ABC's Good Morning America On Foreclosure Rescue

Good Morning America did a story on foreclosure rescue on Tuesday featuring an Illinois homeowner and the problems she faced.

• Dorothy Galbreath lived in a house her husband of 43 years built for her in University Park, Ill., but after his death, she struggled financially to keep up with the mortgage payments. Facing foreclosure, Galbreath accepted the offer of a company that she said contacted her to help with her mortgage difficulties. "'Mrs. Galbreath, don't you worry. We're going to save your home,'" Galbreath said Alternative Options, the company offering aid, told her. Now Galbreath is without her beloved home, and she believes Alternative Options took advantage of her. "I still can't put it into words. It's like a feeling of being crushed," the former homeowner said. "This is 43 years just wiped away, just like it was never there. All my life [was] wiped away like it never existed." The Illinois attorney general's office said Galbreath's deal showed all the signs of a mortgage rescue scheme.

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• When Alternative Options initially approached Galbreath, she believed it would help her refinance her home, but after waiting more than a month for aid, Galbreath, a school bus driver, got further behind in her mortgage payments. Then she said she learned the company had a different form of mortgage rescue in mind. Galbreath said she was unaware that she was actually selling her home until she got to the bargaining table in May. She claimed Alternative Options never told her before the meeting that she was selling her house. "So right then and there, it was either sign the papers or go ahead into the foreclosure," she said.

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• Alternative Options told ABC News in a written statement that its purchase of Galbreath's home "prevented the foreclosure" and it took several steps to help her buy her home back. The company added it regretted that she couldn't buy back her home and said it has "had significant success with other homeowners."

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• ABC News asked the Illinois attorney general to review Galbreath's case. "We are subpoenaing this company to find out their business practices and to make sure that there are not other people similarly situated to Dorothy who have ended up losing their homes due to fraud," said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. "For so many people in the United States, their home is really their bank account. And so in addition to the devastation they face when they lose their home, they're also losing & their life savings."

For the entire transcript of the story, see Beware of Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue Scams (Find Out the Tips You Need to Protect Yourself).

Go here to watch the Good Morning America report (available online courtesy of Yahoo! News).

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ABC News' Good Morning America also broadcast a story on 2-24-09 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.

For the story (approx. 5 minutes), see Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay).