Oregon AG Targets Loan Modification Outfit In Lawsuit For Allegedly Clipping Homeowners Out Of $80K+ In Illegal Fees

From the Office of the Oregon Attorney General:

• Attorney General John Kroger [] announced a lawsuit that accuses the California-based American Team Mortgage, Inc., of repeatedly violating Oregon's Unfair Trade Practices Act and Mortgage Rescue Fraud Protection Act.

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• The lawsuit filed [] in Marion County Circuit Court alleges that since January 2009, American Team Mortgage charged 32 homeowners a total of more than $80,000 in fees for mortgage loan modifications. Most of those fees were charged in advance of providing services in violation of Oregon law, the suit alleges.

• The company obtained loan modifications for only a fraction of their Oregon clients, and possibly as few as two, the suit claims. Despite American Team Mortgage's poor record of obtaining loan modifications and despite promises to refund clients it could not help, the company refunded only two of the 32 Oregon homeowners who paid advance fees for loan modifications.

• By June 2010, the lawsuit alleges, American Team Mortgage effectively went out of business. Its phone number was disconnected. Mail was returned. Dozens of Oregon homeowners were left without a loan modification or a refund. At least one client lost his home to foreclosure. Others are facing foreclosure.

For the Oregon AG press release, see Lawsuit Accuses California Loan Modification Company Of Cheating Oregon Homeowners (The lawsuit alleges that American Team Mortgage charged more than $80,000 in fees from nearly three dozen Oregon homeowners in violation of Oregon law).