Florida AG Targets California Loan Modification Operation With Civil Suit; Allegedly Used Local Notaries To Act As "Company Representatives"

From the Office of the Florida Attorney General:

• Attorney General Bill McCollum [] announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against a California company providing loan modification services to homeowners facing foreclosure. According to the lawsuit filed [] in Orange County, 21st Century Legal Services, Inc. allegedly charges consumers up-front fees in violation of Florida’s Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act. [...] An investigation conducted by the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division revealed that 21st Century Legal Services charges an up-front fee as high as $2,500 to homeowners seeking loan modification services. Additionally, consumers have complained that the company has not performed the promised services and that consumers are unable to get refunds.

• The complaint alleges that, after initial contact is made with a homeowner, the company arranges for a "company representative" to visit the consumer at home. These representatives are, in fact, local notaries hired by the company to travel to the consumer’s home and execute the necessary sales agreements. The lawsuit states that the company instructed the notaries not to provide consumers with a copy of the written agreements, in direct violation of Florida law.

• Other states have sued 21st Century Legal Services, and the FBI raided several of the company’s California offices in mid-September.

For the Florida AG press release, see California Company Sued for Foreclosure Rescue Fraud.

For the lawsuit, see State of Florida v. 21st Century Legal Services, Inc. et al.