Arizona AG Has 50+ Firms In The Crosshairs In Ongoing Probes Into Loan Modification, Refinancing Rackets

In Phoenix, Arizona, the Phoenix Business Journal reports:

• Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said the state is investigating more than 50 mortgage modification and refinancing firms his office has received complaints about for ripping off consumers. Though Goddard would not disclose which companies are under investigation, he said the biggest problems in the industry right now are third-party advocates that charge up-front fees of sometimes thousands of dollars and promise distressed homeowners reworked mortgages that lower payments to help forestall foreclosures.(1)

For more, see Arizona investigating mortgage firms for fraud.

(1) Reportedly, homeowners are getting solicitations from all sorts of mortgage and refinancing firms. Some of the solicitations come in the form of letters, e-mails and automated telephone calls that can lead homeowners to believe they are from their lenders or from government agencies related to the federal “Making Home Affordable” program. Sometimes mortgage firms will create logos that look like government agencies or use the non-copyrighted federal fair housing and other logos, according to the story.