Foreclosure Scam Cheats Family of Hearth and Home

September 10th, 2008

Together with foreclosures, incidents of scams are also rising. One such foreclosure scam cheated a family of their hearth and home. Jason and Tricia found their house on the north west side of Grand Rapids facing foreclosure. At about the same time they got a letter by post from one firm by the name of Canal Street Financial. It was an offer to save their house. But in the final count it turned out to be just the reverse of what the letter professed. What the scammers did was to take a mortgage and rob the house of its remaining equity. They never made any payments and just waited for the bank to proceed with the foreclosure suit and kick out the couple. This is the gist of the so-called foreclosure rescue scheme.

In 2005 the very same Canal Street Financial had been the subject of another foreclosure rescue incident albeit of a different nature. It was diverting clients to a rescue scheme conducted by another party. A year later after gaining experience, Canal Street Financial moved its offices to a fashionable locality in North Monroe and began operating its own scams under the garb of rescue deals.

The Wise couple following instructions wrote over the deed of their house for $1 to a company named Wells Financial that was being operated by a staff for Canal Street Financial. Then Wells Financial deeded the same house to the boss of Canal Street – Norman Long. Long took shelter under another corporate identity – NTW Investments. The latter then sold back the house to the couple after signing an agreement by which the Wises would be paying $719 per month. They would continue to do so until the loan amount was paid off.

Unknown to the gullible couple Norman Long had his own nefarious plans. He got a new mortgage loan on the house for $119,000 and with it paid off the old mortgage of $86,000. The difference of $33,000 he put into his own pockets. Over and above he took the monthly payments the Wise couple made without contributing a cent towards the mortgage. For two years the Wises went on paying thinking everything was fine and hunky dory. They felt smug that their credit history was again building up. It was only when the lender foreclosed that the couple realized that they had been cheated. Now they needed even a bigger loan amount to clear, if they wanted to save their hearth and home.