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The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

Legal Aid Stops Illegal Foreclosure Eviction, Recovers $1,400 For Los Angeles Couple

Posted on February 27, 2009

Foreclosure Public Notice Lists Incorrect Address; Crowd Flocks To Wrong Home

Posted on February 27, 2009

Milwaukee Legal Aid Exposes $600K+ "Sewer Service" Racket By Local Landlord

Posted on February 26, 2009
From the website of the Legal Aid Society Of Milwaukee:An African American couple came to the Legal Aid Society with a $5,100 judgment against them. They stated that they had never received notice of the case. Attorney Colleen A. Foley launched an investigation...

"Triple Damages" Award When Foreclosing Lenders Forcibly, Unlawfully Enter Home Resultings In Personal Property Loss Gains Steam With Nevada Lawmakers

Posted on February 26, 2009
In Carson City, Nevada, The Associated Press reports:A proposed 1-sentence law change, approved Wednesday by a key Assembly panel, would help homeowners who face errors by mortgage companies of the sort that cost a Las Vegas family irreplacable personal possessions...

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Debate On Judicial Role In Loan Modifications Continues

Posted on February 26, 2009
The National Law Journal reports:Congress and the president have been immersed in attempts to solve the economic and housing crisis. Will judges soon take their turn? President Obama's recent proposal to address the rising tide of home foreclosures calls for legislation to allow bankruptcy judges under Chapter 13 of the bankruptcy code to modify the terms of home mortgages when families run out

Loan Modification Firm Engaged In The Unlicensed Practice Of Law, Says Florida AG

Posted on February 26, 2009
In a recent lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, he accuses loan modification firm Outreach Housing with, among other things, engaging in the unlicensed practice of law in the conduct of its business activities. He describes the loan modification firm's activities in this regard as follows:Attorneys licensed in Florida enter into an agreement with Outreach Housing which

Virginia Lawmakers Revise Statute Prohibiting Upfront Fees By Loan Modification, Foreclosure Rescue Firms; Bill Awaits Governor's Signature

Posted on February 26, 2009
In Petersburg, Virginia, The Progress-Index reports:The General Assembly has passed a bill tightening the rules for companies that offer to help struggling homeowners. [...] Last year, the Legislature passed a law meant to stop widespread abuses in the foreclosure-rescue industry, including the practice of charging an upfront fee for services...

Senate Committee Hearings On Foreclosure Rescue, Debt Management, Credit Counseling Scams

Posted on February 26, 2009
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a full committee hearing on Consumer Protection and the Credit Crisis and enforcement against fraudulent credit repair schemes under the Credit Repair Organization Act (CROA).The Committee examined consumer protection in credit counseling, debt management, and foreclosure rescue programs and fraud...

Foreclosure Rescue Leaves Former Homeowner On The Hook For Unpaid Mortgage

Posted on February 26, 2009
In Johnston County, North Carolina, MyNC.com reports on the experience of a local homeowner facing foreclosure with a local foreclosure rescue operator:Karen Harms lives in Johnston County. She lost a job months ago, and got behind on her house payments...

Senate Commerce Committee Hearing On Loan Modification, Foreclosure Rescue, Debt Reduction Scams To Be Held Today

Posted on February 26, 2009
In Charleston, West Virginia, The Charleston Gazette reports:[T]oday in Washington, [Senator Jay] Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is devoting his first full hearing as the new chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to [debt-related, consumer] scams. He plans to introduce legislation to stop a rising tide of con artists who are preying on people in economic distress...

Equity Stripping Victim To Stay In Home Pending Outcome Of Civil Case Alleging Fraud Against Recently-Indicted Foreclosure Rescue Operator

Posted on February 25, 2009
In Honolulu, Hawaii, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reports:Whatever happened to Debbie Aurelio and her family, who lost title to their Ewa Beach home and faced eviction after allegedly being swindled by mortgage scammers?Aurelio and her family have been able to stay in their home, after the Legal Aid Society [of Hawaii] staved off eviction proceedings...

