A little nervous about a potential scam, any bankers?

M

Maci

Confused about dryer sheets
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
6
I am selling a fifth wheel to an individual through FB Messenger. He is out of Colorado, we are in AZ. Everything so far seems legit, he sent an RV inspector, and made an offer.
Now comes the part I’m leery about. He is financing and the institution is called rock solid funding.com. We do not owe anything on it ourselves. Once I send them info they require like the VIN, make & model, copy of title, etc they say next step is:
E- Notarize limited Power of attorney.
— In a moment, you will receive an email from Notarize.com to conveniently and securely complete your limited POA online, with a live notary, at no cost o you.
— This limited POA is strictly for use once your sale with the buyer is complete( upon transfer of possessions and / or funds). It allows Rock Solid Funding to handle the title transfer to your buyer.

1. Is this standard procedure to request the POA?
2. Is this a legitimate company, I see a presence for them online, but when we tried last night and again today, we can’t pull up their website, nor do emails go through to the lending officer.
3. When we called the phone number supplied, we did speak to someone, he says to send email to finance my trailer. com. That email didn’t go through either.

Anyone have experiences with these folks, or opinions on the request POA. That makes my husband very nervous. This could all be very on the up & up, just didn’t want to be naive.

Thanks!
 
Never heard of them. Are they coming to you to pick up the vehicle? Maybe you should finalize docs and stuff at that time, and collect your cash.
 
We are actually going to put the fifth wheel in storage for the buyer, then he is sending out a transport vehicle in April. So no, there will be no face to face meeting.
 
It does sound a little sketchy. But if you get paid in December or January and they don't get it until April, that sounds OK. Just don't hand over the vehicle until you have cash
money in hand and they can't get it back.


Maybe someone else will see a hole in that idea.
 
I don’t understand why the OP needs to sign a POA. If a third party is involved it would be the buyer not the seller, who needs one.
 
The POA may not be concerning but IDK about the company. I seem to recall some sort of POA when I totaled the car and the insurance paid out the loss.

I don't think I'd give anything to a place without a website. I'd just find a different buyer.
 
How badly do you want to sell to this guy. Exceptionally good price? Trailer for sale for a long time with no takers? etc. If no strong reason to do the deal, maybe pass?

For some reason their web site comes up with blank pages in both FF and Edge. Maybe temporary? It might be a good idea to have your attorney or CPA pull a Dun & Bradstreet report on them. Also check TX Better Business Bureau.
 
Maci said:
We are actually going to put the fifth wheel in storage for the buyer, then he is sending out a transport vehicle in April. So no, there will be no face to face meeting.
Click to expand...
Well that makes things a little less tense IMO. If you hold the property until you are properly paid and documents are to your satisfaction the risk is much less. I would watch out for a last-minute change of schedule, though, if it would see the property down the road before you are satisfied and paid.

I sold a car one time and the guy paid cash but talked me into taking his personal check for the last $100. Check bounced of course.
 
I believe POAs are pretty standard in car sales. We sold a car to a dealer and the dealer asked us to sign one. I don't see the big deal if it's limited to just dealing with that particular vehicle.

Fwiw if you do a whois search that website was first established in 2004 so apparently it's not a brand new business!?
 
I would be nervous too.

I'm thankful that we didn't have to worry about this when we recently sold our truck and travel trailer. The buyer had visited us at our house and gave us a nonrefundable deposit.

On the agreed upon date we (DW and I in separate vehicles) drove 1-1/2 hours to the buyer's bank and he got a bank check made out to me in my presence from the teller. I endorsed and deposited it to my brokerage account using my phone and got an immediate confirmation from my broker.

DW and I then signed the title over to him. We then followed him a couple miles to his house and went through with him how to set up the travel trailer, gave him the keys, and answered all his questions and went home.
 
OP, I pulled up all three websites you mentioned with no problem. They look professional, but maybe get some references from other sellers at an RV blog site?
 
https://www.rocksolidfunding.com/solution/rv-loans/
comes up fine for me in Chrome and Firefox.

Very good Google reviews, and a lot of them. At a very quick glance they look like they could be legit reviews, but you are the one with skin in the game so you need to examiner more closely. Terrible reviews (but only a small number) at Yelp, almost all from people whose loans applications were rejected.

