Loan Modification Outfit Accused Of Failing To Deliver Services For Strapped Homeowners Also Stiffs Its Notaries, Says One Victim

An alleged loan modification racket featured in two recent stories(1) that has been accused by homeowners of peddling bogus foreclosure rescue services nationwide is now accused of stiffing the local notaries it uses to collect money and paperwork from the financially strapped homeowners, according to a recent story from WCNC-TV Channel 36 in North Carolina:

• 21st Century Legal Services was reaching out to Anita Hendren for her services as a certified notary public to help them facilitate loan modifications for North Carolina homeowners facing foreclosure. They asked her to collect checks and paperwork, and she did. After the first job, "I felt kind of comfortable, so I just accepted more jobs,” Hendren told Newschannel 36. "I did it 8 times in total."

• The troubled started when she got her first payment -- a check that came back, "Not Sufficient Funds." When she called the company, she says she was told they'd send a new check immediately. She never saw one. She never got payment at all for the other jobs she performed. "21st Century owes me over $600," she says. Internet postings on the website 123notary.com express similar frustrations. Another notary in Charlotte told Newschannel 36 she was not paid as well.

• In Hendren's case, those payment issues were frustrating, but she never truly worried until last week when she got a call from one of the homeowners she thought she’d helped. He told her the company had cashed his checks, but never contacted his lender. The family is on the brink of losing their home. When she heard a similar story from another customer, she started calling the homeowners who’d worked with 21st Century Legal Services.

For the story, see Company banned by NC AG operating under new name.

(1) See ProPublica:

• Why Authorities Haven’t Stopped the Foreclosure ‘Rescue’ Boom,
• The Foreclosure ‘Rescue’ Boom on Marketplace.