State Bar Probe Looks Into Attorney's Role With Embattled South Florida Loan Modification Firm

Posted on February 25, 2009
Buried in a recent article in The Miami Herald on some of the homeowners who were allegedly victimized by Outreach Housing, a South Florida loan modification firm that is currently the target of a lawsuit by the Florida Attorney General, is this excerpt on an attorney who allegedly had some association with the modification company:[Blair] Wright, Outreach Housing's owner, blamed an attorney

New Jersey Couple File Suit After Loan Servicer Screw-Up In Handling Mortgage Payoff Results In Damaged Credit Score

Posted on February 25, 2009
In South Jersey, the Gloucester County Times reports:When Paul and Heidi Wexler sold their West Deptford Township home two years ago, they made their final payment to the mortgage company and thought that was it. Some six weeks later, however, they learned something was amiss after being denied store credit to purchase furniture for their new home in Florida...

CNN On The Lee County, Florida Foreclosure "Rocket Docket"

Posted on February 25, 2009
On the heels of the recent stories in The Wall Street Journal and CBS News (here and here) on the Fort Myers, Florida Foreclosure "Rocket Docket," CNN comes out with its own coverage of the Southwest Florida court blasting away at the backlog of foreclosure cases...

Another Call For Right To Counsel In Civil Cases

Posted on February 25, 2009
In a recent op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, Clare Pastore, a law professor at the USC Gould School of Law and a former legal services lawyer, offers her views on a right to counsel for the indigent in civil cases:[E]very day, Americans without access to legal counsel unnecessarily lose homes, jobs, retirement benefits, healthcare and custody of their children...

?Produce the Note? Approach Also Effective In Non-Judicial Foreclosure States

Posted on February 25, 2009
The Consumer Warning Network reports:In some states, a lender can foreclose on your home without going to court. These are called non-judicial foreclosure states. You can still use the ?Produce the Note? strategy in these states, but it takes a few more steps on your part...

Miwaukee Moves Towards Establishing Foreclosure Mediation Program

Posted on February 25, 2009
In Miwaukee, Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:Plans are in progress for a foreclosure mediation program to help Milwaukee residents keep their homes, Mayor Tom Barrett announced today. In his "state of the city" address, Barrett pledged $100,000 of city money toward the program, which he estimates will cost a total of $300,000 or $400,000...

ABC News On The "Produce The Note" Approach To Holding Foreclosing Lenders' Feet To The Fire

Posted on February 24, 2009
ABC News' Good Morning America broadcast a story this morning on the "Produce The Note" strategy of hammering sloppy lenders and their attorneys attempting to foreclose on homes without first establishing in court that they have the legal standing to do so...

Delinquent Debt Lawsuits Keeping Process Servers Busy

Posted on February 24, 2009
In Las Vegas, Nevada, KLAS-TV Channel 8 reports:With foreclosures at an all time high in Nevada, those who serve foreclosure notices have been busier than ever. In some cases, letting people know they are about to lose their homes has turned into a dangerous job for process servers...

Another Meth Nightmare As Recent Homebuyers Walk Away From Home After Discovering Toxic Residue In Home; Leaves Lender With Contaminated Collateral

Posted on February 24, 2009
In Grapevine, Texas, the Fort Worth Star Telegram the story of the Rodriguez family, whose purchase of a home last October quickly turned from a dream into a nightmare:It didn?t take long for them to regret their purchase. Just weeks after they moved in, their dog, Bruin, started having seizures and had to be put to sleep...

Anatomy Of An Equity Stripping, Sale Leaseback Foreclosure Rescue Scam

Posted on February 24, 2009
An appellate brief filed a couple of years ago in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals tells the story of Maria Wilson, a Washington, D.C. homeowner who was victimized by foreclosure rescue operators Vincent Abell and Calvin Baltimore. The narative gives a step-by-step description of how Abell And Baltimore expropriated Wilson's home from her for practically no consideration...

Maryland Feds, State, Local Law Enforcement Form Mortgage Fraud Task Force; Bogus Foreclosure Assistance Firms Among The Targets

Posted on February 24, 2009
The Washington Post reports:Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein yesterday announced the formation of a task force linking federal, state and local agencies in the fight against mortgage fraud, a group whose goals will include seizing assets from scam artists and paying restitution to victims...

B'klyn Judge Slams Brakes On Another Foreclosure As "Standing-Lacking" Lender Fails To Prove Ownership Of Note, Right To Sue

Posted on February 24, 2009
In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Post reports:Aquila Rose got a $475,000 mortgage from Fremont Investment & Loan for her Flatbush home in January 2007 and made exactly one payment before defaulting. When Fremont started a foreclosure action on Oct...

Multi-Billionaire Not Immune To Bad Economy; Seeks To Wiggle Out Of $634M Home Purchase Contract; Asks For His $49M Deposit Back

Posted on February 24, 2009
The New York Post reports:No one is safe from the housing mess - not even a billionaire Russian oligarch. Moneybags Muscovite playboy Mikhail Prokhorov has been hit so hard by the worldwide economic downturn that he's trying to back out of a deal to buy the world's most expensive mansion on the French Riviera...

Wachovia Hit With Class Action Over Option ARMs; Suit Calls Mortgage A "Neutron Bomb That Will Kill All The People But Leave The Houses Standing"

Posted on February 23, 2009
In a Federal District Court somewhere in Illinois, The Madison County Record reports:A class action lawsuit has been filed against three financial corporations, including banking giant Wachovia, alleging Illinois homebuyers were forced into negative amortization after the banks deceived them when they issued option adjustable rate mortgages...

CBS News On Upfront Fee Loan Modification, Foreclosure Rescue Scams

Posted on February 23, 2009
The CBS News' The Early Show ran a story last week on loan modification, foreclosure rescue scams that are proliferating across the country. Interviewed for the story was Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and one Illinois homeowner facing foreclosure on her condo who wound up getting clipped for $2,000 from a company that approached her with a solicitor who appeared at her front door...

Connecticut AG Probes Loan Modification Firm Allegedly Masquerading As Reputable Non-Profit Clipping Homeowners For Upfront Fees For Bogus Help

Posted on February 23, 2009
From the Office of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal:Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep Joe Courtney [Thursday] announced an investigation -- and issued an urgent warning to homeowners -- about so-called mortgage rescue deals that may actually cost consumers their homes...

Florida AG Vows Continued Pursuit Of Firms Collecting Upfront Fees From Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

Posted on February 23, 2009
From a recent newletter from Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum:My office has seen a substantial increase in the number of scams based on offers to modify homeowners' loans or rescue them from impending foreclosures. Last year I worked with our Legislature to pass a new law protecting consumers from foreclosure rescue fraud, and my Mortgage Fraud Task Force has already sued several companies

Traveling Foreclosure Defense Seminar Featuring Florida Legal Aid Attorney To Make "Broadway Debut" Next Month

Posted on February 23, 2009
The New York Post recently ran a story on Florida foreclosure defense attorney April Charney from Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, who is traveling the country spreading the word on a well publicized strategy(1) for hammering lenders and servicers in foreclosure actions...

Ponzi Schemes, Ski Masks, Uzis & The "Standing-Lacking" Foreclosure Interlopers

Posted on February 22, 2009
In Jacksonville, Florida, The Florida Times Union recently ran a story that contained this observation about foreclosing lenders from attorney April Charney, head of foreclosure defense with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid:[B]anks, investors, securitized trusts filled with home loans, rating organizations and others - all, according to Charney, were involved in and continue to facilitate a Ponzi

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