Minnesota Homeowner In Foreclosure Duped By Religious Based Foreclosure Rescue Firm

In Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• When Chantae Grandsberry of Brooklyn Center was looking for a company to help save her home, she thought she'd found the perfect partner: An Oklahoma firm that had biblical scriptures on its website and billed itself as a Christian-based foreclosure prevention specialist. "That was important to me and my husband," said Grandsberry, who is six months pregnant. "We didn't think that a Christian-based company would do anything wrong." But Grandsberry lost her family home last October after the company, American Foreclosure Specialists, failed to deliver -- even after collecting more than $1,200 in advance, which is a violation of Minnesota law, according to Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson. Earlier this month, Swanson filed suits against American and three other out-of-state companies, alleging they violated state law by collecting fees before completing the services they contracted to perform.

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• The lawsuits were filed against American; National Foreclosure Relief, a Nevada corporation with a California business address; Lewis Loss Mitigation of Alabama, which also does business as Stop Foreclosure and Lewis and Associates Consulting; D.R. Financial Services of California, which also does business as D.R. Financial and Superior Home Loans; and Mortgage Default Assistance of Florida, and Home Assure of Florida.

For more, see Foreclosure 'help' ended up bringing more debt (Homeowners tell of dealings with companies that promised to prevent foreclosure but did nothing to help -- but charged them anyway).

Go here for the Minnesota AG Press Release announcing the lawsuits against the foreclosure rescue operators for alleged violations of Minnesota consumer protection laws.