Investor Problems With Mortgage Company

* Referring to your article about Univest Home Loan (Univest Investors Reeling After Alleged “Betrayal,” Nov. 20), I had a similar experience with another mortgage company. In one second trust deed I invested $17,500. Since that time I had to make additional contributions of over $20,000, to pay bills and for repairs. At the time I first invested, I was told trust deeds were a good investment, that I didn’t have to worry; no one had lost money there. After we lost our money, a former vice president told me and another investor, “We pay high interest because you take a risk.” When I told her that we should have been told that when we first invested, she said, “I don’t own the company--I just worked there.”

There should be a law passed, saying that when there is a risk, no matter how small, investors have to be told. Yet in their ad, they said we could invest with confidence, that nobody had ever lost money there. No mention of the risk. We later got a letter from the president after they went out of business--thanking us for placing our trust with them.

C.R. GREENLEE

Glendale