Stiffed Employees Sound Alarm On S. Calif. Upfront Fee Loan Modification Outfit; Offices "A Ghost Town" - Hundreds Of Homeowners May Be Left Hanging

In Mission Viejo, California, NBC Los Angeles reports:

• Hundreds of homeowners who turned to an Orange County mortgage modification company for help may be in jeopardy themselves and don't know it. The company appears to have shut down. Company insiders say they have come forward to warn the public because they're afraid people will lose their homes.

• Greenleaf Legal Services in Mission Viejo may bill itself as "loan modification experts," but during a recent visit, the place was a ghost town. Some offices were empty, others had stacks of client files apparently waiting to be worked on, and telephone message lights were blinking at every desk. Greenleaf clients said they're still waiting for their calls to be returned.

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• While [...] customers say they aren't getting messages returned, some employees say they're not getting paychecks. Two workers say they haven't been paid in weeks. Both asked to conceal their identities because, they say, they're going to the authorities with their concerns. One employee said, "it's been over a month," since he was last paid. And since people aren't being paid, another insider said, "What is basically happening is files are not being worked at this time." [...] According to an insider, people paid up to $1,500 to $3,500 upfront. Greenleaf clients all over the country, including more than a dozen in California, said they paid as much as $3,500 and haven't seen results.

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• Greenleaf never registered with [the California Department of Real Estate] to do modifications and never posted a $100,000 bond as required by law, according to the Attorney General's office.

For more, see Hundreds Could Lose Homes as OC Loan Company Goes Dormant (A local loan-modification company is going out of business, potentially leaving hundreds of homeowners in jeopardy of losing their homes).