NY AG Forces Firm Peddling Reverse Mortgages To Reform Marketing Practices
- Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo [last week] announced his office has stopped a Syracuse-area reverse mortgage lender from preying on seniors statewide through false advertising and portraying itself to be a local non-profit organization. Under a settlement reached by the Attorney General’s Office, Upstate Capital, Inc. of Basile Rowe in East Syracuse, must reform its marketing practices and indicate that it is a registered mortgage/reverse mortgage broker. The company must also pay $20,000 in costs and penalties to the state.
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- Starting in July of 2007, Upstate Capital sent flyers portraying itself as [a non-profit organization] to seniors statewide promoting a “new government program” that “protects seniors” by providing a monthly, tax-free income with no income or credit qualifications. The company also claimed that the “lifetime” program required no repayments. Consumers were directed to call the company to obtain a free packet of information on the program. They would then be contacted by an Upstate Capital representative “on behalf” of [the non-profit firm]. The solicitation, however, neglected to say that the source of the money was actually a loan, and that the product the company is peddling was actually a reverse mortgage.
For stories related to Reverse Mortgage Problems, go here, and go here.
Thanks to Bill Collins of Crossroads Abstract, Rochester, NY for the heads-up on this story. reverse mortgage yak
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