Consumer complaint received 2020-02-24
Company: HOPE BANCORP, INC.
State: NV
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Regarding SBA Loan # XXXX XXXX I am writing for your assistance. I am hoping you can push the Office of the Inspector General at the Small Business Administration to release me from the {$2.00} XXXX  debt, lien, foreclosure, and wage garnishment and offer a Pardon from the debt. I am seeking relief from this SBA Loan debt due to the sellers criminally fraudulent actions, the SBA lenders criminal negligence, and negligence on the part of the SBA itself. My complaint of XX/XX/XXXX and later complaints finally got the attention of the Office of the Inspector General at the SBA long after the statute of limitations to file criminal charges against the seller. But the criminally negligent actions of the bank and the SBA have not been properly addressed. The Inspector General closed the case and ceased collection and wage garnishment actions several years ago in XX/XX/XXXX but to this day I have a {$2.00} XXXX dollar lien on my home and I can not get business loans to start or purchase a new business due to this lien and the threat of collections still exists. On XX/XX/XXXX I received 20+ foreclosure notices for my home and request for me to pay {>= $1,000,000} within the next 90 days from the bank. The bank has been paid in full by my payments of {$500000.00} in principal plus {$200000.00} in interest and loan fees and by the SBA Loan guarantee of {>= $1,000,000} paid on XX/XX/XXXX. I have been a successful businessman most of my professional life. Now I can no longer pursue this career path due to the actions of an admitted criminal and the criminal fraud and negligence of the Bank. Meanwhile my family is suffering financially and emotionally. The summary below sites exact pages and paragraphs of the SBAs SOPs to show the negligence and crimes on the part of the SBA and XXXX XXXX  and I sent detailed information and the documents to back this up to the Inspector General many years ago in XX/XX/XXXX. My hope with this was to make their job extremely easy. Anyone of the numerous blatant violations of the SBAs SOPs should release me from the debt. It is NOT a hard decision at this point. The proof is there. Thank you for your help with this. 
BACKGROUND : In XX/XX/XXXX my business partner and I purchased a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Franchise with an SBA loan through XXXX XXXX  and a line of credit through XXXX XXXX XXXX. When the business was sold to us, the seller, XXXX XXXX of XXXX, Ca., and his business broker, XXXX XXXX , grossly misrepresented the business and its earnings and expenses. In XX/XX/XXXX in a mediation proceeding, XXXX XXXX openly admitted to FRAUD and agreed to assume the business and ALL of its debts. There are multiple witnesses including attorneys and former employees of XXXX XXXX  SBA department who were present when XXXX admitted to fraud and agreed to assume the business and its debts. There are also documents prepared by a forensic CPA that show how XXXX double counted his earnings, and understated expenses. XXXX did pay off the remainder of the {$800000.00} line of credit to XXXX XXXX XXXX but failed to pay XXXX XXXX, the SBA Lender. It later came to my attention that XXXX XXXX  also committed fraud. XXXX XXXX wanted to work with XXXX XXXX as they are a large business brokerage firm. Our loan from XXXX was the first of many bad loans they made to XXXX XXXX clients to gain that relationship. I have also been told by insiders that there is a paper trail of illegal commissions paid to XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX  in relation to this and other loans. Due to their criminal actions, bad loans, and gross negligence XXXX XXXX  has changed its name 5 times in the past 10 years. It has been XXXX XXXX, BBCN Bank, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and now Bank of Hope. 
FRAUD AND NEGLIGENCE ON THE PART OF THE SBA LENDER AND SBA : Small Business Administration ( SBA ) Standard Operating Procedures ( SOP ) require that a lender request a seller 's tax return transcript using the form 4506T when funds are sought to purchase an existing business. See SOP 50 10 5 ( F ), page 185. From my communications with the SBA and with XXXX XXXX, the seller 's income statements and tax transcripts of the three years prior to the sale are not a part of the loan file. XXXX XXXX  claims they obtained the necessary tax transcripts from the seller, but they are not in their loan files or the loan files that are in the possession of the SBA or  Department of Treasury. I have a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX of the SBA stating the files do not contain the tax transcripts. BBCN  / XXXX XXXX  has sent me the entire loan package in response to my complaints with the FDIC. The only documents contained in the Budget Loan docs file are : The Note, the Unconditional Guarantees, the Agreement to Provide Insurance, Corporate Resolution to Borrow/Grant Collateral, Hazard Insurance Disclosure, Business Loan Agreement, Commercial Security Agreement, Deed of Trust, and Assignment of Trust Account. 
Therefore, there is no Lender Credit Memo, no Seller Tax Transcripts, no reconciliation by the lender of any discrepancies in the tax transcripts and the financial statements of the seller, no certification of franchise document, ( see SOP 50 10 5 ( F ) page 195 ), and no lease for the second premises on XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX in XXXX, Ca. ( See SOP 50 10 5 ( F ) page 194, lease required for guaranty application ). This location is specifically mention on page 1 of the Business Loan Agreement yet no lease exists for it. These documents are not in the SBA or Department of Treasury files either. Their non-existence is a valid basis upon which to deny liability on the guaranty. Additionally, this lack of documentation is in itself a violation of SOP. See current SOP 50 10 5 ( F ) page 10 requiring a 7 ( a ) lender to maintain complete loan files.

