At times, Secured Funding salesmen broke the rules, according to at least three lawsuits filed last year in federal courts in St. Louis and Milwaukee. The plaintiffs accuse Secured Funding of accessing their credit reports without permission for the purpose of sending them unsolicited loan offers.
In one case, Secured Funding sent the plaintiff a “personalized Platinum Equity Card” offering “$50,000 or more in cash” just for calling Secured’s toll-free telephone number. In the other two lawsuits, Secured sent bogus $75,000 checks that reassured the recipients their “Less Than Perfect Credit Is OK!” Afghani says the firm was blasting consumers with as many as 4 million pieces of mail a month.
In answers to the complaints, Secured Funding denied wrongdoing. The company said it followed federal regulations when accessing “consumer reports” to pitch customers.
Lakers and Limos
Secured Funding’s attorney in the lawsuits, Richard Gottlieb of the Chicago office of Dykema Gossett PLLC, resigned in April, citing “irreconcilable professional differences” with Secured Funding. Gottlieb declined to comment.
This is a fascinating overview of the combination of greed, regulatory laxness, and financial insanity that made the real estate bubble possible.
