Class-Action Lawsuit Targets Maryland Foreclosure Rescue Scammers
After suffering a stroke which left her unable to work or pay her bills, 70-year-old Annie Stephens found herself in danger of losing her Atlanta home to foreclosure. Little did she know that the relief she sought would turn out to be a foreclosure rescue scam that would result in her losing the home that she lived in and built up for 40 years.
A recent CBS News investigation detailed the unfortunate story of Stephens and also provided some interesting information about mortgage fraud at a time when nearly one million foreclosure filings have already occurred in the United States this year.
• Specifically, the story detailed that the FBI is currently investigating more than 1100 cases of mortgage fraud. Providing an interesting comparison prior to the current foreclosure epidemic, the FBI investigated 436 cases of mortgage fraud in 2003!
• The CBS News investigation also detailed how only seven states specifically regulate foreclosure rescue scams. Massachusetts is the only state with a foreclosure law criminalizing foreclosure rescue schemes.
Sadly, foreclosure rescue scams have arisen throughout the country as hundreds of thousands of Americans have been in dire straits to stop foreclosure. Stephens is just another example of a desperate homeowner who was victimized by seedy individuals looking to capitalize and get rich off of another person's misery.
While facing foreclosure, Stephens received a mass influx of ads claiming that they could help her stop foreclosure. The Metropolitan Money Store in Maryland was one of those companies. In fact, its radio ads claimed that it had helped stop foreclosure more than 250 times.
Stephens turned to the Metropolitan Money Store with the hope that it could help her stop foreclosure and refinance her mortgage. Unfortunately, those implicated in being behind the Metropolitan Money Store had other intentions.
The CBS News investigation detailed how Joy Jackson Fordham and her husband Kurt Fordham are now defendants in a major class-action suit charging the Metropolitan Money Store of trying to dupe more than 400 homeowners of millions of dollars in equity in their home. Stephens was just one of those homeowners who had the equity in her home stripped by the Metropolitan Money Store.
The Atlanta grandmother has claimed that a con artist for the store convinced her to transfer the deed of her property to him with the promise that she'd get the property back and be able to refinance her mortgage.
In reality, the con artist sucked out tens of thousands of dollars in home equity out of the home, leaving Stephens in even more of a predicament. Depicting her frustration, the story quoted Stephens as calling the Metropolitan Money Store "no-good scamming vultures."
The CBS News investigation was unable to reach the Fordhams about their alleged role in this foreclosure rescue scam. It did note pictures of the couple's $800,000 wedding last year, a wedding which included them giving away cash, a Porsche and what else but a house!
As this insulting final twist and case depicts, you're not dealing with the most reputable or moral people when it comes to foreclosure rescue scams.