Pressure From State AG Leads Oregon Man To Cough Up Cash To Settle Complaints From Homeowners In Lopsided Sale Leaseback Arrangements

In Portland, Oregon, KATU-TV Channel 2 reports:

• Thousands of dollars have been returned to families that Oregon’s attorney general said were hurt in a scam that promised to save their houses from foreclosure, but the man who had to refund the money said he has done nothing wrong. Scott Barnes, a former lease/buyback plan agent, said the homeowners knew exactly what they were getting into – selling their homes and leasing them back with an option to buy them back someday, but Attorney General John Kroger said the case shows how difficult foreclosure rescue schemes are to understand for people in desperate situations.

• One woman, who declined to be identified, said it was “a total shock, because I wasn’t expecting (the money to be returned).” She got a $4,000 check from Barnes as restitution. Kroger said he promised to help people save their homes through the lease buy-back plan, which he said was too lopsided against the families.

For the story, see Man pays back homeowners in loan modification case.

(1) “(They) were in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure and entered into an agreement that they believed would give them a little bit of time to get their financial house in order; instead, it resulted in them having a real risk of losing their home and not be able to get it back,” AG Kroger reportedly said. Barnes said he wrote another $4,000 check to a second family but said he only settled the case because it was cheaper than fighting the attorney general, according to the story.