More On Loan Modification Firms Hiring Attorneys To Service Its "Clients"

In Eugene, Oregon, a recent article in The Register Guard contained this excerpt on an out-of-state loan modification firm that reportedly employs attorneys to provide services to homeowner-clients seeking to restructure their home mortgage payments:

• [C]raig Cooper is the Lane County representative of Choice Loan Consulting, which is headquartered in Arizona. [...] His company interviews homeowners and, if both parties agree to go forward, charges a fee of $3,500. “Once we accept a client, we guarantee at least a 10 percent reduction in payment,” Cooper said. “If a 10 percent reduction is not achieved, every penny is refunded.” Choice Loan Consulting has a staff of house attorneys, who are located in Phoenix, and they do all the negotiating and legal modification for clients, Cooper said.

The type of activity described above is currently under investigation in other states for possible ethics violations on the part of the attorneys involved, and for possible violations of laws prohibiting the unlicensed/unauthorized practice of law by the non-attorneys involved. I wonder if the state bars in Oregon and Arizona have caught wind of the arrangement described in this story.

Source: State warns homeowners about loan modification scams.

Go here and go here for other posts on issues relating to attorneys, loan modifications, and the unlicensed/unauthorized practice of law. UnauthPractOfLawKappa