BBB: Watch Out For 'Risk Free' Mortgage Audit Rackets Targeting Borrowers Implying They May Be Owed Refunds Due To Lender Overcharges

From a press release from the St. Louis, Missouri office of the Better Business Bureau:

• A Utah company charged homeowners hundreds of dollars each for “risk free” mortgage audits, then either delayed their promised refunds for months or never paid them at all, customers told the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
  
  
• Consumers from Missouri, Illinois and several other states also said AMT Auditing Services of American Fork, Utah, added unauthorized charges to their charge cards and/or forced them to deal with long, frustrating delays when the homeowners tried to contact customer service representatives to resolve their issues. “They did nothing at all, other than take my money,” said a woman from St. Charles, Mo., who said she lost $300 to the company.
  
  
• AMT Auditing Services has an “F” grade with the BBB, the lowest grade possible, with complaints and reports from 25 states. The BBB in Salt Lake City identifies Colton Moody as manager of the company. CRM Ventures LP, Enlightened, LLC and Mortgage Auditing Program are alternative business names.

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• Several Missouri and Illinois homeowners said they received mailings from AMT similar to one sent to a Wisconsin consumer in March. That mailing said: “This notice is to inform you that you may be owed a refund of several thousand dollars from your mortgage lender. Your monthly mortgage payment may have been miscalculated and you may be due a refund from either your current or previous mortgage lender.”
  
  
• The letter says that the average refund is $1,497 and one-third of the refunds are $3,000 to $7,500.” In fine print at the bottom, the letter says it is not a mortgage modification offer, a forensic mortgage audit offer nor an offer to prevent foreclosure.

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• On its website, www.amtdivision.org, AMT offers a mortgage audit at a sale price of $299. The site says AMT will determine whether a consumer has been overcharged and then notify the homeowner so he or she can obtain refunds from the lender.
  
  
• Some customers who filed complaints with the BBB said that AMT took months to complete audits that it promised to complete in a few weeks. They also said the company delayed or reneged on promises of full refunds if the audit uncovered no overcharges.

For more, see AMT Auditing Services Broke Agreements On Mortgage Audits, Customers Tell BBB.