Comments on: United Title of Texas

By: chemiLisa

chemiLisa — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:53:14 +0000

UTT cashed my earnest money check over 6 weeks ago. I have filed a complaint with the TDI to no avail. I have contacted the fee attorney, Brenden Gowen, associated with my funds. His office would not even respond until I mentioned contacting the Attorney General of Texas, then a quick email with no answers. I have also contact First American Title, twice, with no results. I have contacted Pacific North West Title, parent company to First American, again, no answers. Someone is using my funds, but I’ll bet I will receive no interest on my money. Everyone contacted can tell by the trial balance, my earnest money was included, but strangely the funds have vanished. My realtor and my lender have been assisting me but they asked for my help because they can’t get anywhere, either. Good luck to all the UTT employees. We are all between a rock and hard place.

By: Candy Evans

Candy Evans — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:57:30 +0000

Please contact me via email.

By: anotherunemployed

anotherunemployed — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:46:14 +0000

how are those reporter(s) expose’s working out? I haven’t heard anything back from them.

By: UTTsucks!!

UTTsucks!! — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:36:06 +0000

To all the UTT employees that Mercury Company blindsided I feel your pain and wish the best for all of you!

I was laid off last December from one of the UTTCO San Antonio branch offices. For some reason I never was really upset about it. Now I feel blessed to have got out when I did. I had 15 years experience in the title industry as an escrow assistant and back-up closer and had never been laid off from a job until then.

Based on the way this all went down (the closing of the company, bankruptcy and the way the employees were treated) I wonder if the Mercury Company executives were trained by the Enron executives. When I was hired by UTT San Antonio I was told what deep pockets Mercury Company had and as it turned out all they had was high dollar furniture and no pockets!!!

Good luck to all of you!!

By: yo972

yo972 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:47:32 +0000

i am too a former employee of united title. i would love any kind of help to get my last paycheck!!

By: chili

chili — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:49:55 +0000

to all DFW Texas United Title employees. Candy Evans the reporter is going to help us get some publicity on this and help us maybe get our pay. If you are interested in speaking with her, please respond to me. She wants to sit down with us and get the story and guide us through the process.

By: chili

chili — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:27:07 +0000

Candy
Are you the reporter? Yes you could help, how can I call you?

By: chili

chili — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:30:26 +0000

anotherunemployed,
I have heard from some of the rest of us unemployed by United in Texas that the plan is for them to file bankruptcy and word from attorney’s in Texas are that we would probably be unable to get anything owed us. As well, the cost of retaining legal counsel would probably be more than we would ever get. I am sure that is what Hauptman is counting on. THIS TOTALLY SUCKS! Wonder what he mad on the deal with Fidelity.

By: Candy Evans

Candy Evans — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:45:23 +0000

Please feel free to email me if posting or writing about this can help anyone.

By: UTTowesusbig

UTTowesusbig — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:35:51 +0000

I own a small business in San Antonio, TX that serviced 6 branches of the United Title in San Antonio. This was our biggest customer, and now they are gone we are owed a ton of money.

I didn’t see this coming and now we don’t know how to handle it. If I get attorney it’s going to cost a min of $5,000. Is there any assets to even go after?

We can’t afford to looses more money, but I don’t want to walk away from all that’s owed to us if we can collect something.

By: anotherunemployed

anotherunemployed — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:52:24 +0000

has anyone contacted an employment attorney? I think that we (texas) could lodge a class action suit – please go look at http://www.pinkbunnyears.com Very enlightening. What about the WARN ‘act’ – seems like a good offense?

By: anotherunemployed

anotherunemployed — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:56:37 +0000

Svaldi, Aldo” is the person that is writing the boilerplate articles for the Denver Post.

“I’ve gotten a few e-mails on this and am planning to write something up. Where you can help me is finding employees willing to go on the record, maybe in different states. Do you know of any state labor departments going after Mercury. I’m about to send their PR person a query about why employees haven’t been paid given that the sale to Mercury must have generated some proceeds for the Hauptmans. I’ll read those links you sent. Thanks, Aldo Svaldi”

By: Title Co Looker

Title Co Looker — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:18:09 +0000

Fidelity has purchased the Colorado division of Mercury Companies. Another company Fidelity can bring down… wonder if they’ll do the same in Texas to compensate for all the employees they’ve laid off and for the ones that have jumped ship. You know, 5 of 7 of their employees in Preston Center (Chicago Title) left to go to another Title Co down the street… rumor is Fidelity has cut a lot of benefits (no 401k match, loss of vacation time, etc.)…

By: chili

chili — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:12:07 +0000

CONFIRMED, Fidelity did purchase Mercury Companies Colorado division of offices for an UNDISCLOSED AMOUNT OF MONEY. Jerry Hauptman would have the money to pay us all if he FREAKING CARED.

