Purported Atlanta-Area Non-Profit Loan Modification Outfit Faces Media Heat After Customers Complain Of Being Fleeced Out Of Upfront Fees

In Tucker, Georgia, WGCL-TV reports:

• CBS Atlanta asked a DeKalb County mortgage counseling agency Tough Questions about its business practices, after several clients accused it of taking their money but failing to keep their homes out of foreclosure. “It hurts my heart that they played me like they did,” said Brenda Pitts. “NAARI Mortgage Counseling Agency promised me my payment would drop about $400 or $500. I paid them $1,200 to keep my home out of foreclosure, but they only called my mortgage company two times in five months, and by the second time, my home was in foreclosure.”

• On a website bearing the nonprofits name, NAARI claims its counselors are HUD certified. But according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, that is not true. The website also indicates it has been approved by the United Way to help people. But the United Way also says that is not true.

For more, see Customers Complain Agency Did Nothing To Prevent Foreclosures (Some Homeowners Say NAARI Allowed Homes To Go Into Foreclosure).

For follow-up story, see State Investigators Look Into Housing Counseling Agency (Director of National African-American Relationship Institute Defends Agency).