Cordray Targets Bogus Mortgage Rescuers

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Topics: Politics, Other
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The Ohio Attorney General is taking another mortgage servicing company to court for profiteering off of homeowners facing foreclosure.

The Attorney General continues to target mortgage servicing companies - mostly from out-of-state - that have partnered up with financial institutions that have large real estate portfolios and little stake in communities.  The latest is Barclays Capital Real Estate, doing business under the name HomEq Servicing.  It’s based in New York and provides loan modifications in Ohio and other states under the federal Home Affordable Modification Progam.  In a suit filed Wednesday, Cordray accuses HomEq of issuing loan modification agreements with fine print terms that are unfair and illegal in Ohio, and with providing inadequate, incompetent customer service, often not returning phone calls or responding to repeated inquiries. 

It’s the third such lawsuit Cordray has filed this year.  This one was filed in southern Ohio’s Montgomery County.  Another against Carrington Mortgage Services was filed in November in Franklin County.  The first - against American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc, filed back in July - is pending in Cuyahoga County.  Cordray says other lawsuits involving loan modifications may follow. 

Bill Rice, 90.3.