Tennessee Couple Loses Home In Phony Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Operators Turn Out To Be Convicted Felons

In Hardemon County, Tennessee, WREG-TV Channel 3 reports on a local couple facing foreclosure who was offered and accepted assistance from Freedom Property Investment, a foreclosure rescue company that turned out to be a scam.

• WREG News Channel 3 Investigators spent weeks trying to track down the company's president, William Boxley. It turns out, Boxley was was cited for driving with a revoked license in Memphis back in March. Records show Boxley never showed up for court. The address he gave police is really a Hickory Hill office complex. Workers there tell us Boxley, and Thomas Frank Montgomery, wanted to open up shop there.

• Court records show Montgomery was just released from federal prison in December. He was serving time after getting caught with nearly 73 pounds of marijuana. A check of arrest records shows Boxley is an ex-con too. He was convicted, and sentenced to 8 years in prison on cocaine charges. In addition, the man who promises to "stop the stranglehold on your financial well-being", in his letter to [the homeowners], has filed bankruptcy.

• So how can someone with Boxley's history run a company promising foreclosure relief? State Senator Roy Herron explains it this way. "It's like the wild wild west," Herron said of the foreclosure rescue industry. "There's no regulation. There's not good statutory protection for people." Herron sponsored a bill that would ban foreclosure rescue companies from charging anything upfront.

For the story, see Homeowners Warned Of Foreclosure Relief Rip-Offs.

Go here to read recent FTC Warning Letter to loan modification firms, and here for the FTC Foreclosure Warning List.