Spokane7
50°Quick links: 2012 graduating seniors • Summer camp guide • Jobs: The Road Ahead • Prep sports • News quiz
Posts tagged: scams
The Idaho Department of Finance is warning that a mortgage-modification scam is targeting Spanish-speaking Idahoans, promising to lower monthly mortgage payments but instead just charging an upfront fee of $1,995. The company is calling itself Freedom Companies Inc., Freedom Financial Mortgage, and several other names containing the word “freedom.” “This company, using the term ‘freedom’ in its name, asks homeowners for private financial information, charges an unlawful upfront fee, and then leaves already distressed homeowners worse off than they were before,” said Gavin Gee, director of the Department of Finance. “That’s not ‘freedom;’ that’s a scam.” You can read Gee's full news release here.
Idaho homeowners are being targeted in a scam in which notices that look like government forms are mailed to them or posted on their doors, inviting them to join lawsuits against their mortgage lenders and claiming they can get large principal reductions or other monetary relief. “The scam is a pretext to collect an unlawful $5,000 upfront fee from homeowners,” said Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “The representations in the solicitations are false and are designed to prey on vulnerable homeowners. My office is currently investigating this company.” The company called Corvus Law Group; click below for the attorney general's full news release and consumer alert.
Scammers from Canada have been targeting Idaho seniors, posing as grandchildren who have run into trouble while abroad and need money wired right away; three Idaho families have fallen for the scam in the past two weeks, the Idaho Attorney General's office reports, and lost thousands of dollars. “You may think that you wouldn’t fall for these scams, but they’re designed to catch you off guard,” said Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “Con artists play on your fears to make you do things you wouldn’t normally do.” Click below to read the full “Consumer Alert” Wasden issued today.
With two lawsuits pending against Kootenai County mortgage modification services and several other investigations ongoing statewide, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden is calling on Idahoans to beware of companies that offer to help those facing home foreclosures - for an up-front fee. “Most of the time, the people operating modification companies are unqualified and unlicensed, with no experience in the mortgage industry,” Wasden said. “Even if their initial intentions are noble, they soon discover they cannot fulfill the promises they made to consumers. Inevitably, the company closes or files bankruptcy, and homeowners are left in a worse position than before they contacted the company.”
Anyone having trouble paying their mortgage should contact their lender directly, the attorney general said. Homeowners who have difficulty negotiating a modification can get help from a nonprofit housing counselor; information on the process is available in a new free brochure from Wasden’s office. The brochure, “Foreclosure Prevention and Foreclosure Scams: How to Tell the Difference,” is available online at www.ag.idaho.gov, or by calling toll-free (800) 432-3545.
Wasden recently filed a lawsuit against APS Northwest Idaho LLC, a Kootenai County mortgage modification company, for numerous violations of the Idaho Consumer Protection Act. He’d earlier filed a similar lawsuit against Coeur d’Alene-based Apply 2 Save, which is now in bankruptcy, and reached a separate settlement with a former Apply 2 Save executive.
“This year we’ve received more complaints about companies that offer mortgage modification services than any other type of business,” Wasden said. He encouraged Idahoans to report any instances of foreclosure rescue fraud to his office and the Idaho Department of Finance; both agencies have complaint forms on their Web sites. The Department of Finance Web site is http://finance.idaho.gov.
999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201
P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210
Main switchboard: (509) 459-5000 • (800) 338-8801
Newsroom: (509) 459-5400 • (800) 789-0029
Customer service: (800) 338-8801
© Copyright 2012, The Spokesman-Review
Terms of use • Privacy policy • Copyright policy
