Legal Aid Saves Ohio Couple From Foreclosure; Files Suit Against Loan Modification Firm & Attorney Team For Taking Money For Bogus Help

In North Avondale, Ohio, the Kentucky Post reports on the case of Chris and Dorthy Gillium, a financially strapped couple who was facing foreclosure on their home when the decided to retain the services of a loan modification firm that was working in tandem with an attorney to purportedly help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

• [B]ecause the Gilliums were [...] desperate for help, they turned to American Foreclosure Professionals in Mason. Chris said that for a $950 fee paid in advance, the firm guaranteed that one of their attorneys could help him and his wife rescue their mortgage and stay in their home.

• "The attorney took the first step that any attorney does in a lawsuit and filed an answer," said Noel Morgan, of the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio. "That's all he did." The next thing Chris knew was that the house was scheduled for a foreclosure sale conducted each week by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

• "The mortgage company put us in default," Chris said. Attorneys with the Ohio Attorney General's Office put the Gilliums in touch with Legal Aid. Morgan began working the case and had the default judgement set aside. He's still working on trying to negotiate new loan terms for the couple.

• However, that's not all that Morgan did. "We've got a malpractice claim against the attorney for professional negligence," Morgan stated. "We have consumer sales or deceptive sales claims against the mortgage rescue firm and similarly against the mortgage broker who set it up."

• Those cases are still pending, but for now the Gilliums are still in their dream home and singing the praises of the help that they received. "God, through the Legal Aid Society, is the reason that me and my wife are still sitting in our home right now," Chris said.

For the story, see Caution Urged When Hiring Foreclosure Rescue Firms. UnauthPractOfLawKappa