Loan Modification Firm Workers Flee Offices As ACORN Demonstrators Prepare To Protest; Accuse Company Of Clipping Homeowners Out Of Upfront Fees

In Los Angeles, California, the Los Angeles Times reports:

• Consumers trying to warn the public about so-called loan modification scams found themselves tripping an alarm of another sort Wednesday: About 15 of them got stuck in a Buena Park office building's elevator during a demonstration.

• The failed protest was the latest in a string of tough breaks for a group of about 30 mostly elderly and Latino homeowners who gathered Wednesday outside the offices of a company called Centre Legal. Many of the demonstrators are about to lose their homes to foreclosure. Several had paid Centre Legal or one of its affiliates(1) thousands of dollars to help them work out easier payment terms, but said they received nothing in return.

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• [W]hen protesters entered the building, they found Centre Legal's fourth-floor offices empty. Neighboring tenants said the company's workers fled minutes earlier down a set of back stairs, perhaps tipped off by the gathering of homeowners in the parking lot.

For more, see Protest of alleged loan modification scam goes nowhere (An elevator mishap adds to the frustration of homeowners gathered at the offices of Centre Legal, a company they say took their money but did nothing to help them).

(1) According to the story, ACORN alleges that a number of Southern California homeowners have paid fees to Centre Legal but received nothing in return. ACORN said the company has also operated under the names Centro Legal, Modificate and Gigante Mortgage.