Subprime Swindlers Reconnected to Homeowners With Foreclosure Rescue Scams

[marmar]

Subprime Swindlers Reconnect to Homeowners in Scams (Update1)
By Edward Robinson


March 27 (Bloomberg) -- In early 2008, Cheryl Ann Montero, a California mortgage broker, held a series of free seminars in the clubhouse of the Lone Tree Golf Course in Contra Costa County, a suburban area near San Francisco. The attendees, homeowners facing foreclosure, were desperate for a rescue from their woes. Using a PowerPoint presentation, Montero delivered one.

She said her firm, Freedom Financial Solutions, could pressure lenders to stop foreclosures by challenging the legality of loan agreements, according to court records. Her fee: $2,500 upfront and a $2,000 monthly payment to cover legal costs. Promoting her services on the Web site Craigslist, Montero, a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman who looked like a soccer mom, became known as a foreclosure escape artist.

“All the real estate agents knew about her classes,” says Kay Trail, a realtor in Antioch. “She was one shrewd sister.”

She was also ripping people off, says Ken McCormick, a prosecutor in the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. A player in a new confidence game exploiting soaring defaults, Montero didn’t have a team of attorneys to confront lenders. Instead, her firm took a small ownership stake in some of her clients’ houses and filed for bankruptcy, temporarily suspending foreclosure proceedings on those homes, according to an investigative report filed in court by prosecutors.

In the end, she didn’t deliver lower mortgages for the 10 homeowners who paid a total of $52,000 for her services, McCormick says. Montero did have mounting financial woes of her own: In September, she filed for personal bankruptcy, according to court records. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aUL_Qh8cOzv8&refer=home

[dipsydoodle]

1. People like that

should be put in the stocks.

[wundermaus]

2. Her idea of an election that didn't turn out the way it should have...