By: chili

chili — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:05:43 +0000

Noey,
I agree and I have heard the same rumor about the Fidelity purchase. I spoke with an attorney who basically said they will probably just file bankruptcy and the chances of getting paid would be slim. You could probably get a judgment but what good is that? I have made a personal decision to MOVE ON, and not let this take control over my life. I wish you well. It is a shame.

By: Noey

Noey — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:13:54 +0000

Chili, there will be no COBRA, as was discovered by one of my LFC – Simi co-workers today. We also found out that Fidelity has now acquired Mercury Companies. Does Fidelity know the amount of money that Mercury owes a lot of former employees? We’re all in the middle of filing wage claims for the Simi office, and the state has assigned a specific person to investigate all claims relating to Mercury. Aside from the Alliance complaints from last December, you now have LFC in Simi, ART in Rocklin and Irvine, plus all of the Financial Title offices… there’s a lot of claims out there in CA and I’m sure there will be a ton in Texas, as well. Not to mention the Longwood office in Florida and the offices in Denver. It’s a big huge mess. Yes, as I understand it, Bill Moody (LFC President) was trying to get LFC sold before Mercury did this, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. LFC was an AWESOME place to work, I was there for 4 years and never unhappy. I was scared and sad a lot over the last year due to the layoffs, but never an unhappy employee and I never blamed the “powers that be” for having to lay people off, it’s just the market. We were spoiled, I tell ya. Bill was in tears having to gather everyone up and tell us to go. LFC was doing fairly well and we all really felt we were going to pull thru, the month of July was picking up again and there was hope. Then BOOM, Mercury shut us down. If it was because of a poor market I would understand. But it seems as though we were shut down just to payoff another lawsuit that they lost… and now they’re not paying anyone. Shameful.

By: chili

chili — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:46:50 +0000

Megen,
Did you get your last pay check? Expenses reimbursed? Commissions due? Mr. Hauptman probably could write us all a check out of his personal funds. But he has not, so that is HOW MUCH HE CARES. To add to insult no one at Mercury will return my phone calls. It is pitiful that someone who CARES so much has made it impossible to obtain monies OWED. I am not asking for unused vacation, etc. Just what is OWED me. I had expenses out of my personal account that were spent to grow his business. You think I will ever see that money? As well, I have children starting school, and need money for clothes, school supplies, etc. I know that in one of the branches that closed there were two young women late in their pregnancies. Will they be able to afford the COBRA, if not no insurance company will cover them. Megen, you need to wake up. Your loyalty is very MISPLACED.

By: LEFT IN THE COLD

LEFT IN THE COLD — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:25:31 +0000

Megen…they could not hold on…bull…they held on long enough to get the money and run and leave everyone else in the cold. If that’s how they thought of their staff, you need to experience good management.

By: megen chow

megen chow — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:05:00 +0000

They could not hold on … there were NO lies (bee)! Marshall “typical mercery” please get a life. They are very respected and HONEST ! Remember this … they always thought of their staff! It is sad that you all just turn on the people who believed in you.

By: megen chow

megen chow — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:55:06 +0000

Cold to blame Jerry Hauptman ! This is the world we live in. lets recognize that Murcury co is family based and has been in business for 60+ years. It is awful everyone in this world thinks only of themselves. In the same boat but gally ! Don’t be so cruel. Management was always wonderful in my opinion.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:04:37 +0000

I’m feel so sorry for the people who have lost their jobs. I worked for UTT for 2 1/2 years. I got out in February when a better job offer came along. In my experience, while they had very good dedicated staff, management was a joke. I always got the impression they never cared about anything but how much money they were making. Yes, the last 2 division presidents had been in trouble at their last companies. I know one was in trouble for padding his expense report. Did things like putting rims on his hummer. The person approving his expense reports was his buddy and they both ended up at UTT. I still had friends at UTT with children to take care of. It’s not surprising to me at all that people aren’t getting paid what’s due to them. Typical Mercury.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:11:32 +0000

I have worked for LFC in Frisco for 3 years. Up until last year, they weren’t doing bad at all. Last year seems to be when things really went downhill. With the layoffs that happened last year and the people who left due to being scared, the Frisco office went from over 275 people down to 75. I got laid off in March of 2007, came back under a sister company, then got laid off again on 6/19/08. We were back up to approx. 90 employees the beginning of this year, but that number had dropped significantly by the time LFC shut down last week.

