News Clips

• FTC Settlement Requires "U.S. Homeowners Relief" Defendants to Pay Millions, Bans Them from Debt and Mortgage Relief Business
  The FTC approved $9.6 million dollars in settlements against several suspected mortgage rescue scammers.
• Feds target HAMP scammers bilking owners
  Once again, mortgage servicers are hitting ordinary New York homeowners where it hurts. The latest evidence is widespread scams tied to the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, which was supposed to help up to 4 million troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure...
• Mortgage Scams in a Weak Housing Market
  Via WSJ: Schemes that prey on struggling homeowners heading toward foreclosure are "the cash cow right now," says Yolanda McGill, senior counsel for the Fair Housing and Fair Lending Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Some fraudsters are peddling services such as preparing documents for a loan modification. Others claim to be an attorney or say they are working with an attorney. Often, these offers sound legitimate, echoing some of the same language used by government programs and lenders to gain a homeowner's trust.
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Press Releases

• National Loan Scam Prevention Database Surpasses Critical Milestone
  The Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network (LMSPN) recently reached a critical milestone in the national effort to stop foreclosure rescue scams. Through the efforts of homeowners, housing counselors, advocates and Network partners from across the country, the national Loan Modification Scam Database, led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has collected more than 20,000 scam complaint reports since its launch in March 2010.
• Injunction Obtained in New York Loan Modification Scam Lawsuit Against Homesafe America, Inc.
  This morning, Justice John M. Galasso of the Nassau County Supreme Court issued a sweeping order shutting down one of New York's largest mortgage scam operations pending trial. The order is the most substantial victory to date in a year-long legal campaign against "loan modification scams" in New York and nationwide. The court order ceases the operations of Homesafe America Inc. and its successor corporation, United Solutions Law Firm, which are alleged to have scammed more than a thousand low- and middle-income homeowners by falsely promising to help customers modify the terms of their mortgages.
• Seniors Among Hardest Hit by Foreclosure Rescue Scams; Today's Launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is Critical
  The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law applauds today's launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). To mark this momentous date in the fight for consumer protections, the Lawyers' Committee released an issue brief on the severe impact of the ongoing foreclosure rescue scam crisis on older Americans. Scammers are preying on distressed homeowners by offering much-needed foreclosure counseling or loan modification assistance for a fee, yet failing to deliver any results-or refunds-in the end.
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Publications and Testimony

• National Loan Modification Scam Prevention Database Report - November 2011
  For November, this abbreviated version of the monthly report summarizes scam complaint related data from the national Loan Modification Scam Database.
• National Loan Modification Scam Prevention Database Report - October 2011
  For October, this abbreviated version of the monthly report summarizes scam complaint related data from the national Loan Modification Scam Database.
• National Loan Modification Scam Prevention Database Report - September 2011
  For September, this abbreviated version of the monthly report summarizes scam complaint related data from the national Loan Modification Scam Database.
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