In its September 29th edition, Consumer Bankruptcy News reports that as part of an ongoing effort to stop mortgage relief scams, the Federal Trade Commission put an end to three schemes that claimed to help consumers with their mortgage and debt problems. Each of the defendants - Truman Foreclosure Assistance LLC, Fedmortgageloans.com and Making Home Affordable - allegedly claimed a bogus affiliation with government assistance programs.
The FTC's complaint against Truman Foreclosure Assistance and several individuals was filed as part of a 2009 law enforcement sweep called 'Operation Stolen Hope'. Falsely claiming that it could get most mortgages modified or stop foreclosure, Truman allegedly charged homeowners up-front fees from $1,500 to $3,000. Truman touted a 90-percent success rate and a 100-percent money-back guarantee. However, in many instances, after consumers paid the up-front fees, Truman failed to provide information about the status of their communication with the consumers' lenders; failed to contact the consumers' lenders or obtain mortgage loan modifications; and denied refunds to homeowners for whom they failed to obtain modifications, according to the FTC.
Fedmortgageloans.com was accused by the FTC of marketing debt relief services as well as mortgage assistance relief services. In June 2010, the FTC charged two corporate defendants and two individuals with misrepresenting that the mortgage assistance and debt relief programs they marketed online were affiliated with the federal or state government, and that consumers were eligible for a federal or state government loan modification or debt relief program. According to the complaint, the defendants used www.fedmortgageloans.com, www.fedhomeaffordableplan.com and various other websites to market loan modification services, often displaying official government agency seals or logos and links to the websites of federal government agencies such as HUD, the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House. Likewise, multiple sites operated by the defendants promoting debt relief services featured federal or state government logos and seals. Consumers who provided basic information on any of the sites were all assured that they qualified for mortgage assistance or debt relief programs.
In its May 2009 complaint against Making Home Affordable, the FTC alleged that the defendants impersonated MakingHomeAffordable.gov. According to the FTC, consumers looking for the federal Making Home Affordable program were diverted to commercial websites that pitched loan modification services or sold consumers' personal information to marketers that did.
