AG turns heat up on loan modification scammers

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon’s attorney general is stepping up to help homeowners, about to lose their homes, from companies that prey on them.

Attorney General John Kroger said his Financial Fraud and Consumer Protection Unit has “opened more than half a dozen investigations” into loan modification companies and hit two with sanctions.

To illustrate how these loan modification scams work take Rose Braden, who bought a house in Southeast Portland without a single hiccup.
    
But Kroger said the previous owner of Braden’s home, who is deceased, was sent a packet that read “Foreclosure Documents” on the outside. It was mailed by a Florida company, and on the inside of the packet there was an official-looking document about some type of "Fresh Start Program". It warned that "your home will be sold at public auction if you do not act now".

"These modification companies target people at their most vulnerable moment, and some of them provide a good service,” said Kroger. “But some of them are engaged in really deceptive tactics; some of them charge upfront fees which are illegal under Oregon law."

The attorney general’s office said another flyer was sent to the deceased owner from a California company called the National Homeowners Assistance Services Inc.

 It said: "Notice of Hud Rights" made to look like it was affiliated with a government housing and urban development program to help "stop foreclosure …”.

KATU News wanted the company, that boasts on its Web site that it is "helping to keep your house your home," to explain why the attorney general’s office said it’s using tactics that could confuse homeowners, and why it had to pay a settlement and change its practices.

During a phone call, a representative briefly got on the line and told a reporter to “get our information correct,” and to call him back with an apology. After being asked to present his side of the story, the representative hung up.

According to the attorney general, National Homeowners Assistance Services Inc. is required to pay $4,000 in legal costs and must alter the way it operates to continue to do business in Oregon.

Homeowners can often renegotiate their loans on their own without paying a company to do it. The Oregon attorney general has home mortgage councilors homeowners can talk to. Click on the below link for Oregon for the consumer hotline to get in touch with mortgage councilors.

You can find more information by clicking on the below links:

Home loan modification/foreclosure advice for Oregon

Home loan modification/foreclosure advice for Washington