Re: Loan Mod scammers are giving loan mods a bad name
Posted by steele in minnesota on December 29, 2008 at 07:44:05:
In Reply to: Re: Loan Mod scammers are giving loan mods a bad name
Posted by FP on December 28, 2008 at 14:39:50:
Well, yes, an attorney background is one of the most common among lawmakers. But actually very few professions are contingent fee oriented. It's the exception rather than the rule. As a Realtor I am used to it, as are most of my mortgage broker colleagues. And contingent fee arrangements are, by basic marketing principals, always more expensive than "pay as you go".
But it is not a matter of lawmakers deciding that attorneys and doctors can charge the latter. That is the market. Same is true for real estate agents and mortgage people. Ingrained custom, not statute. Well, actually there are some areas where there are statutory limitions on how real estate agents can charge. But by and large a real estate agent could charge by the hour as opposed to a commission. It's just the public (and other real estate agents) have done the contingent fee thing for so long they don't want to consider alternatives. Even if it saved money. I know as I have offered alternative fee arrangements for 15 years. They have been used less than a dozen times.
But I digress.
The interesting thing here is that lawmakers in their infinite wisdom are imposing fee arrangements on something that should be defined by the market. You are absolutely right. Where else do law makers tell a business group the conditions in which they can charge a fee? If success determined payment for attorneys we would see lawsuits dramatically drop.
Oh, there is one segment of the attorney population that does work on a contingent fee based on success. Accident and class action :>)
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