CBS Evening News On South Florida Loan Modification Firm Currently Facing Civil Charges From State AG

The CBS Evening News recently ran a story on South Florida loan modification firm Outreach Housing, which summarized their approach to financially strapped homeowners with this excerpt:

• For homeowners the pitch went like this: They would pay Outreach Housing an upfront fee of about $1,200. They would then stop paying their lender and instead pay Outreach every month an amount equal to two-thirds of their monthly mortgage.

• That's money homeowners like Frank Kosa believed they would go toward their mortgage while Outreach worked with his bank to reduce his payment. "They said 'don't worry about anything. Don't pay anything. We are taking care of everything,'" said Kosa. But they didn't. Instead, as victim after victim told CBS News, they got taken.

• According to a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, Outreach Housing was engaged in a "systematic pattern" of "fraudulent," "unfair" and "deceptive" practices, leaving behind at least 600 victims.

For more, see Scams Rampant In Foreclosure Fraud Hotbed (CBS Evening News: Growing Number Of Scams Target Homeowners Struggling To Keep Homes); or go here for CBS News video, Inside Mortgage Rescue Scams.

For the Florida Attorney General's 10-16-08 press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit against Outreach Housing, see Broward Foreclosure Debt Mitigation Company Sued for Deceptive Practices.

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