Expert: Michael Brotherton - 11/16/2008

Question
Hi i have a major problem. i live in West Virginia. we opted to have our basement finished through a well known company. our salesman told us we were not approved for enough to cover the total costs. he advised  my husband and i to get a "cosigner". so we talked to my mother in law and she agreed to be a cosigners. she filled out a credit application for one potential lender BUT what we did not know was our salesman took the information and transferred to another application through a different company where my mother in law is NOT the cosigner but the only person on the loan and he signed all pertinent info re: interest and payments amount. he told us verbally what it was over the phone. we had no reason not to believe him, except stupdity!!! regardless, the job is finally complete after going around with the company we hired and several subcontractors they hired. we would never had agreed to the terms that salesman took upon himself to bestow us with. he had no right to sign anyones to anything. my mother in law does not live with or even own a home. we are trying to work with the financing company and they have admitted that they have had problems with this salesman but just want their money. can they put a lien on my house since that is where the work is done even though our names are not on the loan? what can we do? please any advice would be great.
thank you

Answer
Yes, they can place a lien against the property since it is the subject property; however I would be proactive and send a letter by certified mail to the company who contracted with you as well as the finance company advising them that unless concessions are made to correct this salesman's indiscretion you will be filing a complaint with the State Attorney General, the BBB, and the Dept. of Commerce. I have seen these things many times over the years with unscrupulous salesman. If the salesman signed documents and/or altered the contract or filled in the blanks after the fact something needs to be done about it. These are illegal acts that need to be prosecuted. File a police report for fraud and see if the DA will pursue criminal prosecution against the salesman.

You may also want to seek legal counsel and consider filing suit against everyone involved. The finance company does not like negative publicity and will likely make concessions. If you make enough noise you can get them to take corrective measures to make things right. Threaten to go to the media and expose their unscrupulous practices. And don't just make a bunch of hollow threats, follow through with your threats. Your mother in law will need to get involved in filing any complaints as well. She is also being damaged here.

Don't take this laying down. Be aggressive and take action now. Don't delay. Any delay may give them the upper hand.

I hope this helps.