February 2010

ConsumerAffairs.com has also received a number of complaints about debt settlement companies. Kathleen, of Tollhouse, California, reported last November she had problems dealing with a company called Guardian Credit Solution. “We paid them $4490.00 to do a loan modification, which [...]

Have an idea for a small business but not sure where to get the funding to get it off the ground? The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Community Express pilot program might be the answer. The decade-old pilot program uses non-bank [...]

Disbarred in1988 after he was convicted and sentenced to prison for felony theft from a client, Marvin Earl “Toby’’ Alback got his law license reinstated a little over a decade later. But now the 62-year-old is an ex-lawyer again, having [...]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former real estate appraiser was sentenced to four years in federal prison in a mortgage fraud scheme. Barry Westergom, 60, was sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office [...]

Rose has been claiming that he has special rights to direct American Mortgage Home Servicing as to how it can modify loans and sell off foreclosed homes. Carrington’s motive was spelled out in an investigative feature story at HousingWire last [...]

WEST PALM BEACH — The extent of the nation’s housing crisis was tangible Thursday morning. It stretched the length of one side of Palm Beach County’s Convention Center as hundreds of homeowners, wrapped in blankets and travel-weary after flying from [...]

All are members of a South Florida Mortgage task force. Its job: stop mortgage fraud that affects your neighborhood, the value of your home, even if you’re not directly involved. Those nabbed run scams leading to foreclosed homes and that [...]

A mother of two special-needs children is at her wit’s end trying to get her home loan modified, hoping she’s not another statistic in a years-long foreclosure nightmare. Watch the KCRA video here.

“The number of referrals has been overwhelming, with more than 346 referrals to date,” says the report, an update on the special unit approved last year. ”The vast majority of referrals have been direct from victims or real estate professionals to the [...]

NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Sanjiv Ranjan Das, a professor at California’s Santa Clara University, last fall attacked the problem of “underwater” mortgages often cited as an Achilles’ heel to the U.S. housing market. He had a special fan: [...]

“The bank hasn’t listened. They have been very threatening all along,” she said. “I would call them and say I’m willing to pay exactly what I owe. Just make it a little bit easier. It’s a tough economy right now.” [...]

As many Americans spiraled deeper into financial disrepair last year, a record number of consumers fell victim to companies seeking to profit from their misfortune, according to the federal governments consumer complaints report released Wednesday. In this video, FTC Consumer [...]

Title Company Owner Arrested on Mortgage Fraud and Money Laundering Charges Was a Fugitive for Almost a Year BALTIMORE, MD—Daniel E. Fink Jr., age 43, of Baltimore, who owned and operated Homemaxx Title & Escrow LLC (Homemaxx), a title company [...]

Police say a Palm Desert businessman who pleaded guilty to taking part in a $150 million mortgage scam has hung himself. 47 year old Christopher Oetting was found dead in a home on Sagewood Drive in Palm Desert Tuesday, according [...]

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANNA McELANEY, 38, a licensed real estate agent residing in Norwalk, pleaded guilty today before United States Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport to one count [...]

Lawmakers and regulators are desperately hoping that a strong economic rebound will stimulate job growth, consumption and demand for the commercial real estate that banks continue to hold. But let’s be real: There isn’t enough time on any clock to [...]

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller sued a California mortgage relief company, alleging violation of Indiana’s deceptive consumer sales act. The lawsuit, filed this month in Allen Superior Court, is not the only one pending against Home Relief Services LLC, which [...]

FORT WORTH — A former loan officer at a local mortgage company was sentenced last week to 3½ years in federal prison and ordered to pay $751,075 in restitution for faking mortgage documents sent to the U.S. Department of Housing [...]

PHILADELPHIA—Anthony Forte, 43, of Glen Mills, PA, was sentenced today to 28 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,259,032.14 in restitution for conspiracy, loan fraud, and bank bribery. Forte’s brother, David, 39, of Prospect Park, PA, was sentenced to [...]

Goal is Improved Resolution of Problem Loans – Partners Include Wide Range of Civic and Community Leaders  WASHINGTON, DC — In the first of a series of planned nationwide Mortgage Help Centers, Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) announced the opening of a [...]