They also closed down All Reverse Transactions in California, which was a division of LFC. That was a pretty bad deal too, as all of the ART clients were senior citizens over 65 years old. I feel really bad for them as well.

And, to feed the gossip mill, here is another nice tidbit of information. LFC wasn’t losing money. They weren’t making billions or anything, but they weren’t in the hole either. The VP of the company, before being notified that it was shutting down, had found a buyer for LFC…and was told that it didn’t matter because bankruptcy papers had already been filed. No final paychecks or vacation pay have been made. Also, somebody who had quit about 2 weeks prior and hadn’t cashed their check yet…tried to cash the check after the shut down and it bounced.

Even weirder, people are being told that if they file they can expect to be paid unemployment. It remains to be seen if that actually happens, but personally, my unemployment hasn’t been stopped…I’m still receiving it.

By: Bee

Bee — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:55:30 +0000

I am an ex employee of UTT HOU. I started with UTT back before we had furniture in the offices. I know our Division President believed every word that came from his mouth regarding UTT and all its promises. He was far from a reject from another Title Co. but a respected man who had watched other companies hire and layoff one too many times. Mercury promised to be different. THey were all about the people. We all busted our butts to make UTT HOU a huge success. We did not fail…..Mercury failed us with all its lies. I know that we all were left in bad situations, but I REALLY believe that this is a blessing in disguise. Something good will come of this! Karma is powerful thing – watch out Jerry & Patty!

By: Noey

Noey — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:17:14 +0000

Don’t know about anyone else, but LFC employees are being told they won’t be paid for their last 2 weeks of work because “LFC has no money” (told this by Mercury Companies). Aside from the fact that, per CA state law that is illegal, it is unethical and Hauptman will have a huge issue on his hands. It’s so sad, LFC was a great company to work for, the employees loved their jobs and worked hard. To Diane, I feel for you, I really do. It killed us to leave files sitting there knowing people’s homes were at stake. A disgrace.

By: chili

chili — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:49:10 +0000

Diane,

Whichever state you are in contact the States Department of Insurance, or the Mercury Companies in Denver Colorado. It will work itself out, in time. Good Luck.

By: Diane

Diane — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:53:18 +0000

The closing of Lenders First Choice came 1 day after closing for me. My sellers mortgage has not been paid and no one has answers. I have a mortgage payment due on September 1st though, and the seller still holds the keys to my new house! What to do?

By: Bird

Bird — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:09:05 +0000

Chili,

That deal is dead and i have knowledge of the innerworkings of that and it would have been a good deal. The division president we worked with was not let go from another company. he left a huge one to work with UTTCO and he got hosed just like the rest of us. it was not texas that brought this company down. UTTCO was doing pretty well. Mercury could not survive the other states being so horrible.

By: Bird

Bird — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:06:54 +0000

Truth

The $500k was left for the last 2 days of the month idiot.

By: Shari Hamm

Shari Hamm — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:16:23 +0000

I am a ex UTTCO employee in Houston and we were told we would get our paycheck before we left the office that day…and then told no the day after that. I’m trying to get money out of my 401K to make rent this month, that too has been a nightmare. I am now an unemployeed single mom in need of a job. We had the best of the best at that company because so many at UTT were stolen from their old job and offered the best of money and benifits and then all in an instant, it’s gone.

By: chili

chili — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:10:28 +0000

Tom,
If the Presidents in Dallas were spares that were let go from other companies, wonder why they were expected to run a division? Wonder why they think they can slap together another deal and be successful? Again, all I can say to anyone looking for industry jobs, I would STAY AWAY! The rumor is that they are going to move back into the existing office spaces, put a new BRAND SIGN on the door, and try to pick up where they left off. Most of the people I worked with are committed individuals and very good at what they do, but I worry, if they continue to buy into the vision of the Division President’s. I wish them all luck and hope they can weather the storm. To any consumer’s that are in this mix, BEWARE!!!!! Bottom line is those of us who are unemployed because of this are upset, but the realtors, buyer’s, seller’s and lender’s who cannot get their deals closed, money from the company, are really in a BIND! The Mercury Companies should have given us a day or two to finish out our business. I would have happily stayed and finished my deals out without pay. I JUST DON’T GET IT!!