NJ AG Files Civil Suit Alleging Trio Peddled Variety Of Bogus Foreclosure Avoidance Services To Defraud Financially Strapped Homeowners

From the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General:

• Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino, the Division of Consumer Affairs, and the Department of Banking and Insurance have filed an action against three North Jersey individuals and the companies they operated, for allegedly defrauding financially strapped consumers who paid for mortgage foreclosure rescue services to save their homes from foreclosure.
  
  Marcus A. Mullings, Jr. and Talia Stephen-Mullings, both of Fort Lee, and Jessie Sanders, of West Orange, through their company MVP Home Solutions LLC and its associated entities, charged substantial monthly fees for debt adjustment, foreclosure consulting and/or other services but failed to perform the promised services, according to a Complaint filed in Superior Court, Bergen County.
  
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  The Complaint alleges the defendants misled and deceived consumers through the advertisement and sale of purported services offered through three programs:

• The “Stay in Your Home” program which charged consumers monthly payments of $995 to $1,625 in exchange for promised services that included asserting legal defenses and forensic tactics, negotiating the purchase of their mortgage notes at a discount, and providing them with a new, lower-cost mortgage. Under the program, 60 percent of the monthly payments was to have been credited to the new mortgage payment, upon issuance of the new loan

• The “Walk Away Free & Clear” program that charged consumers monthly payments of $995 to $1,625 in exchange for promised services that included asserting legal defenses and negotiating the sale of their homes and release of their mortgage loans (i.e. short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure sale)

• The “Stop the Sale Date” program that charged consumers $1,095 upon signing, and $995 a month thereafter for a period of up to two years, in exchange for the promised service of stopping an imminent foreclosure sale.

• The defendants misrepresented the services they would perform and falsely claimed that they would assert legal defenses, employ forensic accounting tools and/or utilize their expertise to pressure lenders to delay foreclosure proceedings or reduce the amount of the mortgage debt, according to the Complaint. In reality, the defendants’ only contact with consumers’ lenders was in sending a “cease and desist” letter, according to the Complaint.

For more, see New Jersey Attorney General, Division of Consumer Affairs, and Department of Banking and Insurance File Action Against Three North Jersey Individuals and Their Companies for Allegedly Defrauding Financially Distressed Consumers Who Paid for Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue Services.