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Lender/Summit & Crowne Cap Partners Scam
Hello everyone,
I am an investor who unfortunately got desperate and was taken advantage of by my broker Mark Pascua and Summit & Crowne Capital Partners/ Tony O'Brien.
Back in March 2016, I was introduced to Summit & Crowne Capital Partners/ Tony O'Brien through a local broker here in SFL from my REI club named Mark Pascua. Unfortunately, I was desperate. I had certain investment properties where their hard money balloom were coming due and due to recent bankruptcy I could not get conventional financing to refinance. I was also under contract for new purchase of another investment property. I paid a total of $2,920 to Summit& Crowne /Tony O'Brien via realestatelenderusa.com; $1,950 application fee and $970 for the appraisal of current 2 investment properties. Summit & Crowne months later never did anything and I kept getting the run around from Tony and Mark. Three into waiting, one day I received a call from Tony who told my new purchase did not appraised and that they could not lend me the amount of money I was looking for, which was by the way only 70% of the purchase price when prior the broker had told the lender will lend not only the purchase but also the rehab money. There was no appraisal ever ordered for the refinance nor did the lender do anything on my behalf. I got fed up and immediately notified Tony and Mark in writing via email in May 2016 that I could not wait any longer and was fed up with their mediocrities and want nothing to do with Summit/ Tony.
In June I sought the advice of an attorney friend who contacted Tony directly over the phone and Tony refused to reimburse my money. My friend then sent a Demand letter (on 6/2016) to Summit and to date, I have Not received any money. Tony told my attorney that the application fee was non refundable as disclosed on the papers that I signed and that the only money that would be return to me was the appraisal fee on the refinance since no appraisal was ever ordered.
The last email I received from the attorney was on 10/2016. Initially Tony claimed Summit & Crowne's attorney needed to review the docs and was out on vacation and that was the cause of the delay. When the attorney contacted Tony again, Tony claimed "the check was mailed and may have gotten lost in the mail". My attorney has since then asked him to sent him the check directly. To date, there has been No check.
I believe Mark Pascua was in on it because 1) he has done nothing to help me reuperate any of the funds from the lender, 2) he has since then cut all communication with me, 3)) he also remove my name from the REI club so I no longer receive club event notifications or invitations.
As for Summit & Crowne Capital Partners/Tony O'brien, I have check the NC commisioner of banks and Summit & Crowne is not named as a licensed entity with that state. Tony counts on the fact that any filing of lawsuit will need to be filed in his operation states and realize that the cost may not be worth it in a lot of cases. This is what he relies on to scam people.
I don't know who they are licensed by or what state? I would like to file a formal complaint. I don't know what else.
I appreciate any feedback you may be able to provide.
Thank you,
RJ
You need to file a complaint with the state where propery is located. Their company maybe formed in Delaware or Nevada or any other state but the state where they actually do business is where complaint and lawsuit should be filed.
Department of Financial regulations should be the right place for the complaint.
Additionally you can file a small claim lawsuit. It's pretty easy, cheap ($250 in Florida) and you don't need an attorney for that however they will need an attorney to represent themselves so they will probably issue you a check rather then deal with the hassle and expense.
Don't forget BEtter Business Bureau complaint. It will give warnings to other victims.
Is this property in NC or Florida?
Thank you for the advice. My properties are in Florida as I am,
The NC commissioner of banks is who regulate the banks and mortgage lenders in North Carolina. I ran both Summit and Tony O'brien's name on the NCccob website as required prior to filing a complaint, no record is found; it said Not Regulated by Ncccob.
Where else can I look?
Interesting. Not sure if this is the same company, but there was a member in Charlotte, NC who had issues with a company with the same or similar name, although in that case they were borrowers- not potential lenders. Info below on that:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87/topics/341...
I hope it works out for you. I am getting tired of hearing about these types of people and I'm afraid it only seems to get worse as the market improves and more people jump into real estate.
You should never pay an application fee, that was your first clue it was a scam.
@Account Closed I agree, if you are paying application fees, be very wary of those lenders. Especially people that are overly pushy.
I just did some research - they are a Delaware corporation. I will be filing a complaint tomorrow.
