Ohio Courts, Attorney General Handle Foreclosure Properties
In an effort to help contain the number of foreclosure properties in Ohio, Attorney General Richard Cordray filed lawsuits against three foreclosure prevention services: Foreclosure Home Assistance LLC, 21st Century Legal Services and Financial Emergency Inc.
Cordray said the three firms were already ordered to stop offering illegal and predatory foreclosure counseling services in Ohio, but the firms persisted. He asked the court to order the firms to reimburse clients whose homes have been foreclosed and pay $25,000 for every violation.
In Cordray’s suit, he stated that Foreclosure Home Assistance charged $1,500 for each loan modification application it received. The firm also used the FHA acronym in its mail solicitations and promised renters that the deeds of landlords can be transferred to their names once the rental units are foreclosed.
Meanwhile, a court in Cuyahoga County indicted lawyer Dea Character and his partners for forging mortgage documents to obtain $3 million in home loans for seven borrowers. Investigators said Character deceived lenders and title companies by inflating home sales prices and repair costs and submitting false income documents and fraudulent bank account papers.
Character also deceived the borrowers by giving them inflated home sales prices and loan costs to be able to profit from the differences.
In another Ohio court, Cleveland Judge Raymond Pianka instructed banking firm Wells Fargo to maintain its foreclosure properties in Cleveland and comply with building codes by repairing substandard properties or tearing down dilapidated properties.
The court also ordered Wells Fargo to first submit documents indicating compliance with building codes before selling foreclosure properties priced lower than $40,000.
As of April this year, Wells Fargo has 180 foreclosure properties in Cleveland.
Nonprofit housing directors such as Frank Ford applauded the court order, saying that the court action will be an example for all other banks that own foreclosed properties in Cleveland.
Previously, Wells Fargo argued that court requirements would weaken home sales further and would make its properties become vacant for longer periods of time.
Wells Fargo planned to appeal the court’s order, contending that Judge Pianka was biased because he has just attended a meeting on vacant properties.
In December, a unit of Neighborhood Progress, sued to make the courts declare bank owned foreclosure properties as nuisances if they are not fixed.
In response, Wells Fargo reiterated its long record of responsible home lending and preservation of foreclosure properties in neighborhoods.
Search Foreclosure Properties in Ohio by City:
- Foreclosure Properties in Cincinnati
- Foreclosure Properties in Toledo
- Foreclosure Properties in Springfield
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