Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Nevada AG's Office: Forensic Loan Auditing Is The Next Evolution In Mortgage Modification Scams

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • Odds are you or someone you know is desperate to save a home from foreclosure. But as you know, many offers for assistance are simply too good to be true. For months, Contact 13 has been digging up dirt on the latest foreclosure rescue scam. It's called forensic loan auditing. Upside down in his mortgage like so many other Southern Nevadans, Al Lopez reached out to a forensic loan audit company called Home Protection Service for help.

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  • Al says Home Protection Service took his money, but did little to help protect his home. When he received his loan audit, he says they claimed everything passed. Al says the company didn't even do the work they were supposed to.

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  • The state attorney general's office tells Contact 13 forensic loan auditing is the next evolution in mortgage modification scams. The AG's office is currently investigating 194 companies for similar types of foreclosure rescue fraud. The California Attorney General issued a release warning homeowners to avoid forensic loan audits all together.

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  • Contact 13 reached out to Home Protection Service, which used to be based in an office complex. Contact 13 started with a phone call, then an email, but never got a response. When we showed up to speak to someone in person, we found the company has closed up shop and basically disappeared, leaving no forwarding address or new phone number. Unlike mortgage modification firms in Nevada, there are no regulations on forensic loan auditing companies.(1)

For more, see Forensic loan auditing is the latest foreclosure rescue scam.

(1) It's difficult to believe that this service, when performed by non-attorneys (or attorneys not licensed in the jurisdiction in which the services are performed) directly for the general consumer public, does not constitute the unlicensed practice of law (which, in most places that I know of, is a felony).