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Florida AG action

Remember when the feds and the Attorneys General of the various states announced the settlement of claims arising from the robo-signing scandal? Remember how they promised that $26 billion dollars would go to help victim of foreclosure fraud? Will you be surprised to learn it didn’t exactly happen that way? Me neither. A new report […]

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Foreclosure Myths and Facts If you read the newspapers, you’ll know two things about foreclosures in Florida: There’s a huge “backlog” – that’s what the banks call it when they can’t ram their fraudulent cases through the court system to take people’s homes fast enough; and, There’s a huge amount of fraud slipping through the […]

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The Tampa Tribune reports that state regulators have shut down Clear Image Financial Group, a Tampa-area loan modification firm. “We have a lot of people out of work and struggling to keep their homes that are looking for help. Some are paying for services they never get,” said the agency’s Commissioner Tom Cardwell. “It is […]

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Two more loan modification shops are under fire from Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum: The lawsuits were filed against south Florida’s Keep Your Property Inc. and Jacksonville-based National Foreclosure Counseling Services Corp. The attorney general’s office alleges that both companies charged up-front fees to customers facing foreclosure. This is against the law in Florida. McCollum […]

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“State of emergency” were the words chosen by Attorney General Bill McCollum this week, when he announced that he was asking law enforcement officials from state and local agencies to step up enforcement efforts. Mortgage fraud, and in particular, foreclosure rescue fraud, were the number one complaint to McCollum’s office in 2008.

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“We are asking the Court to shut them down.” Another loan-modification shop, this time in conjunction with a law firm, has apparently run afoul of the law. Florida’s Attorney General, Bill McCollum, has sued Florida Foreclosure Law Center LLC and Lincoln Lending Services and said at a press conference: We are asking the court to […]

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Florida AG Bill McCollum has set his sights on an Orlando-area firm offering loan modifications: A local firm offering loan modification services to homeowners facing foreclosure violated a state law that prohibits companies from charging an up-front fee for their services, according a lawsuit filed Feb. 13 by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Among other […]

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Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has shut down HomeKeeper USA, a Florida company, for violating Florida’s Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act. The attorney general’s office said it investigated the company for four weeks and found it violated the state’s newly-enacted Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act by accepting upfront cash payments for arranging an alternative payment […]

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Foreclosure Rescue Scams Still Run Rampant

by Mike on February 1, 2009

Imagine facing foreclosure, terrified of losing your home, and then paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to a company who promised to help you – and then did nothing. Tragically, that scenario is all too real for many Floridians. More and more illegal foreclosure rescue operations are cropping up statewide. These companies charge fees […]

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Countrywide and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum have reached a settlement of the wide-ranging fraud claims filed by the state earlier this year. The details remain to be worked out, but here are several key features to the settlement that could benefit more than 50,000 Florida homeowners with a Countrywide loan. Cash payments Floridians who […]

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Attorney General Bill McCollum is at it again, targeting perpetrators of mortgage fraud. This time, McCollum has sued some twenty-five defendants who allegedly skimmed over $6 million out of approximately 60 home loan transactions. Here’s some of how they did it: Starting in July 2005 and continuing through at least January 2007, three of the […]

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The Florida Bar News reports on Florida AG Bill McCollum’s action exempting Florida attorneys from portions of the Foreclosure Rescue Act. Florida Bar News editor Gary Blankenship has been following this story for some time, and has written a nice piece explaining both the problem and the solution. As an added bonus, he quotes me […]

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Bill McCollum, Florida’s attorney general, as been very active lately, going after a number of companies he has accused of foreclosure rescue scams and unfair mortgage-related practices, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. …McCollum has filed five cases against companies he believes have conducted questionable, if not illegal, acts in regard to mortgage and […]

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