A+ rating by Texas BBB https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/colleyvil...d-funding-llc-0825-235980267/customer-reviews but plenty of negative comments. I did not bother to read but you should.

I wonder if some of your troubles are due to using spaces for web URLs. And "finance my trailer. com" is not an email address and won't get sent to anyone. If I type that in a web browser without spaces it takes me to rocksolidfunding.com. You need to get a real email address in the format of "something@finance.mytrailer.com or something@rocksolidfunding.com. Call back and ask and make sure you get it in that format.

If your inexperience with doing stuff over the web has you feeling uneasy, turn down the offer, but you may find yourself with limited buyers if looking for more conventional methods.

It's been way too many years since I've sold anything of value to a private buyer so I have no more advice, but it was really easy to find most of the info you are looking for.

I think you'd have a lot more response if you had put "selling an RV" in the title of this thread rather than just generically talking of a scam. There are a lot of RV people here and if this is a legit site most likely some have bought or sold through it and can share their experiences, good or bad.
 
RetiredAndLovingIt said:
Bad reviews at BBB and if you can't even get an e-mail though to them sounds way to scammy to me.

https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/colleyvil...d-funding-llc-0825-235980267/customer-reviews
Click to expand...

Bad reviews are not the same as a bad BBB rating. Anyone can write a review and bitch about them. Maybe they have bad credit and were turned down for a loan and are angry. They are pretty clear that you need a 575(?) or higher credit score.

The A+ rating tells me that few if any people have actually filed a complaint with the BBB that the BBB has determined was legitimate and showing bad or misleading business practices.

Still, the bad reviews should be considered, but by looking at the actual reviews, not the 3.68/5 rating. Which isn't really that bad considering that people who didn't get what they want are much more likely to leave a bad review than people who had a normal transaction leave a good review.
 
I found Rock Solid Funding's web site working fine. The website looks convincing. I asked Bing (Chat GPT4) about them and it reported:

"I can help you with that. According to the reviews on Trustpilot, Rock Solid Funding has a rating of 5 stars out of 5 based on 882 reviews 12. The reviews suggest that the company provides fast and efficient service, and the customers are happy with their experience.

I did not find any reports that suggest that Rock Solid Funding is a scam. However, please note that my search results are current as of the time of this conversation and may not be up-to-date."​

That is not dispositive, but it sounds good. I would check out Trustpilot before proceeding.
 
Does he get to see your information from notarize.com? Or are you sharing anything about you other than the wheel with him? This is different but we got scammed trying to sell our True treadmill (expensive but too big for our new house) to a military person from a different state. He/she, I'm still not sure, seemed legitimate, and many e-mails about shipping and payment were exchanged. The scam part I think was the check sent to us for shipping was from a Wells Fargo Bank, which looked very legitimate. The shipper was to come and pick up the treadmill after we deposited the check. I think at the time it took a couple of days for a check to be verified. But we didn't deposit the check and the shipper came (years ago I probably have some details confused). And we didn't give them the treadmill. The check was fake. All he got from us was our address and e-mail.

This was a big scam going on at the time with Wells Fargo's fake checks. I read about many others on Snopes.com. That website used to have online scams, now it's just a bunch of silly media scams.
 
Maci said:
I am selling a fifth wheel to an individual through FB Messenger. He is out of Colorado, we are in AZ. Everything so far seems legit, he sent an RV inspector, and made an offer.
Now comes the part I’m leery about. He is financing and the institution is called rock solid funding.com. We do not owe anything on it ourselves. Once I send them info they require like the VIN, make & model, copy of title, etc they say next step is:
E- Notarize limited Power of attorney.
— In a moment, you will receive an email from Notarize.com to conveniently and securely complete your limited POA online, with a live notary, at no cost o you.
— This limited POA is strictly for use once your sale with the buyer is complete( upon transfer of possessions and / or funds). It allows Rock Solid Funding to handle the title transfer to your buyer.

1. Is this standard procedure to request the POA?
2. Is this a legitimate company, I see a presence for them online, but when we tried last night and again today, we can’t pull up their website, nor do emails go through to the lending officer.
3. When we called the phone number supplied, we did speak to someone, he says to send email to finance my trailer. com. That email didn’t go through either.

