Nebraska Couple Loses Home After Being Duped By Nationwide Loan Modification Racket

In Lincoln, Nebraska, the Lincoln Journal Star reports:

• One night in February, [Denise and Kevin Barret] saw a television ad for the Federal Loan Modification Law Center, a very official-sounding entity that promised it could reduce homeowners' payments while saving their homes from foreclosure. So the Barrets called the number and were told that for an initial payment of $995 the company could renegotiate the couple's delinquent mortgage and get them a better interest rate and more affordable payments. It sounded like a good deal, and the company at the time had a reasonable rating with the Better Business Bureau, Denise Barret said. So the Barrets signed up.

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• While purporting to be helping the Barrets, the Federal Loan Modification Law Center was racking up complaints all over the country. In April, the Federal Trade Commission filed a federal lawsuit against the company, alleging it misrepresented that it could obtain a loan modification or stop foreclosure in all cases. The complaint also alleged that the company falsely claimed in radio and TV ads to be affiliated with the federal government.(1)

• Nabile "Bill" Anz, managing attorney for Federal Loan Modification and one of the people named in the FTC's complaint, told the Orange County Register in April that the company may have been aggressive, but it had obeyed the law. Since then, Anz seems to have changed his tune. On Aug. 4 he voluntarily resigned from the California State Bar Association, with charges pending against him.

• According to a news release, the bar filed an application in July to have Anz declared "involuntarily inactive," alleging he failed to perform for clients of the Federal Loan Modification Law Center and failed to refund fees to clients of the business. The news release said Anz admitted the misconduct that was alleged in the application. Some states have also taken action against Anz and his company.

For more, see Caught in foreclosure relief scam, a couple loses their home.

(1) Go here for links to the FTC press release and some of the relevant court documents filed in the lawsuit against Federal Loan Modification Law Center. Reportedly, Mike Cameron, an attorney with the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, said the department has fielded a couple of complaints about the Federal Loan Modification Law Center. Cameron said that because the company is already the subject of an FTC investigation, he refers complaints to the federal government.