foreclosure defense

OREGON BANS TWO CALIFORNIA LOAN MODIFIERS

California companies Noah Savings Mortgage, Inc. and Liberty Law Firm, Inc. must also pay restitution to Oregon consumers.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger today announced two settlements that will provide refunds to Oregon homeowners and prohibit two connected Orange County California companies from doing further loan modification work in Oregon.

“This office is committed to stopping abuses in the mortgage industry that harm Oregon consumers,” said Deputy Attorney General Mary Williams.

The Oregon Department of Justice investigated allegations that Noah Savings Mortgage violated state law by collecting advance fees for loan modifications aimed at preventing foreclosure sales. The investigation also looked at allegations that Liberty Law Firm solicited to collect advance fees for loan modifications. Both companies cooperated with the investigation.

The settlement with Noah Savings Mortgage resulted in $6,500 in full refunds to two Oregon consumers. The company also must pay $5,000 to the Oregon Department of Justice and cease doing loan modification work in Oregon. The settlement, in which Noah Savings Mortgage admits no wrongdoing, was filed today in Linn County.

The settlement with Liberty Law Firm prohibits the company from doing modification work in Oregon. If any Oregon consumer complaints arise before August 20, 2010, Liberty Law Firm must pay restitution to those victims and $5,000 to the Department of Justice. Liberty Law Firm admits no wrongdoing; the settlement was filed today in Marion County.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Thomas K. Elden handled the case for the Oregon Department of Justice.

Oregonians should watch out for loan modifiers who ask for advance fees over $50 and check to see if a loan modifier is registered. Foreclosure consultants and loan modifiers cannot take advance fees in Oregon. Loan modifiers must register with the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services through the Division of Finance and Corporate Securities.

The Oregon Department of Justice and the Department of Consumer and Business Services work together to uproot abuses in loan modification.

For help with a loan modification problem, contact the Department of Justice through the consumer hotline: 1-877-877-9392, or website: www.doj.state.or.us, or consult an Oregon lawyer. To check if a loan modifier is registered, contact the Division of Finance and Corporate Securities at http://www.cbs.state.or.us/dfcs/.

Oregonians can call 1-800-SAFENET to find a nonprofit foreclosure consultant who will provide help at no charge.

Attorney General John Kroger leads the Oregon Department of Justice. The Department’s mission is to fight crime and fraud, protect the environment, improve child welfare, promote a positive business climate, and defend the rights of all Oregonians.

foreclosure defense

Hazelton Management/The Carley Group took money but failed to provide promised help

A Charlotte foreclosure rescue operation, which previously operated in Colfax, NC, is barred from collecting any money from consumers for foreclosure assistance or loan modifications, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Friday.

“Foreclosure assistance schemes rob North Carolina homeowners of hard-earned money that they could use to save their homes,” Cooper said. “My office will continue to go after outfits that violate the law by charging an upfront fee for their service.”

On Thursday, Wake County Superior Court Judge Cressie Thigpen agreed with Cooper’s request to temporarily bar Reginald Keith Turner, who did business as Hazelton Management and The Carley Group, from offering foreclosure and loan modification services. Cooper is seeking to shut down Turner’s foreclosure assistance business permanently and win consumer refunds and civil penalties.

Read more here: http://ncdoj.gov/News-and-Alerts/News-Releases-and-Advisories/Press-Releases/AG-Cooper-cracks-down-on-foreclosure-assistance-ou.aspx

foreclosure defense

Is this what Jerry Brown wants to do to legitimate loan modification firms?

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS NOT SUITABLE FOR THE OFFICE AND CONTAINS VIOLENT IMAGES

foreclosure defense

Loan Mod Problems Finally Hit Homeowners in Michigan

Greta Guest, Detroit Free Press

The federal government’s loan modification program, intended to help people save their homes by lowering payments, remains mired in long waits, denials of permanent modifications and shockingly large bills at the end of failed trial modifications.

One homeowner owed more than $21,000 after his lender denied him a permanent modification, even though his income was the same as when it approved a temporary modification.

“They string me along for nine months. These are nine months I’m getting further behind,” said Patrick Dinunzio, 61, of Romeo.