Failing to obtain these documents significantly impacted the funding of this loan. For example, if the lender obtained the tax transcript or the second lease they would have been able to see that the business should not have been valued at {$2.00} XXXX. 
On the other hand, if the Lender 's agent, XXXX XXXX, did obtain the Seller 's tax transcripts and he failed to review them as required, and the transcripts show that the Seller was grossly misstating his adjustable net cash flow, and the business 's profitability, then the Lender failed to follow standard SBA lending procedures. See SOP 50 10 5 ( F ), pages 185-186, requiring a Lender to compare the tax transcript with the financial statements of the Seller to see if a significant discrepancy exists, and to delay the disbursement of funds until the discrepancies are sorted out. The SBA can deny its liability on a guaranty where a Lender disburses proceeds before a discrepancy is resolved.

In the U.S. Small Business Administration Authorization ( SBA 7 ( A ) Guaranteed Loan ) form it is written on page 9 item 48. Guarantee on SBA Form 148, by XXXX XXXX XXXX aka XXXX XXXX, resident of California. 
A. Third Deed of Trust on land and improvements located at XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX  CA XXXX. This property is residential. 
This is my property and XXXX XXXX had no authority of any kind to guarantee my property for this loan. Therefore this foreclosure, lien, and entire loan guarantee are null and void and an act of criminal fraud. 

XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX  promised that we would be able to use {>= $1,000,000} of the SBA loan as a revolving line of credit to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have a list of vehicles that I can provide that were subject to this agreement. 13 CFR 120.30 provides that the SBA loan proceeds may NOT be used for floor plan financing, or other revolving lines of credit. Obviously, no XXXX XXXX company keeps cars long term so there was clearly no other purpose for the {$1.00} XXXX and the cars listed in the loan documents. 
Authorization, issued by the SBA for this loan, says that the guarantee is contingent upon the Lender complying with Form 750, the SBA Loan Guarantee Agreement. Because of the numerous violations of Standard Operating Procedures, XXXX XXXX  did not comply with Form 750 's requirement that the Lender comply with SBA Rules and Regulations. Therefore the guarantee was not operative. I have just pointed out at least 4 ways  XXXX XXXX  did not comply with SBA SOPs. Any one of these is a basis on which to deny my liability for the guaranty. XXXX XXXX  paid {>= $1,000,000} to a criminal in my name without my consent. Any documents I may have signed consenting to the loan were contingent upon the Bank and the SBA following the specific rules of the SBA and the bank did not do that nor did the SBA itself follow its own rules. Therefore I did not consent to the funding of this loan nor did I guarantee the loan. I have made several Freedom of Information Act requests for the documents over the years and again just recently from the SBA and requested them from the bank several times. Neither has been able to provide the documents in question because they do not exist and were not created or reviewed as they should have been. XXXX XXXX  has had 5 name changes over the past 10 years to avoid dealing with their crimes and bad loans and criminal loan practices. They have been XXXX XXXX, BBCN Bank, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and now Bank of Hope. Bank of Hope is turning all of its old loan accounts over to collections and foreclosure specialists in one more attempt to steal from myself and many other victims. This information is all verifiable through a simple Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) request. 
Another discrepancy is that XXXX XXXX has already paid {$500000.00} in principal plus {$200000.00} in interest and loan fees and I have 2 letters from the SBA stating that they honored their loan guarantee and paid {>= $1,000,000} to XXXX XXXX. Yet I am still being charged for the full {>= $1,000,000} plus penalties and interest. XXXX XXXX  also has a separate {>= $1,000,000} lien on my property which XXXX XXXX of XXXX explained in her letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, was for a {$100000.00} line of credit that was paid in full in early XX/XX/XXXX. Yet they have not removed the lien. I believe the lien was for the SBA loan which they were paid in full plus interest and loan fees that XXXX XXXX paid and the loan guarantee that the SBA paid. Therefore the lien should be removed in either case. Between the {>= $1,000,000} SBA collections and the {>= $1,000,000} lien XXXX has, they are effectively charging me {>= $1,000,000} for a {>= $1,000,000} debt that I dont even owe. I also have an email dated XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX, their SBA representative, that states, the SBA is scrutinizing all my past files as well as current. I am out of compliance Finally, we paid {$53000.00} to have an SBA Loan guarantee which XXXX XXXX  claimed was to protect us, but instead it protects the bank and causes us further damages. I am asking to be released from this debt and it should be charged back to XXXX XXXX  and its successors. 
My family and my children are being punished for the crimes and negligence of others. We are financially insolvent and can not afford this wage garnishment, debt, or lien. We will lose everything as we are already struggling to make ends meet. Though I do not owe this debt, I have made three attempts at an Offer in Compromise. All three were completely ignored. My numerous complaints over the past 13 years to various agencies including the FBI, CIA, DRE, FTC, FDIC, DRE, SBA OIG and numerous other agencies and inspectors general have gone unnoticed and without investigation or response. I was told that it took hundreds of complaints to numerous agencies before anyone investigated XXXX XXXX. I am just one person and my family being victimized. There is far too much evidence that I am right to ignore and no evidence that I am wrong. I recently reported this to several TV news organizations. I am going to publicly expose the Bank and the SBA for this injustice. Please stop this wage garnishment, remove the lien from our home, and release us from this debt. I DO NOT OWE THIS DEBT. 
Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX, NV XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation