Victims Of A Foreclosure "Rescue"

(CBS)  The number of Americans struggling to pay their mortgages is higher than it's ever been before.

New data released Thursday shows that so far this year, there have been a total of 925,986 foreclosures filing nationwide — an increase of 56 percent from last year. But homeowners in distress could face a double whammy: A growing scam is exploiting people who are in foreclosure in a way that leaves them with nothing. Chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian shows how the scam works.

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Annie Stephens, a 70-year-old grandmother, has lived in her Atlanta home for 40 years.

"I just don't feel like I belong anyplace else," Stephens said.

But after suffering a stroke, she found herself unable to work — and unable to pay her bills.

"Once you get behind, it's hard to catch up. Hard," Stephens said.

Within days of foreclosure, Stephens was overwhelmed with ads promising instant relief, an easy way out.

They proved anything but. She says a con artist claiming he'd help refinance her home instead stole it, then stripped away tens of thousands of dollars in equity.

"They're just no-good scamming vultures," Stephens said.

It's known as "foreclosure rescue" but a CBS News investigation has uncovered an unending trail of victims across the country.

As the number of foreclosures soars to record levels — up nearly 90 percent from this time last year — so does mortgage fraud. CBS News has learned the FBI currently has more than 1,100 cases pending; in 2003 that number was just 436.

Sources say the Metropolitan Money Store in Maryland was one of them.

When Keteyian knocked on the door there, it was apparent the place had been shut down.

"We have helped stop over 250 foreclosures and have refinanced thousands of homes," the company's radio ad says.

A major class action law suit now charges the Metropolitan Money Store of being "the single largest mortgage scam in Maryland history ... an elaborate scheme to dupe" more than 400 homeowners "of millions of dollars in lost equity."

State investigators describe the scheme as a classic come-on: a desperate homeowner buried in debt and facing foreclosure is convinced to transfer the deed of their home to a third-party investor with the promise of getting it back. Instead, the company sucks the equity out of the house, leaving the original owner in desperate straits.

One group says they were victims of the Maryland scheme.

"It's an empty feeling. It feels like a bottomless pit," a member of the group told Keteyian

"Do you feel like you were cheated?" Keteyian asked.

"Absolutely. Out of our home and more," one said.

"They took the equity and make the credit worse than it was before," another explained.

"I think this is one most outrageous scams in the United States at this time," said Elizabeth Renuart of the National Consumer Law Center.

Renuart says such shady deals are skyrocketing as the mortgage market implodes. "Financial distress is the weakness that they exploit because people are so concerned about losing their homes they'll do almost anything to save them," she said.

Only seven states specifically regulate foreclosure rescues; only one, Massachusetts, makes it illegal.

In Maryland, CBS News wanted to talk to the people who allegedly ran the scheme.

Despite repeated attempts, CBS News was unable to reach Joy Jackson Fordham or her husband, Kurt Fordham, who is also implicated in the scheme. The only trace of them were photos of their $800,000 wedding last year. It was an over-the-top, Hollywood-style affair at which they gave away cash, a Porsche and — in a final insult to folks like those CBS News interviewed — a house.

"What?" one of the victims said.

Could it have been one of their houses?

"That was our wedding!" one woman said. "We didn't get invited."

[radiob-2009]

I don't know where you live, bud, but I have been sending resumes for two years.
Posted by Boston1954


Time to either change your resume or have a reference check done on your references.

[bennyblack1]

Boston1954
OK...let's get something straight. There are two forms of lineage.
The first form is physical bloodline. So, if you have a dog that is a Heinz 57, his lineage is a mixture of several breeds of dogs. God forbid I'll ever be compared to a dog, but my bloodline is a mixture of several different cultures. When I say, "Jew, " that means that a part of my physical bloodline is a part of Abraham.
The second form of lineage is adoption. Say that you can't have children. So, you adopt. Now, everything that you have is that child's as if he were naturally born to you. When I say I am a Christian, it means that I've accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, and have been adopted by God as my Father. Therefore, everything that is rightfully Christ's is also mine. Though, I'm not exactly sure what that means, yet.
And, can you be a Jew and a Christian? Uh..yep! Sure can! God would prefer to save a Jew first. If a Jew with the physical bloodline of Abraham, who previously rejected Jesus Christ, comes to an understanding and now believes in Christ and accepts him in his heart, now you have a Judeo-Christian. So, he not only has the blessings of Abraham by physical bloodline, but the blessings of Jesus Christ through adoption.

[boston1954]

I'm a struggling Christian Posted by bennyblack1 at 08:02 AM : Jul 14, 2007
*********
Knuckle dragging inbred? I'm a Germanic-Polish Indian Jew.
Posted by bennyblack1 at 07:51 AM : Jul 14, 2007
***********
Hold on there. You can't have it both ways.

[boston1954]

Well, I made my mistakes. But, you don't see me going on CBS News trying to get people to fix them for me. Posted by bennyblack1 at 12:25 AM : Jul 14, 2007

__Having a stroke is not a mistake!!

[boston1954]

there are jobs aplenty.Posted by markjessup at 05:18 PM : Jul 14, 2007

I don't know where you live, bud, but I have been sending resumes for two years.

[jfhendry]

I have a news story you will not believe that is happening right now. It involves a Home Owners Association and Board of directors that said the subdivision road is a board members driveway and another lot owner cannot use it so a board member can build a house in a restricted area behind the lot owner%u2019s property. To say the lot owner could not use the road the Board had an attorney that's brother is the realtor that sold the lot owner the property write a letter that said because of an insane legal technicality the road was the board members driveway. The board member was not supposed to give the lot owner the letter but he did and it resulted in a huge lawsuit that has taken all the lot owners money to build with because of conflicts of interest you will find impossible to believe. Example: The lot owner is on his 4th law firm. The 4th law firm offered to take the case on contingency but waited months to send the papers and then sent them when time is of the essence because the defense wants the case dismissed. It looks like the 4th law firm is faking to have filed papers with the court that he is being represented and is telling the lot owner that a settlement is imminent when in fact he is friends with the other attorneys and no settlement is planned.

[bennyblack1]

whatithink

Nice debating with you. Talk with you later.

[bennyblack1]

whatithink
Uh, don't you think that Jesus rejected it because he didn't NEED it? The Father provided everything. And the bread and the fish were used to feed 3,000 and 5,000 men and their families. Jesus blessed it and God provided it. That was a miracle. How do you think Jesus knew that the fish had a coin in it? Don't you think God told him which fish it was? That was a miracle. How about when Jesus told Peter to go out and fish after fishing all night long, catching nothing? Then, going back out again, catching more than the nets could hold? Jesus knew where the fish were. He didn't NEED all that. You make it sound like he was poor beggar that had nothing else to do. I'm telling you exactly the opposite. He walked. I was a salesman for a while, and I can tell you that if you want to sell things, you can't drive around in your car and expect to sell anything. You can't just put an ad in the paper and expect enough business to sustain you. You have to get out on foot, get to know the people, get people to trust you, then you can sell them your products. You talk to more people, gain the trust of more people, and sell more. And you can go back and sell it to them again. What Jesus did was no different than what I did. Only I got out and handed out flyers, 2000 a week. Then waited on phone calls. Jesus was person to person, one on one.

[whatithink-2009]

Bennyblack1,

I need to go but I wanted to answer a few other points that you make.

" How do you think he was able to feed his 120 disciples on a daily basis before 108 of them left? Not everything Jesus did was a miracle."

- I am sure most of them either worked or received help from family or friends along the way. There were people that probably supported them but this does not make them rich. There are many missionaries out there who can attest to this.

Benny, it is not that I don't agree with some of your points, either. I think I got off on a bad start with you because I thought that you brought race into the topic. I am a black woman and have never looked for empathy from others. But, I do have it for many...both black and white. I had many people who came into my life and gave me good advice (both black and white and also Asian and Hispanic). Without this, I am not sure if I would not also be in a worse position.

[bennyblack1]

Jesus was a rich man who could have become greedy. But he did not. He was influential, and could have easily become a king, but he did not. He was charismatic, but he didn't become proud. He attracted women, but did not take advantage of them and throw them away, though he could have. And, yes, God DID want him to be influential. Jesus was sent to set the record straight. How else was he going to do that?