In Michigan, 30,625 loan modifications were completed in April, down 9% from March. There are roughly 90,727 Michigan homeowners eligible for loan modification, according to Free Press calculations.

“Our focus now is on improving the homeowner experience and holding servicers accountable for their performance,” Phyllis Caldwell, chief of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Homeownership Preservation Office, said last week. By July, the eight largest loan servicers will need to report more information to the government, including homeowner experience.

“The story is always the same,” said Adam Taub, a consumer attorney based in Southfield. “They are stringing people along by telling them not to make payments or having them make reduced payments and then denying the home loan mod. Then people are even closer to foreclosure.”

Lenders, for their part, say they are trying to help distressed borrowers.

Is a deal with the bank the best way to go?

Past a pheasant ranch, assorted McMansions, crop fields and 2 miles of bumpy dirt roads, Dinunzio anxiously awaits the fate of his 1901 farmhouse in Romeo.

Dinunzio, 61, an artist and laid-off machinist, has lived with his wife, Ilene, in the 109-year-old white house on 24 acres for 17 years. Two refinances and a job loss pushed him toward a loan modification.

The temporary modification cut his $1,720 monthly payment to $697, based on his income. It lasted nine months, even though government guidelines call for a three-month trial period.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100523/BUSINESS04/5230457/1318/Long-waits-denials-plague-efforts-to-modify-mortgage

foreclosure defense

Free programs ease homeowners’ burden

Greta Guest, Detroit Free Press

Thousands of distressed Michigan borrowers are frustrated over the long waits to get a loan modification.

But homeowners don’t have to go it alone. There are dozens of free programs to choose from. And yet too few people who are having trouble making mortgage payments are reaching out for the free help available, housing counselors say.

Jamele Hage, executive director of the Wayne County Foreclosure Prevention Program, said her counselors do what it takes to resolve a borrower’s case. The average loan modification takes six months to two years to resolve.

“We know … what the law says,” she said. “If it gets escalated, I will escalate it all the way to the U.S. Treasury for people.”

The program is among several that are either taxpayer-funded or nonprofit, such as GreenPath Debt Solutions, creditcounselors based in Farmington Hills. A full list can be found at Web sites for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

Counselors work with lenders

John Hoffa, 57, got a permanent loan modification on his Brownstown Township home with the help of a foreclosure prevention program.

So much free help is available to people, but many don’t reach out to get it.

Hoffa, whose great-uncle is the late union leader Jimmy Hoffa, said he’s unemployed but works on a contract basis with a former EDS colleague who started a computer salvage company.

Read more here: http://www.freep.com/article/20100524/BUSINESS04/5240340/1318/Loan-help-is-free-few-seek-it-out

foreclosure defense

Cal Bar yanks 7 licenses

San Francisco, October 21, 2009 — The State Bar’s loan modification task force announced today that it obtained the resignations of three California attorneys as a result of misconduct related to their loan modification activities. It also placed another attorney on inactive status, charging his work poses a threat to the public, and has undertaken similar efforts against two other lawyers.

In addition, James Parsa [#153389], a southern California lawyer who extensively advertises his loan modification work, resigned today. He faced interim suspension from practice as a result of a 2001 misdemeanor conviction for sex with a child under 18 that he never reported to the bar.

Parsa, 44, has advertised heavily throughout California for the past several months, offering to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Although he provided evidence to the bar that he was in fact working on cases, an investigator uncovered two 2001 misdemeanor convictions for sex with an underage girl. The bar court ordered that Parsa be placed on interim suspension. His resignation will make the suspension moot.

The State Bar created a 10-person loan modification task force in March after receiving thousands of calls from homeowners complaining that lawyers have done no work after taking fees purportedly to help avoid foreclosure. The task force has 738 active investigations underway.

Last month, it released the names of 16 attorneys it was investigating for possible misconduct related to loan modification. Four of the six who resigned or face inactive enrollment were on that list. “We are very pleased that we have been able to remove these practitioners from the practice of law quickly in order to protect the public,” said Interim Chief Trial Counsel Russell Weiner.

