Can a roofing contractor do this?

Question

My mother's house needed fairly major roof repair. She is a senior. A contractor offered to fix the roof, and stated she would be able to make monthly payments. Contractor provided my mom with the forms to obtain financing to have the work done (as an unsecured loan). We checked with the BBB, and they checked out okay. Both my brother and I looked over the contract, and everything looked fine. The contract also stated no payments for 6 months. So, she filled out the bank form and signed the contract. Now, almost 3 weeks later, the job is like 95% done, and we get a call from the contractor's head office advising us that the financing was not approved. So now what?? My mother could get a mortgage through her own bank...but it seems unethical for the contractor to have started the work when the financing wasn't even approved. It was the contractor that suggested the financing, and who provided and submitted the credit app. Had we known sooner, we could have canceled the contract

Answer 1

I really don't see anything either unethical or illegal. She was offered something that's the equivilent of "store credit", but I'm sure there's a line in the application and the contract that it's contingent on approval of her application. The fact that he started the work before the application was reviewed is really him going out on a limb. If her credit was poor (and he had no way of knowing ahead of time) then he's purchased all of those materials and will have to pay all of those workers and risk not getting any reimbursement for it at all. HE was the one taking the risk.

Did she really need the work? If yes, then she knew she needed to pay for it. Did she contact him or did he contact her? You said that you and your brother reviewed the contract, so you must have agreed that she needed the work done. So how is that a scam?

Really, I think you're upset that someone declined your mother's application. But at the very least I'm sure that she can get a reverse mortgage and not even worry about this at all. So just go to another lender and deal with it.

Answer 2

Your mother is primarily responsible for knowing whether her credit is good or not. The contractor had no way of knowing that. Just because they line up the financing does not mean they can promise the bank will be willing to loan the money.

She needs to see if she can get credit elsewhere, and let this contractor know ASAP that she might not be able to pay him. If she can't, he will have to put a workman's lien on her property.

A mortgage through her own bank would be better anyway. It would be tied to the value of the house, which will increase when the roof is repaired, and the interest rate would be lower than what some bank would charge for a personal loan.

Answer 3

Was the contract for repairs signed? That alone acts as a lean and can be foreclosed upon.
GET A LOAN from the bank ASAP.

Answer 4

Tell the contractor you're going to file a complaint with the attorney general of your state. If he's legit he'll do someting to make it right real quick. Works everytime for me.

Answer 5

I agree this is unethical and well just wrong. Call your local legal aid and see what they can do. It certainly can't hurt. They knew she didn't qualify. I am curious if they will then offer her another line of credit at a high rate. Good luck

Answer 6

firstly search on web about all things .the contractor does it is very unethical do you all the proper documents.then you consult with legal advisor or debt consolidation.

Answer 7

debt consolidation

if someone wants to get out of debt today it is pretty easy with a debt consolidation plan
however it may get a bit tricky at times, I suggest you get as much information as possible online on this first,

a good place to start in my humble opinion is:

http://umgarticles.atspace.com/debt-consolidation.htm

Answer 8

Do you have a hard copy?
This sounds like you have been scammed by the contractor.