REO Property Prevention Firm Ordered to Stop Operation
Mortgage Help Services Inc., an REO property prevention firm, has been ordered by Superior Court Judge Howard Manning to stop operating in North Carolina. Attorney General Roy Cooper requested Manning to order Mortgage Help and Nathaniel Livingston, its chief executive officer, to stop operating in the state.
Mortgage Help has been advertising itself and its REO property prevention scheme over a gospel radio in Raleigh. It claims that it could help distressed homeowners avoid losing their properties to foreclosures.
In its ruling, Manning ordered Mortgage and Livingston to stop advertising, operating, taking or accepting payments for foreclosure assistance services and loan modification.
Additionally, Cooper is also requesting the Superior Court to permanently prohibit Mortgage Help from operating in the state and to order to it to refund the money it took from consumers and to pay civil penalties.
In a statement, Cooper said that contrary to its goal of helping troubled homeowners save their homes, REO property prevention schemes only worsen the situation of distressed families. He added that the state is intensifying its efforts to stop fraudulent foreclosure prevention schemes that victimize homeowner.
Instead, the state is encouraging distressed homeowners to seek eligible counseling and help in saving their properties from foreclosures.
In their advertisement, Livingston and his company claimed to be experts in mortgage loan modifications and saving properties from foreclosure. In a lawsuit filed by the office of the Attorney General against Mortgage Help, it alleges that troubled homeowners who paid the company upfront fees of $500 to $1,500 have gotten little or no help in altering their mortgage loans to reduce monthly payments or interest rates to make them affordable.
Meanwhile, Copper is supporting and lobbying for a law that will make it illegal in North Carolina for companies offering REO property prevention services to charge upfront fees for mortgage loan modification and foreclosure assistance.
Cooper pointed out that Mortgage Help has been encouraging distressed homeowners to cease paying their monthly mortgages and stop communicating with their lenders. Homeowners who stopped paying their mortgages and communicating with their lenders found themselves deep in debt and in the brink of foreclosure.
The office of the Attorney General has filed lawsuits to seven REO property prevention firms since January of last year.
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