Until recently, attorneys were able to legally accept advance fees from borrowers for residential loan modification work and other forms of mortgage loan forbearance services. Lawyers’ services were in demand by foreclosure relief companies and operators that could not otherwise receive payment until contracted or promised loan modification work was completed. However, on Oct. 11, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB 94, which prohibits attorneys and any other persons from collecting an advance fee for residential loan modification and mortgage loan forbearance services. The measure took effect immediately. Details about the new law are at the Department of Real Estate home page, www.dre.ca.gov.

The attorneys who resigned from the State Bar are:

• CAMERON EDWARDS [#222549], Alliance Law Center in San Diego, resigned Sept. 25.
• RONALD RODIS [#181873], of Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group in Newport Beach, resigned Oct. 13.
• JEFFREY NEMEROFSKY [#213014], U.S. Advocacy Law Group and U.S. Financial Products, in Laguna Niguel, resigned Oct. 16.

The three are ineligible to practice law pending a California Supreme Court order accepting the resignations.

Those the bar is seeking to place on involuntary inactive status for posing “a substantial threat of harm to (their) clients or the public” under Business & Professions Code §6007(c) are:

• PAUL LUCAS [#163076], of Lucas Law Center in Aliso Viejo. The State Bar petitioned to put him on inactive status Sept. 21; Lucas did not reply to the petition and the State Bar Court has taken the matter under submission.
• SEAN RUTLEDGE [#255938], of United Law Group in Irvine, has a hearing Oct. 23; the bar filed its petition Sept. 22. The bar earlier charged him with seven counts of misconduct in handling a loan modification for a client who paid an advance $3,500 fee. Rutledge never took any action to negotiate with the client’s mortgage lender, the bar charges.

In addition, CHRISTOPHER L. DIENER [#187890], of Irvine, principal attorney for Home Relief Services LLC, was placed on inactive status Oct. 9, due to the State Bar Court judge’s finding that he poses a substantial threat of harm to his clients and the public.

Attorney General Jerry Brown sued Diener last summer and accused him of telling homeowners he and his company would act as sole agent and negotiators and directed the homeowners to stop contacting their lender. None of the known victims received a loan modification with the company’s assistance. Brown accuses the company and Diener of bilking thousands of homeowners out of thousands of dollars each.

Founded in 1927 by the state legislature, the State Bar of California is an administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, serving the public and seeking to improve the justice system for more than 80 years. All lawyers practicing law in California must be members of the State Bar. By October 2009, membership reached more than 223,000.

foreclosure defense

FL AG & FL Bar Give $84k Legal Aid Society of Orange County To Open Foreclosure Clinic

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum and The Florida Bar Foundation today awarded $84,000 to the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, Inc. to be used for a new foreclosure defense assistance program. The program is funded by money obtained by the Attorney General through a settlement with Countrywide Financial. A total of $4 million will be available over two years to fund additional lawyer and paralegal positions devoted to providing free assistance to homeowners facing foreclosures who cannot afford legal defense.
 
“With these funds, we can provide direct legal assistance to Central Florida homeowners trying to save their homes,” said Attorney General McCollum.

The Florida Bar Foundation received $2 million from the Attorney General’s Office to distribute in the form of annual grants. The grants will vary in amount depending on the number of foreclosures in a particular area. A total of $2 million is available for distribution this year, and another $2 million will be available next year.

“With this critical funding from the great work of Attorney General McCollum and his staff, the Orange County Bar Association’s Legal Aid Society will be able to fund a Foreclosure Clinic staffed by an experienced housing attorney to provide free legal advice to Central Floridians facing foreclosure,” said Heather Rodriguez, President of the Legal Aid Society. “We are truly thankful for the hard work and aggressive advocacy of Attorney General McCollum and his commitment to use the funds received from this settlement to improve the lives of all Floridians.”

According to the Legal Aid Society, there were 11,315 new foreclosure cases filed in Orange County in 2007. In 2008, the number of new foreclosure cases more than doubled to 26,131, and experts project there will be 40,000 new foreclosure cases filed in Orange County alone in 2009.

Orange County residents who need legal assistance to avoid foreclosure may contact the Orange County Bar Association’s Legal Aid Society at 407-841-8310 or visit the website at http://www.legalaidocba.org. Assistance is also available in several languages, including Spanish and Creole.