Anyone have experiences with these folks, or opinions on the request POA. That makes my husband very nervous. This could all be very on the up & up, just didn’t want to be naive.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Just to put your mind at ease ask them who the check will come from (a bank?). Then you can call the bank and get a reference as to how the account has been handled. They will not give you a balance but just tell you it is in good standings. If the check is from some place you have not heard of I'd worry. But overall it sounds legit. As an ex-banker ive made these calls many times. Just tell them you only need to ensure it is legit.
 
Franklin said:
Just to put your mind at ease ask them who the check will come from (a bank?). Then you can call the bank and get a reference as to how the account has been handled. They will not give you a balance but just tell you it is in good standings. If the check is from some place you have not heard of I'd worry. But overall it sounds legit. As an ex-banker ive made these calls many times. Just tell them you only need to ensure it is legit.
Click to expand...

We ended up calling Wells Fargo to verify the check was legit and they verified it was not.
 
Sounds sketchy to me and proper due diligence can't be overstated enough. So many scams going on these days and nothing beats a good face to face, cash in hand deal. IMHO anyways.
 
frayne said:
Sounds sketchy to me and proper due diligence can't be overstated enough. So many scams going on these days and nothing beats a good face to face, cash in hand deal. IMHO anyways.
Click to expand...

+1

I'm most likely going to be selling my class B campervan in the New Year. I plan to be quite discerning about who I sell it to, requiring that -

1) They see it in person first, and pay a $500 deposit to secure it.
2) They wait a week before we finalize the deal, and provide proof that they have secured insurance on the vehicle that begins the day they buy it.
3) We meet in person on the day of purchase, at a bank, where the funds will transferred directly into my account. No payments, no trades - just cash payment in full.

This is how the feller who sold it to me did the deal. I was so keen to buy it, that I was happy to meet his requirements. Anyone who is not prepared to fulfill these criteria is either financially unstable, or not a serious buyer.
 
Major Tom said:
... Anyone who is not prepared to fulfill these criteria is either financially unstable, or not a serious buyer.
Click to expand...
Or is maybe like me, with limited patience for getting jacked around by a seller.

It's your product, you get to set the terms of sale. The market will tell you whether your proposed terms are acceptable or not. Same story on price. You set a price, the market tells whether it is acceptable or not.
 
I know nothing about reselling trailers, and I'm not an attorney. But this sure sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through. The buyer should do all the hoop jumping. You as the seller should basically only have to do only 3 things: prove you're the oner, sell the item as it is described, and receive a legitimate payment. If I were the OP, I'd pass on this transaction.
 
OldShooter said:
Or is maybe like me, with limited patience for getting jacked around by a seller.

It's your product, you get to set the terms of sale. The market will tell you whether your proposed terms are acceptable or not. Same story on price. You set a price, the market tells whether it is acceptable or not.
Click to expand...

Fair point, OldShooter. I have never been anything less than honest with a buyer. I post detailed pictures and descriptions of everything I sell, and am very transparent about an item's condition - both the good and the bad points. Hopefully, this engenders confidence in the buyer, and helps them to realize that I am straightforward and honest in my business dealings with others. If anything, this might even put some off, as I tend to go into a lot of detail when describing an item to a would-be buyer.

Similarly, I have always had good luck with the people I have bought things from. I like to think I have good judgement of character, though it might well be just good luck (so far). I am cautious about who I trust. So far, it has worked out *fingers crossed*.

mystang52 said:
I know nothing about reselling trailers, and I'm not an attorney. But this sure sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through. The buyer should do all the hoop jumping. You as the seller should basically only have to do only 3 things: prove you're the oner, sell the item as it is described, and receive a legitimate payment. If I were the OP, I'd pass on this transaction.
Click to expand...

I'm inclined to think the same.
 
Last edited:
I have not done this but I can see what they are trying to do...


If you trade in a car then the dealership takes 'ownership' of that vehicle and can sell it and sign the title...


This is not what you are doing... you are having a middle man make sure the transaction is legit... the buyer wants to make sure you have clear title and that it will be signed over to them after they pay... you signing a POA for this third company to sign FOR YOU on the title it takes some concern of the buyer that you might not do so after getting the money... since they are not ever taking ownership of the RV they could not sign that title without the POA...



I so not see anything that is fishy about it as long as the company is legit...
 
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