Hi:
I was also lied to by Tony O'Brien from Summit & Crowne Capital Partners. In my situation, my husband and I were referred to Tony's company for a "soft" money loan for property investment/renovation business. We had previously renovated other properties that we rented, but needed more cash for flips. We were referred to Tony O'Brien by a FlipNerd contact person. We found a short sale property and completed all of the paperwork required by Summit & Crowne. We were asked to pay an application fee of $1500 for "background checks." Unfortunately, the short sale ended up being a bigger expense that we anticipated, so we backed out of the short sale purchase. We then approached Tony and requested a refund from Summit; no background check had been done. Tony told us that the refund of our $1500 application fee would be sent to us by mail. That was in August 2016. I've followed up with him directly multiple times and he would give excuses like, "we sent the refund out and the check was returned, so I need your current address." And, "I'll get right on this personally and will send it out today." Or, "I'll have my operations contact you today." But the check was never received. I have turned to our FlipNerd contact person for help. He also sent stern emails to Tony about sending us our refund. He (Tony) always promises to send the check but never does. I am now ready to report him to the BBB, the Attorney General's office, and any other agency that helps to regulate this type of theft. It's not so much the amount of the money, but more the principle of this that angers me.
Theresa C.
@Theresa Clayton - I sent you an email about an hour ago and I responded to this post above. I look forward to speaking with you.
Hi Abhi, I would love to talk with you. Can you send me an email with your contact info.
Theresa, you should file a complaint with the BBB. I have and of course Tony replied and claimed that I tried to defraud them and provided a copy of that unethical term sheet with the $1950 application fee. He claimed I defrauded them by trying to "get a loan that my investment property was not qualified for" meaning did not appraised and as such, the application/underwriting fee is non refundable. These companies have an unsurmountable way of covering up and getting away with these kinds of unethical practices; it is a shame. He also claim my attorney backed down from litigation...which is a complete lie. I have every single communication between my attorney and Tony. As I said before, their company is set up where you have to take the litigation to their home state and as everyone could assume, it is a costly process. That is what Tony, Summit & Crowne Capital Partners and Real Estate Lender USA heavily rely on. While he replied with this accusation, he did not once mentioned anything about my appraisal fee of $970 which they have not refunded.
@Abhi Golhar Tony O'Brien seems to still be working some sort of scam. I have no idea who he is. He sent me an email invite to amazon business. Which caused me to research his name and I found this thread. Message me if I can be of help in any way.
Originally posted by @Debra R.:
@Abhi Golhar Tony O'Brien seems to still be working some sort of scam. I have no idea who he is. He sent me an email invite to amazon business. Which caused me to research his name and I found this thread. Message me if I can be of help in any way.
Abhi - It was ironic to see your comments above. It's been several months since we have been trying to connect and request our investment back from Summit & Crowne, managed by Walt Higgins and you. There has been radio silence from your end for months and multiple msgs remain unanswered. There have been discrepancies in the manner your firm managed the investments made for 129 Holiday Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307. For now, I shall hold back on sharing the details here but consider this post yet another avenue I am exploring to elicit your response. You have our contact numbers, reach out to us asap and let's work out a settlement without further delay. It's been over 4 months, we will not wait much longer.
I'm sorry to hear you may have had problems in obtaining a loan from Summit & Crowne. I must say I did get a loan
from them through Tony O'Brien of just under $1,000,000.00 and closed in LESS than 3 weeks. I think it was 15 or 16
days. The appraisal took the longest and even that was extremely fast. He was totally professional and delivered on his promises. I submitted all the requested paper work and he was helpful with that too. I have nothing but praise for the man. I never new him before and actually responded to an email I had received from him just as I was about to use a
different company. Tony saved me Thousands and lots of time.
Were there items requested you didn't submit?
Anyway, we all have different experiences in business but I will use Tony again soon and have recommended him to a few other investor friends, I am also in S. FL.
Sorry things didn't work out for you.
@ Steve Alianiello
My spidy senses tell me that you are nothing more than a cover for Tony O'Brien. I'm just calling it as I sense it.
I spoke with Tony O'Brien on two different occasions; and each time was with a different company. On both occasions, Tony came across as being very aggressive, cocky and I sensed that something was not right with him. Therefore, I never proceeded to do business with him. This is my opinion, based on my personal experience in talking with him, via the telephone.