South Florida Foreclosure Rescue Firms Operating With Impunity; Two Non Profit Law Firms Average 6-7 Foreclosure Rescue Cases Weekly

Foreclosure rescue operators are alive and well in Broward County, Florida, according to recent stories in The Miami Herald. One story reports:

• "[M]ore than a dozen other homeowners contend in interviews and court filings that two companies -- National Foreclosure Management and American Home Rescue -- promised to save them from foreclosure but sucked out their home equity through excessive fees, what they claim is a fraud known as equity stripping. Then, they say, the firms skipped out, leaving owners scrambling again to prevent foreclosure on new, higher mortgages."

George Castrataro, an attorney with Legal Aid Service of Broward County representing a number of alleged victims, said he found $532,000 in questionable closing expenses in a review of 12 National Foreclosure deals alone. In a deal involving American Home Rescue, the company ended up collecting a $66,331.80 "Servicing Fee'' from the homeowner.

According to Castrataro, between the firm he is with and its sister agency, Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida, an average of six or seven new equity stripping cases arrive in Broward County each week.

(Editorial Note: My guess is that if you include the equity stripping cases in neighboring Dade County arriving at the Legal Services of Greater Miami, another non profit law firm who handles equity stripping cases, the weekly number would at least double. And this doesn't include the cases being taken by private attorneys.)

For more, see:

• Foreclosure 'rescue' deals shackle homeowners (Homeowners who accepted help to avoid foreclosure have gone to court with claims that they were stripped of equity in their homes).
• $66,000 'servicing fee' gobbles much of owner's profit on sale (The buyer thought the seller was making the new mortgage payments; the seller assumed that the buyer was doing it).
• Homeowner complaints are similar: false promises, hefty fees.

For criminal prosecutors, see Foreclosure Rescue - For Criminal Prosecutors Only.