NYC Seniors Targeted In Predatory Home Equity Scams Fight To Save Homes

In New York City, a recent article in The Indypendent focuses on the targeting of senior citizens as "sitting ducks" for predatory lending, home equity scams. The article features the story of two elderly homeowners who had their equity ripped off and are on the verge of losing their homes, and the local attorneys representing them in an attempt to undo or mitigate the damage.

In the case of one Crown Heights, Brooklyn homeowner, back in 2006 the now 86-year old man suffering from dementia was sold a "new $450,000 option adjustable rate mortgage that was fairly guaranteed to put his house in foreclosure," according to the man's attorney on a home he's owned since 1975. Reportedly, South Brooklyn Legal Services has filed suit against IndyMac and loan originator Global Financial Inc. on behalf of the homeowner for violations of the Federal Truth in Lending Act, with Queens Legal Services for the Elderly acting as co-counsel.

In the case of a 93-year old man from Jamaica, Queens and a homeowner for almost 50 of those years and who also suffers from dementia, he was reportedly saddled with a $315,000 mortgage on his home without his knowledge as part of an alleged deed theft scam and is currently in foreclosure. The alleged perpetrators were recently indicted by the Queens district attorney on charges of grand larceny for fraudulently refinancing his property, but this prosecution has not slowed the foreclosure action being pursued by the current loan holder.

A student-led team at the St. John’s University Law School Elder Law Clinic in Queens, who represent the homeowner in this case, fault not only the perpetrators of the deed theft, but also the loan originator and the current mortgage holder for aiding and abetting the fraud.

• “It’s a huge warning sign when a 93-year-old man with no attorney present can take out a $300,000 mortgage,” says Professor Ann Goldweber, director of the Elder Law Clinic. “They should have used more due diligence.”

For more, see Facing Foreclosure: Brooklyn Retiree on Verge of Losing Home as Subprime Lenders Target Cash-Poor Black Seniors.

Go here for the Queens District Attorney news release on the Jamaica, Queens case.

Go here , here , here , here , and here for other posts on elder financial abuse. valedictorian