fixed.

By: Roger Ingalls

Roger Ingalls — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:02:09 +0000

Rhonda:

I also saw that ad, but didn’t have anything to write down the rates (I was working out!). Are the rates for a 30 yr fixed?

Did you tape the ad?

In the same time frame I saw 2 different ditech ads, with different rates.

Man, it just keeps going on doesn’t it!

We should start a Snopes.com for ads….true, false or unverified!