Chapter 3 - THE CHARGE THAT LED TO THE LOAN APPLICATIONThe failed payment was $7,850.
It was scheduled to go to Ridgecrest Residential Design.
Brandon had already paid them $12,000 over the previous three months.
From our joint checking account.
I found that while sitting on the edge of Skylar’s bed.
There were other charges.
$1,975 to an appraisal company.
$680 for preliminary title research.
$3,400 to a permit consultant.
Nothing illegal about those businesses.
The question was why they were working on my property without my knowledge.
I called Ridgecrest the next morning.
The project manager sounded confused.
“Mrs. Bennett? We thought you were traveling.”
“I was working.”
“Right. Brandon said you were difficult to reach during the medical-device rollout.”
I sat very still.
I was regional operations director for a medical-supply company in Ontario.
Brandon knew my schedule down to the nights I would not answer personal calls.
“Did I authorize this project?”
“Brandon is our client contact.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He paused.
“We have no signed construction contract from you.”
Good.
“Do you have any signed loan paperwork from me?”
“We’re not the lender.”
“Who is?”
He gave me the name listed in the folder.
Inland Crest Private Lending.
I called them next.
They would not discuss Brandon’s entire file with me without verifying identity and authorization.
They could confirm one thing because I owned the property being proposed as collateral:
No lien had been recorded.
No loan had closed.
No mortgage document bearing my signature existed.
My breathing loosened slightly.
Then the loan officer said:
“We had understood you intended to join the application at closing.”
“Based on what?”
“Mr. Bennett represented that you had agreed in principle.”
“I didn’t.”
Silence.
“I’m documenting that now.”
Good.
Then she asked:
“Are you also saying you did not authorize the household income information he provided?”
My stomach tightened.
“What income information?”
Brandon had supplied my salary.
My annual bonus.
The estimated value of my retirement accounts.
The approximate equity in my house.
Not secret information to a spouse.
But used in a financial proposal I had never seen.
I ended the call and immediately downloaded our bank statements.
That was when I found another inconsistency.
During the previous year, nearly $48,000 had moved from our joint account into an LLC called:
HB Coastal Ventures.
I knew neither H nor B stood for Charlotte.
I searched California business records.
The managers were:
Brandon Bennett.
Hailey Bennett.
Brother and sister.
The company had been formed fourteen months earlier.
Brandon had never mentioned it.
My first serious consequence was suddenly obvious.
I was not dealing with one extravagant dinner.
May you like
I had a husband who had been committing marital money to a business with his sister while simultaneously preparing to borrow against my house.
I needed help before I confronted him again.
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