More awards for the foreclosure defense program will be announced later this week throughout the state.

foreclosure defense

Nevada Lawyers Under Fire For Foreclosure Mediation Practices

Brian Wargo of the Las Vegas Sun wrote an interesting article in Friday’s edition about Nevada’s new mediation law for people facing foreclosure.

The Nevada legal community is getting behind a new mediation program designed to reduce the state’s ongoing foreclosure problem, but some attorneys are facing criticism for trying to profit from it.

As of July 1, homeowners who receive notices of default from their lenders have 30 days to seek mediation. So far, more than 450 homeowners have requested mediation, which could begin by late August or early September, said Bill Gang, spokesman for the Nevada Supreme Court, which is overseeing the program.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug/21/foreclosure-filings-catch-flak/

foreclosure defense

Cal Bar Continues Blood Thirsty Pursuit of Shady Mod Lawyers! 3 More Nabbed!

San Francisco, August 12, 2009 — Continuing its aggressive pursuit of lawyers who commit professional misconduct by taking advantage of vulnerable homeowners, The State Bar of California announced today that it has obtained the resignations of two lawyers and filed charges against a third for their loan modification activities.

The State Bar’s special team on loan modification complaints coninues to investigate more than four hundred active complaints from consumers about lawyers’ roles in loan modification scams.

The team, comprised of six investigators and four attorneys in the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel, led by Supervising Trial Counsel Suzan J. Anderson, is working with local prosecutors, the office of the Attorney General of the State of California, and the California Department of Real Estate.

Among the State Bar’s recent results:

• On August 3, State Bar prosecutors obtained attorney Christian Dillon’s (Bar No. 89376) resignation with charges pending. At that time, Dillon was under investigation for consumer complaints received by the bar regarding his affiliation with USMAC Law Group. Dillon has been enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar and is ineligible to practice law pending a Supreme Court Order accepting his resignation.
• On August 4, State Bar prosecutors obtained attorney Nabile Anz’s (Bar No. 183324) resignation with charges pending. Anz ran the Federal Loan Modification Law Center in Irvine. In July the bar had filed in the State Bar Court an application to have Anz enrolled involuntarily inactive, alleging that Anz abandoned clients who retained Federal Loan Modification Law Center by failing to perform on behalf of those clients, closing Federal Loan Modification Law Center without any notice to clients and failing to return unearned fees. Along with the resignation, the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel filed in the State Bar Court a Stipulation whereby Anz admitted the misconduct alleged in the application for involuntary inactive enrollment. Anz has been enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar and is ineligible to practice law pending a Supreme Court Order accepting his resignation.
• On August 5, State Bar prosecutors filed an application against attorney Christopher Diener (Bar No. 187890) who was affiliated with Home Relief Services, to have Diener enrolled involuntarily inactive. Bar prosecutors allege that Diener misrepresented the scope of his services to clients, collected advanced fees from clients under false pretenses, and failed to perform any services to obtain a loan modification on behalf of his clients. A hearing on that application is scheduled for August 28 in State Bar Court.

“The State Bar of California is firmly committed to its mission of protecting the public,” said Interim Chief Trial Counsel Russell Weiner. “As long as the need exists, this office will continue to devote substantial resources to the investigation and prosecution of attorneys who lose sight of their ethical responsibilities and take undue advantage of desperate homeowners under the pretense of helping them with mortgage loan modifications.”

Founded in 1927 by the state legislature, the State Bar of California is the administrative arm of the California Supreme Court in bar admissions and discipline matters, serving the public and seeking to improve the justice system for more than 80 years. All lawyers practicing in California must take and pass the California bar exam to become licensed to practice law in California. By August 2009, membership reached more than 223,000.

foreclosure defense

Class Action Status OK’d for Suit Against Florida Lawyer Doing Mods

A judge in Palm Beach County, Florida is allowing a lawsuit against Attorney David J. Stern be elevated to a class action by a homeowner who retained him to perform a loan modification and claims Mr. Stern did not perform.  According to the article, it could affect up to 2,500 homeowners.  You can read the article from the Miami Herald which originally appeared in the Palm Beach Post:

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/real-estate/story/1175688.html