Feds File Civil Charges Against Two New Jersey Loan Modification Firms Promoting "HOPE"

From the Federal Trade Commission:

• At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has ordered two companies to stop falsely advertising that they are part of a government-endorsed mortgage assistance network and that they successfully modify mortgages for almost all of their clients or else give refunds. In fact, the FTC alleges that the defendants are not affiliated with the legitimate HOPE NOW Alliance mortgage assistance network, often divert one month’s mortgage payment as a fee from distressed homeowners, fail to help them modify their mortgages, and then deny them refunds.

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• “The New Hope and Hope Now scammers have given consumers false hope under the guise of the government-endorsed HOPE NOW Alliance. We won’t hesitate to take action against these types of con artists now and in the future,” [FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said].

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• Seeking to capitalize on its name, the defendants called their firms New Hope Modifications and Hope Now Modifications,(1) and used telephone numbers that included “HOPE,” to mimic the real HOPE NOW Alliance hotline which is 888-995-HOPE.

For the FTC press release, see Court Halts Bogus Mortgage Loan Modification Operations (Two Firms Falsely Claimed to be Affiliated with Non-Profit HOPE NOW Alliance).

For the FTC court documents, see:

• FTC v. New Hope Property LLC, Brian Mammoccio, and Donna Fisher (Complaint; Temporary Restraining Order),
• FTC v. Hope Now Modifications, Nick Puglia, Salvatore Puglia (Complaint, Temporary Restraining Order).

(1) These are the same two firms that were recently sued by the New Jersey Attorney General for similar allegations.